VITAE was an exhibition of work by Montreal collective Sonnet Projects in two sites: an artist-run gallery in Colonia Guerrero, Epicentro, and the colonial hotel in the heart of Mexico City, Hotel Isabel.

VITAE was also an exhibition taking part in the country wide festival Voila Québec à Mexico, which provided wide exposure of this exhibition.
As an artist collective with a fluid membership, Sonnet Projects positioned itself within sites, such that the peripheries and centers merge and circulate between the movement of people and reasons for travel. Its members for Vitae - Janet Bellotto, Catherine Bodmer, Sarah Greig, Juliana Espana Keller, Thérèse Mastroiacovo, Ana Rewakowicz, Vida Simon, and Kelly Lynne Wood - came together to present contemporary works in various locations, physically occupying two places at once, conceptually turning from the everyday to address the public.

Fashioned after the Carleton Arms Hotel in New York City, whose management traded art for room and board, this project too framed an artist as an itinerant worker. Similar to others who travel due to the nature of their occupation, political situations, etcetera, this project assumed a form of temporal migration, like a commuter who travels between home and work. Instead the commute was between two unknowns, a hotel room and a gallery, places that continually changed and witnessd a multitude of lives.

Vitae attempted to bridge the distance between Quebec and Mexico, while it investigated the platform between living and working space. It was a collection of work that fits into a suitcase, was transportable and unfolded into performances and installations reflective of its contemporary community. Vitae, located simultaneously in two sites, reflected not only the gallery’s programming but connected two areas of the city. It is in an area heavily frequented by tourists, surrounded by prominent Mexican sites, and strongly linked to the community.

The gallery became the showcase of these artists, who lived and worked in the Hotel. It allowed the Mexican community an opportunity to have a well-rounded perspective of the artists’ work and to experience something that is not showcased frequently. Artists from afar commonly inhabit the Hotel Isabel, located blocks from the Zocalo, on their visits to the city. Gallery Epicentro is an experimental media space located in Colonia Guerrero, an area that brings art to a mixed viewing audience. Its alternative programming supports various art forms, particularly visual, performance and media arts and music. The artists used the first week to “unpack” their work and created their project designed for the Hotel room. The rooms were opened to the public and/or the artists were seeking for the community’s participation. Nearing the end of the first week in Mexico City, the artists installrf work in the Gallery. Each artist took a different approach in her response to the transfer of this space. Some artists brought “documents” of their installations or installed an already existing work relating to their project in Mexico.