This Monday, state and municipal authorities, as well as representatives of the private initiative, inaugurated the 4 Caminos Road System, a work that will provide better vehicular flow to arteries such as Independencia Boulevard, Diagonal Reforma Boulevard, the Manuel Ávila Camacho road and the Cuauhtémoc, among others.
When the works began, in May 2022, the removal of the monumental sculpture La Flor del Desierto was determined, which is the author of the late Mexican plastic artist Gilberto Aceves Navarro (Mexico City, 1931 – 2019), winner of the National Prize for Arts and Sciences 2003 and the INBA Fine Arts Medal 2012. According to the author’s catalog, the piece is dated 2003.
The structure was dismantled from its original place, located on Independencia Boulevard and moved to one of the patios of the Compressor Sports Unit, in the west of the city. At the time, Juan Adolfo von Bertrab, director of Public Works of the Municipality of Torreón, He shared with this publishing house that the sculpture would be reinstalled upon completion of the SV4C works in a small square that would be built on the site. However, until the closing of this edition, La Flor del Desierto continues its rest in the Compressor.
Addressed on this topic during the inauguration of the SV4C, Juan Adolfo von Bertrab responded that the sculpture continues to be protected, since it was not possible to place it in the vicinity of the road system.
“We are looking for the best place, together with the State Government, to determine where to put it. We have it protected, like from day one, in the Compressor.”
When asked about how much longer their relocation would take, the head of Public Works of Torreón indicated that this must be resolved by the Government of the State of Coahuila, who requested the municipality to remove and safeguard it.
“In the first instance, a small square was going to be built towards Diagonal Reforma, but the small square was not built due to road issues, so we are looking at where to place it within Independencia Boulevard.”
However, although, according to the municipality, it is the state government that must determine the future of the sculpture, Miguel Ángel Algara, head of the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Urban Development and Mobility of the Government of Coahuila, who was also approached at the SV4C inauguration with the same concern, did not provide information on the matter and simply responded: “See it with the municipality.”.
Given the situation, El Siglo de Torreón once again took a tour of the Compressor Sports Unit, where the three pieces that make up La Flor del Desierto are stacked, one on top of the other, behind a softball field, without protection (the work It was designed to be outdoors), on a dirt lot with some overgrown grass. It should be noted that all its pieces are intact, although there are traces of rust on them and the piece located at the bottom has begun to sink.
According to information provided by the head of Public Works in May 2022, La Flor del Desierto is a 1/8 steel structure, It was made up of three pieces, which were assembled at the top to form a monolith, anchored with nuts at its base. The official indicated that, in its transfer to the Compressor Sports Unit, the orientation of the sculpture was taken care of and each of its pieces was classified by number, so that in its reinstallation the artistic proposal of the author can be respected.
Gilberto Aceves Navarro also has the monumental sculpture Work, Culture, Desert (2002) in Torreón, better known as La Triada and located at the intersection of Raúl López Sánchez peripheral and Independencia boulevard. In the pictorial field, a mural of his lives in one of the cafeterias of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) Campus Laguna, while another one is in a box at the Isauro Martínez Theater (TIM).
The removal of artistic pieces due to the construction of road works or infrastructure in Torreón has precedents: in 2003, the sculpture El Centinela del Desierto, by Lagunero Xavier Meléndez, which was located on Revolución Boulevard and Raúl López Sánchez peripheral, fIt was removed due to the construction of the also defunct Vial Revolución Distributor (later replaced by the current Sistema Vial Revolución). There is also the case of the Monumental Tower, which was located on the missing Civic Plaza on Constitución Boulevard, removed in 2017 and taken to the Torreón Sports Unit to make way for the construction of the Nazas Station of the then called Metrobús Laguna. Neither of the two works returned to their original site or was relocated to another part of the city.
