Walking in, it is hard to tell where the jungle ends and the building begins. Thick green tendrils curl down from above, filtering light over paths of sinewy bejuco vine. Trees are everywhere: sprouting through the floor, bending polished concrete surfaces to their will and soaring towards the roof. The air is humid and carries a vegetal musk. It is less like being in a gallery than a vast grove, with slight Star Wars forest moon vibes. You wouldn’t be entirely surprised to find an Ewok hanging out in the canopy above.
As art spaces go, SFER IK Uh May is certainly unusual – and not only because it’s located in the forests of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, in what feels very much like the middle of nowhere. Opened in 2018, then closed again by the pandemic, the 10-acre complex aspires to be a new kind of museum, at harmony with its surroundings and open to the kinds of art that would never make their way into MoMA or Tate.
