Empu Sendok Arts Station

27/06/2026

🌀🪡 Stay tuned for the launch of our upcoming Intersections episode with Mella Jaarsma and Citlalli Rodríguez (Citlalli Rodríguez) in Casa Torre (Casa Torre)

Intersections is ESAS’ podcast on arts and ideas, featuring thematic episodes that bring together artists, writers, thinkers, and doers of our time. Through their stories, practices, and social arts expressions, the series explores curiosity, imagination, risk-taking, and the possibilities of transformation. 🫧

In this episode, “Artists-Run Spaces,” we speak with Mella Jaarsma, artist and co-founder of Cemeti Institute for Art and Society in Yogyakarta, about independent art spaces, artistic agency, and the ways artists create platforms for experimentation, dialogue, and community.

The conversation also returns to Apapacho, Silent Wear, Mella’s first encounter with Guadalajara: a powerful and mission-driven social arts project originated by interdisciplinary artist Inés Somellera, in collaboration with Mella Jaarsma and Felia Salim. 🧷

Developed as a workshop, performance, and exhibition, Apapacho was presented at the Escuela de Artes de Jalisco, a state institution for artistic and cultural education, followed by a public talk with live arts curator Olga Gutiérrez at Impronta, a printing house and bookstore in Guadalajara.

Through wearables, somatic practices, dialogue walks, collective processes, and Otto Scharmer’s Theory U methodology, Apapacho reflects on matters of loss, grief, and hope within a community marked by violence and the breakdown of social systems. Rather than approaching loss as something that can simply be solved, the project asks how it can be shared, held, and accompanied. 🕯️〰️

From Apapacho to Cemeti, from Guadalajara to Yogyakarta, this episode asks what artist-run spaces can make possible.

As Mella shares in the conversation:

“We are both living in an art world which we have to create ourselves. We are not in the mainstream, but that also creates the freedom to look for it and to create it yourself. What is necessary? What is urgent? What do you want to do as artists, but also as an art scene and as an art space?

Coming soon. ✧

27/06/2026

📝 As part of ESAS Mexico 2026 First Semester Recap, we revisit El espacio detrás de la cabeza | The Space Behind the Head, an exhibition and open studio by Inés Somellera (Ines Somellera) presented at Casa Torre, Guadalajara, a part of Somellera’s on-going tribute to Robert Wilson (Robert Wilson ).

The exhibition took its title from a concept frequently explored by Robert Wilson: the space behind the head, a space of imagination, of memory, of intuition, and perception. The open studio brought together artworks, sketches, archival materials, texts, and ongoing research.

Among the featured works was River Healers by Kiyo Gutiérrez (Kiyo Gutiérrez ). The piece is conceived as a site-specific performance on the Harlem River in New York, the work follows three healers who lower their long hair into the water from Ward’s Island Bridge. Their hair, made from cotton textiles dyed with red cabbage, functions as a natural pH indicator: changing from purple to green or red depending on the river’s chemical condition.
“River healers aims to offer alternatives to our dominant water imaginaries and to build a closer relationship between rivers and citizens.”

For The Space Behind the Head, Kiyo presented photographs and costume elements from the project, extending the life of the performance into the exhibition space and inviting reflection on ecology, and care, as well as the invisible systems that shape our environments.

📸 Pictured here: documentation and costume from River Healers by Kiyo Gutiérrez. Photography by Pistor Orendain. Costume design by Alejandra de Zulueta.

Pictures from the exhibition by Agustín Arce.

27/06/2026

📝 Women and Decolonization: Liberating the Feminine Energy, was held in Casa Torre, our sister project in Guadalajara Mexico. The focus group discussion (FGD) brought together a group of artists, academics, activists and researchers to reflect upon and is part of the latest project of Ines Somellera produced by ESAS upcoming project, Oncemujeres.

This gathering continued a conversation first initiated by ESAS in Jakarta in 2021, bringing the dialogue into the context of contemporary Mexico. Participants from different generations, professions, and fields came together to reflect on the persistence of colonial and patriarchal structures, the roots of violence, the role of language in normalizing systems of domination, and the possibilities for imagining more balanced and equitable futures.

🏞️Throughout the discussion, questions emerged around economic systems that prioritize capital over people, the normalization of violent narratives, the historical ambivalence surrounding women in Mexico, and the urgent need to create spaces of trust where difficult conversations can take place. Participants reflected on what must be unlearned from systems that no longer serve us and how feminine energy might contribute (not through domination, but through balance) to building more just social, cultural, and political structures.

The conversation revealed shared points of departure... ethics, care, discernment, and the collective responsibility to imagine and co-create different futures.
We are excited to continue with this conversation!
Pictured here are Felia Salim, economist and ESAS co-founder and Citlalli Rodríguez, mexican artist working with ESAS.

09/06/2026

📝Sharing this photograph, taken during our Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Women and Decolonization, held in Guadalajara as part of the research process of and ESAS upcoming project, Oncemujeres.

Pictured here is Juliana de la Torre () dramaturg and theatre director based in Guadalajara, whose work is deeply engaged with the artistic practices and creative processes of women.

09/06/2026

💫 Co-founders Inés Somellera and Felia Salim during Open Studio and exhibition El espacio detrás de la cabeza at Art Wknd GDL, in and studio.

04/06/2026

A question from our FGD in Guadalajara, Mexico on Women and Decolonization.

🖍️

02/06/2026

From our activities recap in Mexico, a sneak peek in the process of making El espacio detrás de la cabeza (The space behind the head). Inés Somellera’s Open Studio and collective exhibition at Casa Torre. 💫🌫️

In the images we show a moment during the installation process. The studio wall became a working surface for organizing exhibition layouts, archival references, anecdotes, texts, and ideas.

The Space Behind the Head was conceived as an exhibition and open studio in february presented at Casa Torre in Guadalajara, Mexico during Art Weekend GDL 2026.

Developed by Inés Somellera and Sandra Sánchez, in collaboration with Felia Salim and Citlalli Rodríguez, the Open Studio brought together artworks, archival documents and the concept of the space behind the head, one that that has accompanied Somellera’s practice for many years: the possibility of perceiving from “the space behind the head.” Influenced by her experience working with theater director Robert Wilson, the project proposes a shift away from frontal perception and habitual modes of attention.

In the pictures: Inés Somellera, Felia Salim, and Citlalli Rodríguez during the installation.

07/05/2026

Why is open data so vital for the private sector?

Building a region requires strong synergy between government and industry. Transparent development data is the key that allows the banking and industrial sectors to contribute effectively to the local economy. During the Open Data Partnership Forum 2026, Felia Salim (ESAS Founder) emphasized that accessible data is crucial for mapping industrial needs and identifying potential revenue sources. This collaboration is essential to strengthen regional economic stability through more meaningful data utilization.

03/04/2026