Research/Areas of Interest:
He specializes on the sculpture and architecture of the Mexica (Aztec) and socio-political history and visual culture of colonial Mexico. His interests include visual manifestations of indigenous governance, Pre-Columbian architecture and urbanism, global interactions of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, colonial and post-colonial visual strategies, Open Churches of Sixteenth Century Mexico, the Habsburg empire, kunstkammer, museum studies, and modern architectural history.
Education
- PhD, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States, 2004
- MA, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States, 1994
Biography
Dr. Guzmán has published on a number of topics including shamanism, urbanism in Mesoamerica, and the political representation of authority in the art and architecture of Post-classic Mesoamerica. He has wide museum experience, consulting on the design and museography of the Museo Arqueológico at the Olmec site of La Venta, 1994-1997; from 1998-2000 was a member of the conceptual development team and curated ephemera, architectural drawings and mural selections for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's exhibition Made In California: Art, Image and Identity, 1900-2000; and coordinated, developed and authored The Latino Museum in Los Angeles's Curriculum Guide, in 2003.
He is currently completing a book manuscript entitled, Politics and the Fabrication of Authority; Artistic Diplomacy and Imaged Expressions of Plurality at the Mexica Templo Mayor, that explores the ways the Mexica used visual culture to gain their eminent authority and supremacy and is working with Dennis Carr on a major exhibition and accompanying book publication entitled, Houses of the Royal Eagle, the Mexica and Habsburg Empires, to commemorate the 500 anniversary of the fateful meeting of worlds and conquest of Mexico. The exhibition is scheduled to open October 2021 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Dr. Guzmán is the current chair of the Visual and Material Studies Department and is serving a two-year term, 2017-2019, in the Tufts Faculty Senate.
He is currently completing a book manuscript entitled, Politics and the Fabrication of Authority; Artistic Diplomacy and Imaged Expressions of Plurality at the Mexica Templo Mayor, that explores the ways the Mexica used visual culture to gain their eminent authority and supremacy and is working with Dennis Carr on a major exhibition and accompanying book publication entitled, Houses of the Royal Eagle, the Mexica and Habsburg Empires, to commemorate the 500 anniversary of the fateful meeting of worlds and conquest of Mexico. The exhibition is scheduled to open October 2021 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Dr. Guzmán is the current chair of the Visual and Material Studies Department and is serving a two-year term, 2017-2019, in the Tufts Faculty Senate.