Rethinking the Relationship Between Mexico & Asia at 'Somos Pacífico' in Mexico City - with Paul Schmidt-Troschke & Ludwig Elias Franz

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio speaks to journalists Paul Schmidt-Troschke & Ludwig Elias Franz about the seminal exhibition 'Somos Pacífico', which encourages a rethinking of the historical and current relationships between Asia and Mexico.

Transcript

Jon Bonfiglio: 0:01

Hi everyone, welcome back to Latin America Correspondent with me, Jon Bonfiglio. I'm joined again today by journalist Paul Schmidt-Troschke and Ludwig Elias Franz. And today we are in Mexico City at the Colegio de San Il del fonso at the Somos Pacifico exhibition. We are Pacific, referring to the ocean, but also We Are Peaceful as a subtext. So the Somos Pacifico exhibition, which traces the shared commercial and cultural history between Mexico and Asia, recovering the profound cultural heritage which was built between Mexico and especially the Philippines for over 250 years, between 1565 and 1815. It's a pretty exceptional uh, I think, well, wide-ranging and exceptional selection of more than 300 pieces, uh, national and international, which allows for a sort of a reconstruction of a political, economic, and social dimension which was acquired in the ongoing uh intercultural relationship between Acapulco and Manila at the time, included a navigation objects, maps, ceramics, textiles, and works of art, uh, which are on display until May uh this year, May 2026, uh, in a sort of a I guess a journey which invites for a rethinking of the Pacific, not as a frontier or as a vacuum, rather than a sort of a live bridge between uh worlds. Um Ludwig, maybe we can uh start with you. What are your what your sort of main takeaways from the from the exhibition?

Ludwig Elias Franz: 1:35

Well, first of all, I think uh it's a very interesting point in time uh for that for an exhibition like that to take place in uh Mexico City, uh starting in the first half of November. It falls into a time of increasing US aggressions against Venezuela, imposing painful tariffs and as a means of foreign uh of forcing their will, not only to uh uh to Venezuela but to uh many Latin American countries, especially uh Mexico as well. Um and I think there's almost Pacificos, as Jon, as you told already, as you uh stated, we are uh the peaceful, uh that's also in the title, and I think that's uh uh that the exhibition really reminds its visitors to uh to think back to the beginnings of uh the continental intercontinental trade in Mexico, uh which seems to be of what I've m I've I have seen to be a uh a valve to intercultural exchange on same eye level and uh really focusing on on the peace uh component.

Jon Bonfiglio: 2:50

Yeah, I think you're right. It's it's um it's clearly a historical exhibition, but it's also no accident, I think, that it has it exists now at this particular point in time, and it sort of recalibrates in in a in a in a sort of Mexican universe in which um so much overwhelmingly sort of looks up to the US and measures by the United States to have this recalibration which actually takes us back historically to sort of pre-colonial times and the ongoing heritage and relationships between um Asia and Mexico and Latin America, um, but also which in innately, because of the fact that of course it's a political vision as well, it makes us rethink uh Mexico's place in the world and this sort of this perhaps shifting of the gaze of where Latin America is back towards a history point, but also uh one towards the future. So presents an opportunity, if you like, um through the exhibition to reconsider the possibilities that a relationship between Latin America, specifically Mexico and Asia might might have. Uh Paul, uh your your takeaways from the exhibition?

Paul Schmidt-Troschke: 4:04

Yeah, so um I mean um it's very interesting that um the colonial um or the colonization of of Mexico um brought about this uh yeah, Mexico as a as a cultural hub for exchange of various things, um, among them languages, arts, flavors, of course, uh religious practices um across the Pacific and these things uh first met in the ports of Acapulco and Manila, as you already said. Um I think that it's uh very interesting that um if you look back into much more ancient times, um humans uh share uh a gravitation towards similar structures. Um also if you if you look at different religions uh worldwide, um practices seem to um yeah to have have points which uh or commonalities in the end. And um I think that uh we tend to look uh yeah uh at oceans as like um huge borders or obstacles and this exhibition shows uh exactly the opposite, that uh the Pacific um is um still a very or was back then and still is a very vital lifeline for cultural exchange between um very distant cultures um not only geographically um but also in how they uh practice their culture and how they developed. And I think lastly, um I mean in the end it's uh it's about trade and merging of uh of these various different things. And trade has always been um a thing where which which leads in the best case to a mutual benefit. And so these exchanges um starting mostly starting with with goods, leads to both parties searching for um points of commonalities because if both parties realize that okay this exchange is uh beneficial for both of us, let's um let's uh expand on that and let's uh work uh work together and let's see where um I can learn from you and you can learn from me.

Jon Bonfiglio: 6:27

Yeah, I think obviously it's a it's a it's almost a sort of a foundational point of importance for the exhibition that that the Pacific, this huge ocean, is actually a point of union between countries and cultures rather than a point of separation. I also think um just in terms of bringing the story, the narrative up to date, um if you look at the maps of the sort of the commercial and then subsequent cultural exchanges, what you see is that Mexico was not just a point of exchange between Asia and the sort of the Americas, but also was a a bridging point then for products to then move across to Europe as well. And um the reason I mention this as a sort of a contemporary point of relevance is because it's exactly also what the current Mexican uh government under Claudia Sheinbaum, previously Andrés Manuel López Obrador, are trying to do with this development of train infrastructure right across the country, which actually makes uh which actually allows for sort of commercial bridging, as was the case back in the day between Veracruz and Acapulco across land and actually up to the US as well, but actually allows now for a pretty significant rapid movement of uh of products across the country and then into the other ocean. So bringing Mexico once again into or hypothetically at least as a sort of a uh a commercial center point, almost like the Panama Canal, but over land uh for commerce between Asia and uh and Europe. Uh thank you, Ludwig. Thank you, uh Paul. So this is the the Somos Pacifico uh exhibition in Mexico City, right in the in the centre of Mexico City, only uh half a block away from the Templo Mayor and the Socolo and the and the and the Central Square and the and the Catalan, and it runs on until May of this year for anybody who's who's passing through here. Actually, the building itself is is unique. It's got uh murals from Siqueiros and uh Diego Rivera and Orozco. It's worth a visit in and of itself, but for sure the Somos Pacifico exhibition is uh is really well worth uh well worth a visit for historical reasons, but I think also for quite remarkable current political uh reasons, also.