This is a book about places and, as such, it belongs to several of them, each with numerous people to thank. Its genesis (its foundation) occurred at the University of Toronto, where I did my doctoral studies back in 2009–2013. There, I want to thank Prof. Rosa Sarabia, my thesis supervisor and mentor, for her enthusiasm, patience, and guidance. Also, the members of my dissertation committee: Prof. Susan Antebi, Prof. Robert Davidson, and Prof. Odile Cisneros for providing valuable insight and advice. And to Prof. Marcel Danesi, also a member of my committee, from whom I learned so much about signs, spaces, and life. Grazie di tutto, Maestro!
I would also like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto. This support allowed me to do research in Madrid in the summers of 2011 and 2012. Also, for several levels of academic and professional support during my years at the University of Toronto, I would like to thank Blanca Talesnik, Rosinda Raposo, Néstor Rodríguez, Manuel Ramírez, Yolanda Iglesias, and the brave people of CUPE.
The revision of my dissertation, which was originally written in Spanish, turned out to be a very avant-garde act of destruction and reconstruction. If the topics of most chapters remained almost the same, most of the content was written anew four years later, in English this time, and with the precious privilege of temporal distance from my initial research.
The actual writing and completion of this book took place in the cafés and libraries of Montreal and Kingston and at Queen’s University, a location of affective belonging I feel privileged to be part of. At Queen’s, I want to thank my colleagues at the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures for their friendship and kindness since I joined the department in 2014. Above all, I want to thank Prof. Donato Santeramo for his instrumental support, mentorship, and encouragement in this and several other academic projects, and for sharing with me a very honest approach to art and culture. Also at Queen’s, I want to recognize the important support I received from the QUFA Fund for Scholarly Research, Creative Work & Professional Development in the past five years. This book would not have been possible without it.
I want to thank my friend and colleague Karen Dubinsky for her out-of-this-world generosity since we first met five years ago. Also, many thanks to her family, Susan and Jordi, for allowing me to stay at their home repeatedly during my trips to Kingston. And finally, to Susan Lord and the Cultural Studies people, for having always treated me so well
Thanks to Kristen Cochrane, and Lesley Foster, who copy-edited some of the chapters of this book and particularly to Alexandra Peace who copy-edited the final manuscript. Thank you, Alexandra, for your thorough editing, advice, and patience.
To the family members of several artists included in this book who generously allowed me to reproduce their works. Among them: Miguel de Torre Borges, John Charlot, Emilio Revueltas Valle, Oier Aranzabal, Carmen Bores, Jorge Ramón Alva de la Canal, and Cecilia de Torres. Thank you also to Juan Castells, Lynda Klich, Carla Zurián de la Fuente, Miriam Alzuri, and Eamon McCarthy for sharing with me the contact information of some the aforementioned people. And to Mark Swartz at Queen’s, Brittany Myburgh, and Jean-Phillipe Prince, who helped me with issues related to reproduction rights.
To the people and institutions that provided and/or allowed me to use several of the images in this book: the Archivo Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid and the Archivo Fotográfico Manuel Ramos in Mexico, particularly to Monica Ayala for her help selecting the photographs. To Arden Decker and María McGreger at The International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and to the Harvard Map Collection.
Thank you particularly to my editor Masja Horn at Brill, who believed in this project from the beginning and made it possible, and to Theo Joppe for his kind and professional support in the final stages of production. Also, to the anonymous readers of the final manuscript for their excellent reviews and recommendations, and to Günter Berghaus for his early guidance and support.
Thank you to Marina Dumont Gauthier for sharing with me this stubborn passion for old poets and painters, and to Sophie Dumont and Fanery Valencia for everything, always.
Above all, I want to thank Gina Beltrán, my partner and best friend, for enduring my spatial preoccupations and for having read, edited, commented, rejected, and improved these chapters several times, always with intelligence, rigour, kindness, and humour. Thank you for your generosity, your love, and for the beautiful place we have built.
And finally, thanks to Alicia for being the new driving force in everything I do.