ABOUT
The Memorias Project is an immersive archival recital and installation dedicated to the history of Mexican and Mexican Americans in Austin, free and open to the public, with two performances at Dadalab June 20-21, 2026. This project is funded by the City of Austin and directed by Claudia E. Zapata.
The audience will hear a concert of original compositions performed by several musicians, including a cellist, an opera singer, a chorus, and a DJ. While the musicians perform, animations will serve as a backdrop. These musical compositions, animations, and projections will draw on documentary footage and archival research grounded in local collections, such as the Austin History Center, Preservation Austin, and Mexic-Arte Museum, as well as on unique digital art. The compositions and animations will follow a chronological framework guided by three movements.
Movement one will discuss the cultural diaspora of immigrants from Mexico to Austin and the eventual removal of Black and Mexican communities per Austin’s 1928 City Plan. Themes of disruption, sadness, and longing will guide the sonic and visual. Movement two will highlight the creation of the Mexican East Side community, celebration, joy, and cultural pride. Movement three will frame resistance, protest, and historical strikes. As part of the interactive theatre, all audience members will receive an informational zine and a flower at their seats, which they will offer to performers at the event’s final bows.
Claudia Zapata (Lead artist)
Claudia E. Zapata (they/them) earned their Ph.D. in art history at Southern Methodist University’s RASC/a: Rhetorics of Art, Space, and Culture program. They received their BA and MA in art history from the University of Texas at Austin, with a specialization in Maya art of the Classic period (250-900 CE). Zapata was the curator of exhibitions and programs at the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin. From 2018-2022, Claudia was the curatorial assistant of Latinx art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, working on the award-winning exhibition, ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965-Now (2020) and curating Radical Histories: Chicanx Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Claudia Chapa
(Opera Soloist)
Claudia Chapa (she/her) is an award-winning performer, curator, and Latine cultural advocate. She is the Associate Director of Artistic Administration and the Curator of Hispanic and Latinx Programming at Austin Opera. As a mezzo-soprano, she performed with Dallas Opera, Virginia Opera, San Diego Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, among many other houses. Recent highlights include recording Handel’s Messiah with the Royal Philharmonic at the famed Abbey Roads Studios. In 2017, Chapa made her Carnegie Hall debut as the mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with Distinguished Concert International New York (DCINY). She received the prestigious Silverman Award, the Monica & Roger McNeill Award and is a grant recipient from the Olga Forrai Foundation. In 2015, she participated in the Young Artist Program at The Glimmerglass Festival and studied vocal performance at the Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2022, Austin Opera appointed her as their inaugural Curator of Hispanic and Latinx programming. In this role, she spearheads programming in Spanish and develops initiatives to increase Latine communities’ access to opera. Her dedication to cultural representation in opera continues as the founder of the Latine Opera Alliance, a diverse group of Latine-identifying opera singers, creatives, and administrators striving to uplift and advocate for equity and representation in opera.
DJ Pinche Juan
(Featured DJ)
Originating from Monterrey, Mexico, and calling Austin home, Pinche Juan curates diverse, wide ranging sounds on vinyl. Her selections explore nostalgia, atmosphere, and joyful sonic remedies.
David Sydiongco
(Co-visual artist)
David Sydiongco is a new media artist based in Austin, TX. Harnessing tools like TouchDesigner and Resolume, his work explores the emotional narrative of music and sound through real-time generative design. He draws inspiration from the surreal beauty found in both natural and synthetic spaces. He is also the co-founder of the live audiovisual act blend.mode and a regular performer and collaborator with dadageek.
Archives
Image Citation:
Mexic-Arte Museum (Austin, Tex.). [Altar to Roy Lozano], photograph, October 31, 1998; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth304342/m1/1/: accessed February 17, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mexic-Arte Museum.
Event Design
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