There is no way better to uplift a community than through artistic and cultural interventions, and in San Luis Potosí there is no ideal use for an old jail building than to be turned into an Art Center encompassing music, sculpture, dance, drama and multimedia.
The Centro de las Artes de San Luis Potosí Centenario is an institution devoted to artistic and cultural education, research and formation. The building housing the Centro de las Artes was specifically built as a jail and internment center following the Panopticon model developed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, based upon the idea of allowing all inmates of an institution to be seen from a single control and surveillance point, and it functioned as the State’s jail from 1904 up to 1999.
Surrounding the Panopticon tower, there are 8 long corridors giving access to the original cells. Both the cells and the corridors have been refurbished with cantera and glass doors, turning them into spaces of exceptional craftsmanship.
The building has 8 thematic courtyards, a perimetral corridor just under a mile long, an open-air forum, the Centenario Plaza surrounded with study and practice halls and galleries, and the Polyvalent Theater.
The building housing the Centro delas Artes was specifically built as a jail and internment center.
As a community outreach effort, the CEART offers guided tours throughout the building, specially focusing on it unique architecture and recounting the historic events that took place in and around the building.
On these tours, visitors will get the chance to enter the cell where Mexican Revolution ideologist Francisco I. Madero was incarcerated in 1910, same cell in which he started writing the Plan de San Luis, a document that became the essence of the Revolution in its early years, inviting the people to rise to arms and demanding the end of Porfirio Diaz’s 31-year-long Presidency. Other interesting tour points are the Gallery and the Site Museum, with exhibitions and loans from other institutions as well as private owners.
Since its opening on August 2008, the CEARTSLP is considered a Historic Monument and in 2009 received the Francisco de la Maza Award of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, as a distinction of the conservancy of the urban and architectural heirloom.
Drama and theater, visual arts, literature and music workshops, academic programs and lectures are offered periodically, as well as Master Classes delivered by internationally acclaimed artists and authors, paired with seminaries and artistic residence programs.
The Centro de las Artes in San Luis Potosí has thus become a national and international referent thanks to both its origins and architecture as for the programs and exhibits it offers. Visit the CEARTSLP and get to know one of the many unique and incredible spaces the city has to offer.
Article written by:
Francisco Velázquez
Press & PR at Centro de las Artes
Facebook: Centro de las Artes
Twitter: @CEARTLP
Instagram: @ceartsanluis
