Mariana Martínez Balvanera

Mariana Martínez Balvanera is a spatial and social designer based in Amsterdam and Mexico City, working in the realm of community lead urban and rural placemaking projects within the critical spatial practice approach. She graduated with a Bachelor of Interior Architecture from CENTRO in Mexico City 2011, and holds a Master in Narrative Environments from Central St Martins (UAL), London. With diplomas in “Curatorial practice for public spaces" (GIM) and "Where Art Meets Design" (ELISAVA School of Design Barcelona). Among others, she has collaborated to create the Mediamatic Biotoop, a space for bioarts and urban agriculture in Amsterdam; with Estudio Teddy Cruz, designing socio-spatial interventions to rethink post-war housing schemes in London; with Cascoland, creating performatic participation and collaboration tools in public spaces; and is currently resident artist at Pollinaria, space for art in the rural. Her collective projects have received awards such as What Design Can Do's "Climate Action Challenge" and the MUAC's William Bullock Prize for Critical Museology. She is tutor and guest lecturer at arts and design universities CENTRO, ENAP, UAM (Mexico City), Royal Academy of Art (The Hague) and The Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam). Since 2018 Mariana co-founded Cocina Colaboratorio where she leads creative programming in public space aimed at environmental and social sustainability, using food as main common ground.

Cocina CoLaboratorio (CoLaboratory Kitchen) is a transdisciplinary collective that gathers creatives (artists, designers, architects), farmer communities, scientists and chefs around the kitchen table to exchange knowledge, design and take action towards sustainable food futures. A test ground for ideas that conciliate land restoration, food production and better livelihood in rural and rurban areas.

This platform regards the kitchen as a co-creative space where people are connected through growing, cooking, tasting, sharing and experimenting. Aspirations and actions are shared and undertaken around the kitchen, mixing world views, knowledge, practices and produce through different activities and programs catered to specific sites and cultures. Since 2018 the project establishes long and short term arts+research+practice collaborations within three sites in Mexico: Xochimilco in Mexico City, Santo Domingo Tomaltepec in Oaxaca, and Marqués de Comillas in Chiapas.
Cocina CoLaboratorio is composed in its core team by Emilio Hernández (social designer), Adriana Cadena (anthropologist/cultural manager), Elizabeth Guerrero (artist/semiologist), Diego Hernández (agroecologist), Reyna Domínguez (biologist), Gabriela Morales (farmer), Lucía Pérez (biologist/cook), Patricia Balvanera (ecologist), and Mariana Martinez (designer/artist). The collective expands, contracts and takes different shapes depending on the project structures, actions and specific sites.
Cocina CoLaboratorio is part of the Food Art Research Network and the Green Art Lab Alliance.