He Museum of the Object of the Object (MODE), in the Roma neighborhood, is turning 15 years old and to celebrate it is presenting an ingenious and monumental exhibition: “The collection, with all its letters”, which brings together more than 3,000 objects carefully selected from its collection.
The exhibition, organized in the order of the alphabet, proposes a fresh and playful look at objects from the last two centuries. Each letter serves as a starting point to group objects under concepts that range from the nostalgic to the unusual, creating a journey as ingenious as it is endearing, where labels, soaps, yo-yos, perfumes, musical instruments, shoes, radios, toys, postcards and more coexist.
“‘The collection, with all its letters’ is the exhibition with which we are celebrating our 15 years of life and in which we have chosen around 3,000 objects from our enormous collection of 200,000 to show the diversity and richness that our collection has. We chose a way that we found very fun, which is to use the alphabet. Each letter is a starting point to group objects under concepts that begin with that letter and in that way go through both the collection like the alphabet through the museum rooms,” he explained Paulina Newmandirector of MODO, to The Economist.
The exhibition is also a journey through the history of MODO and the culture of collecting, whose emblematic vocation has been embodied by Bruno Newmanfounder of the museum and renowned collector, for more than six decades.
“The MODO is founded on a large collection that was formed over 50 years – long before the museum was born – and in the exhibition you can find the first object that was purchased from this collection and, with the story it tells you, how that was the first object and how from there it evolved to make what we all know today as the Museum of the Object of the Object. Along with the tour, there is a timeline where the most important milestones in the history of the museum are displayed, even before that it was the museum,” says Paulina.
“It really is a very fun visit because you can guess which object will be the one that follows the next letter and also find objects, many of them that are already in disuse and many others that will generate a lot of nostalgia for many people,” adds the director.
From A to Z
The curators of the exhibition – Manuel and Christian Cañibe – explain that through the alphabet they wanted to build an emotional and visual narrative, to tell stories, trigger memories and connect generations.
“We wanted each letter to be a surprise. The MODO collection is so vast and rich that the alphabet became a playful and powerful way to explore it (…) This exhibition does not seek to be an encyclopedia, but rather a game of associations that activates memory, laughter and emotion,” they explain.
“The collection, with all its letters” is also a celebration of the power of observation and the symbolic value of the objects that inhabit our homes, pockets or memories. The exhibition will be accompanied by commemorative activities, workshops and special visits, designed to engage in dialogue with diverse audiences.
MODO is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Colima 145, Roma Norte, Mexico City.
“Turning 15 years is an opportunity to look back and also forward. With ‘The Collection, with all its letters’ we celebrate the life of objects and what they reveal about us: that history is built in everyday life and that in the most unexpected place lives a story to be discovered,” concludes Paulina Newman.
The collection, with all its letters
Museum of the Object of the Object
Colima 145, Cuauhtémoc, Roma Norte, CDMX
From Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
General admission: $60
Students, teachers and seniors: $30
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @museoMODO
