Monkey Town, the legendary gastronomical-multimedia-sensory project created 17 years ago in New York by multidisciplinary artist Montgomery Knott, arrives in the Riviera Nayarit after a successful run in cities including Denver, Barcelona, Austin, Los Angeles, and Mexico City.
This ninth edition of the itinerant experience named Monkey Town Riviera Nayarit 2020, a combination of gastronomy, cinema, and art, will be held from January 22nd through April 11th in San Francisco, Nayarit—also known as San Pancho—in a grass field adjacent to the polo grounds at La Patrona Polo & Equestrian Club.
According to Montgomery Knott, Monkey Town is its own concept: “There’s nothing like it, gastronomy and art will coexist and enrich each other without one necessarily referencing the other.” Besides, he explained, each assistant will have its own experience in this show that will reflect their own tastes and curiosities.
According to its creator, Monkey Town is a kind of “circus” of art and gastronomy enriched with a video and cinema program shown over two hours in a five-course dinner that includes wine pairing, cocktails, and artisanal pulque.
The menu for the Riviera Nayarit edition was created by chef Mario Mendoza, an emerging star of local cuisine, who was born and raised in San Pancho and trained in culinary forward cities such as Oaxaca and Guadalajara, Mexico; Copenhagen, Denmark, and Bali, Indonesia.
Diners will view the presentations of musicians from around the world on three large screens, among them Paz Lenchantin (bassist for The Pixies), Noveller (Iggy Pop), Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto/Gorillaz), Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio), Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces), and Christopher Willits (Ryuichi Sakamoto), as well as Vanessa Jara Robles and Erika Rosalía López, both sopranos from Mexico City, plus plenty of other surprises. In addition, a video art program with works by 14 artists and filmmakers from Mexico, Europe, Russian, Korea, and the United States will be broadcast.
The original concept was created in 2003 by Montgomery Knott, who was inspired by various culinary and art projects and artists such as Christian Marclay and Gordon Matta Clarke. It was first an underground project held in a loft in Brooklyn, New York, but little by little generated a lot of interest. So much so, that musicians like Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson began to attend the presentations. The idea of making it an itinerant project was born in 2013; with it came the opportunity to explore new cities and work with local artists and chefs, highlighting the talent found in each city.
The dinners begin on January 22nd only on Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. with a capacity of 60 diners maximum per dinner.
Tickets are already on sale on the EventBrite site for $2,000 pesos MXN.
Monkey Town will be in San Pancho for only three months; check their webpage for dates and to buy tickets online.
