ART & LANDSCAPE IN MEXICO CITY
With The Olana Partnership & Professor Barry Bergdoll
Monday, November 10—Saturday, November 15, 2025

The Olana Partnership (TOP) is partnering with AtravesArte, an independent travel organizer committed to supporting art and artists, to organize a five-day, art and design-focused experience in Mexico City. Frederic Church spent 18 winters in Mexico at the end of his life, painting its landscape and architecture and becoming a passionate advocate for its rich artistic heritage. In particular, in his role as a founding trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he championed its inclusion of the “arts of ancient America” and donated a number of Pre-Columbian works. The Olana Partnership’s week in Mexico City will engage with this aspect of Church’s legacy and extend into the contemporary art and architecture of the capital.
In addition to AtravesArte’s founder, Leslie Moody Castro, we will be led by Prof. Barry Bergdoll of Columbia University’s Department of Art History, one of today’s most respected historians and curators of architecture and design and an engaging travel companion. In addition to the sites described below, we will visit private collections, gardens, and contemporary art galleries.
The Sites
We will start our exploration in the Centro Histórico, the center of the Spanish colonial city and its Aztec predecessor, Tenochitlan, and peel back the layers of history. We then move to Tlatelolco-Nonoalco and the Plaza of the Three Cultures to learn about the modernization of the city and the social and political movements of the 1960s, including the October 2, 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre. Our conversation will continue at the PANIK Production studio where we will see and talk about the work of a contemporary artist whose practice questions the nationalistic movement brought about by the 1968 Olympics. On a subsequent day we will continue examining the city’s post-1968 architecture with a visit to UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and its striking new Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Teodoro González de León.
Other components of our itinerary will take us to the leafy Bosque de Chatpultepec district and the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, and Home and Studio of Luis Barragán. We will also visit the historic Coyoacán neighborhood to tour the Museo Frida Kahlo and Museo Anahuacalli founded by Diego Rivera.
The Hotel
Tucked between historic facades on a tree-lined road in Mexico City’s stylish Condesa neighborhood, Condesa DF fuses the spirit of its bohemian surroundings with a playfully simple design aesthetic. Housed in a 1928 building, Condesa DF is filled from head to toe with custom furniture designed by Parisian designer India Mahdavi. The feel is modern yet warm, hip but not haughty. The 40 rooms and suites were inspired by the tranquility of monastic bedrooms with amenities. The result features calming, airy spaces with an overarching floral theme—visible on everything from cushion covers to chopstick wrappers, and serves to enhance the relaxed, warm-weather vibe. Often compared to New York’s SoHo, Condesa is seen as one of Mexico City’s trendier areas, characterized by timeworn colonial architecture, cool drinking spots, and green parks.
The Food
AtravesArte takes pride in working with local chefs who have cultivated their craft through years of research, collaboration, and care. By taking ancient and traditional recipes, and locally sourced ingredients indigenous to the region, the restaurants we visit will offer family style meals and menus designed specifically for our guests. This group collaborates with chefs that maintain a high ethical standard on both sides of the kitchen, caring for their staff as well as they care for guests, while offering an intimate and memorable experience for all.
Barry Bergdoll, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University
Barry Bergdoll is Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History at Columbia University and the former Chief Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. A specialist in the history of modern architecture, he curated numerous exhibitions at MoMA, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Musée d’Orsay, and other venues, including Mies In Berlin (2001), Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity (2009-2010), Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980 (2015) and Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive (2017). He is the author most recently of Marcel Breuer: Building Global Institutions (2017), and many other publications including the widely used textbook European Architecture 1750-1890 (2000). A frequent lecture in both scholarly venues and for general audiences interested in architecture, he has taught for three decades at Columbia as well as a visitor in many institutions around the world. An honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and of the New York Chapter of the AIA, he has served as President of the Board of the Center for Architecture, New York.
Registration & Payment Information
The trip cost, EXCLUDING airfare, is $5,949 for individuals and $5,799 per person for couples. To secure a spot, a deposit of 50% of the price ($2,974.50 or $5,799) is due March 21. The balance is due July 25. The minimum number of registrants for this trip is 12. The maximum number is 28. Registration will open to non-board members after March 31.
To register, please send your check payable to The Olana Partnership to:
Reagan Schweppe
The Olana Partnership
P.O. Box 199
Hudson, NY 12534
To pay by credit card, please contact Reagan at rschweppe@olana.org – please note, credit card payments will incur a 3% fee. The deposit is fully refundable IF your space(s) can be filled by July 25.
For further information, please contact Reagan Schweppe at rschweppe@olana.org.
About AtravesARTE
AtravesArte is a unique, female-led, bespoke travel service founded by independent curator and writer Leslie Moody Castro. AtravesArte operates with a high level of care through every aspect of logistics and planning for both guests and artists. They are centered on supporting artists, treating every studio visit like an artist talk and paying artists for their time. Every itinerary is well researched and thoughtful, and all visits are designed to connect communities through their expertise on the ground. AtravesArte takes pride in creating shared dining experiences with chefs who are committed to expanding and experimenting with food while shifting the ethics of the gastronomy community.
Leslie Moody Castro is an independent curator and writer whose practice is based on collaboration. She has produced and organized projects in Mexico and the United States for nearly two decades. She is committed to creating moments of exchange and dialogue within exhibitions, is a co-founder of Unlisted Projects Residency, and Co-Lab Projects. In 2022, Moody Castro served as the inaugural curatorial fellow at New Mexico State University and curator-in-residence at Casa Otro. She has been awarded two grants from the National Endowment of the Arts for her curatorial projects and a fellowship from the Department of State for her research on borders. Moody Castro was co-curator of the Aurora Biennial in Dallas in November 2024.