54 Gallery was founded in Mérida and soon after expanded its operations to Mexico City. In 2025, it moved its Mexico City headquarters to the Roxy Building, across from Parque México. Carola Sánchez oversees the curatorial program, which features both Mexican and international artists and fosters an ongoing connection between the two cities. Miguel Rodríguez Sepúlveda, Monserrat Palacios, Elizabeth Casasola, Ryuichi Yahagi, and Angélica Piedrahita are among the artists who have been featured in its recent exhibitions.
Gallery Profile
54 Gallery began its operations in Mérida, where it maintains a location on Calle 54 in the historic center. The opening of a second space brought the project to Mexico City and established a shared program between the capital and Yucatán.
Carola Sánchez is listed as the gallery’s curator. Her career also includes film and cultural management. In her early interviews about 54 Gallery, she explained her interest in working out of both Mérida and Mexico City at the same time, rather than concentrating all activity in the capital. The Mexico City location changed addresses in 2025. 54 Gallery then moved to 33 Avenida México, inside the Roxy Building and across from Parque México. The gallery opened there with This Place Does Not Exist.
The Roxy was built in 1934 by architect Ernesto Buenrostro and is part of the complex of residential buildings that defined the architecture of the Hipódromo neighborhood during the 1920s and 1930s. The gallery occupies part of the building and has retained the building’s name as it enters this new phase.
The program continued in 2026 with Latitude 19°25'N, which opened during Mexico City’s Art Week, and later with This Is Not a Garden. Activities in Mérida have continued in parallel, with exhibitions and participation in initiatives such as Week of Art Yucatán and La Noche Blanca.
Why Go
Miguel Rodríguez Sepúlveda (Tampico, 1971) is one of the artists with the most extensive institutional track record among those who have recently exhibited at 54 Gallery. He studied architecture and photography, and since the late 1990s has been working in the fields of installation, photography, video, and performance art. The MUAC has several of his works in its collection. Among them are Instrument, from 2012, a sound sculpture constructed from one hundred machetes, a metal frame, and a fan, and Concerto for Three Machetes, from 2011. His work has addressed issues related to political history, symbols, and their transformation, sometimes using everyday objects subjected to mechanical actions or physical processes. Rodríguez Sepúlveda has also exhibited outside of Mexico. In 2014, he presented Emergía Miami at Locust Projects, and in 2016 participated in Drawing Room Madrid with Addaya Centre d'Art Contemporani. In 2026, it is part of This Is Not a Garden at 54 Gallery.
Elizabeth Casasola works primarily with photography. Her series The Garden of Forking Paths was selected in 2023 as a Juror’s Pick for the LensCulture Art Photography Awards by Lesley A. Martin, creative director at Aperture. A year later, it was shortlisted in the Creative category of the Sony World Photography Awards. Her work has also been featured at Photoville in New York and PHotoESPAÑA.
Monserrat Palacios belongs to a younger generation. Artsy featured her work in 2021 as part of an international selection of ten Generation Z artists. Her practice has focused primarily on painting and drawing, and she was later selected for the Lumen Art Biennial.
What to Expect
The arrival at the Roxy began with "This Place Does Not Exist", an exhibition with which 54 Gallery inaugurated its new location in 2025. In January 2026, "Latitude 19°25'N". The title refers to the coordinates of Mexico City and brought together works by various artists associated with the gallery’s program.
The next exhibition was This Is Not a Garden, which opened on June 11, 2026, and was curated by Javier Dragustinovis. Participating artists include Miguel Rodríguez Sepúlveda, Ryuichi Yahagi, Angélica Piedrahita, Alantl Molina, Gilda Medina, Xavier Cunilleras, and Carola Sánchez. The exhibition is scheduled to run through October 17.
The works draw on different approaches to plants, animals, and the landscape. Rodríguez Sepúlveda is participating with pieces related to his research on insects; other artists are using painting, photography, objects, and installations. The exhibition will be on view at the Roxy throughout the summer and into early fall of 2026.
What to Do Nearby
54 Gallery is located across from Parque México, so the walk can begin right at the racetrack. The park was designed by José Luis Cuevas and Leonardo Noriega and opened in 1927. Among its most recognizable features are the Charles Lindbergh Open-Air Theater and its Art Deco pergolas.
From Avenida México, you can walk to Plaza Popocatépetl, designed as a roundabout in the neighborhood’s original plan. In the center stands the Art Deco fountain that gives the plaza its name. The streets of Ámsterdam, México, and the surrounding area offer views of several residential buildings constructed during the Hipódromo neighborhood’s expansion in the 1920s and 1930s. For dining, Lardo is located at Agustín Melgar 6, next to Parque México. Elena Reygadas’s restaurant features a Mediterranean menu of dishes to share, breads, pastas, and seasonal produce.
Another option is Meroma, located at Colima 150 in Roma Norte. Mercedes Bernal and Rodney Cusic create a menu that changes with the seasons and combines Mexican ingredients with techniques and influences from various cuisines. For a drink, Baltra Bar is located at Iztaccíhuatl 36D. This small bar in Condesa takes its name from one of the Galápagos Islands, and its menu focuses on cocktails.
