La Quiñonera

La Quiñonera was an old-school and particularly hardcore cultural center. Founded in 1986, at the height of the 2020 pandemic, (in August), they announced a merger with the equally hardcore Obrera Centro. Today the dual-cultural and community and education center sometimes goes by the name La Quiñobrera.

Heavily arts focused, the Obrera Centro was perhaps best-known for offering electric tool-use workshops. At the same time, social feeds veer into women’s hair setting, beekeeping, and always drawing, clay, and art.

La Quiñonera had invited musicians, filmmakers, theater directors, actors, writers, visual artists, gallery owners, critics, curators, advanced artists, and other creators. The production level was always outstanding. It went on for some 30 years. And cooking and culinary classes took off. In the center of it all, a semi-industrial kitchen serves as a meeting point for everything.

Today, the combined center is one of activists, leaders, and artists. Self-managed, participants dedicate themselves to multidisciplinary artistic production, criticism, and experimentation. Pointedly “de-professionalized,” work intertwines the visual arts, music, design, theater, education, cinema, and food. The borders between all these disciplines are blurred and give way to innovative, constructive experiences.

Almost impossible to find in the backstreets la Candelaria in Coyoacán, it’s a hive of activity, and the pride of people arriving from all over the city.