Francisco Toledo and Manfred Mueller: Paper, Activated

ROSEGALLERY is pleased to present Paper, Activated. We invite you to consider paper not as a passive support, but as a material put into motion—by air, by structure, and by collective intention. Across papalotes [kites] and Mandils [aprons], paper becomes architectural, social, and performative: something that signals, declares, and gathers meaning through activation rather than utility.

At the center of this exhibition is CASA (Centro de las Artes de San Agustín), founded by Francisco Toledo in San Agustín Etla, Oaxaca. Conceived as a living workshop rather than a monument, CASA emerged from Toledo’s conviction that artistic practice is inseparable from ecology, education, and community stewardship. Housed in a restored nineteenth-century textile factory, the site embodies reuse, continuity, and care—values that resonate deeply with paper as a material shaped by water, fiber, and labor.

Francisco Toledo’s papalotes are a celebrated intersection of art, activism, and communal craftsmanship. Developed in close collaboration with local artisans and workshops, these works activate paper through the logic of flight and display, transforming a fragile material into a public declaration. Though rooted in the language of air and movement, the papalotes are conceived as works to be presented—framed or freely hung—where their images, structures, and political charge remain fully legible. For Toledo, the papalote is not merely symbolic; it is operational, carrying messages of resistance and care into shared cultural space.