The Mexican live-coding scene grew from a 2006–2014 institutional hub into a geographically dispersed network

Live coding in Mexico City likely began in 2006 through the band mU, whose members worked at the Taller de Audio del Centro Multimedia (CMM) of CENART. Between 2010 and 2014, CMM served as the epicentre — hosting workshops, audiovisual concerts, informal sessions, and three symposia. Since 2014 the practice spread beyond the CMM into other Mexican cities (Morelia, Toluca, Guadalajara) and a diaspora reaching Brazil, Canada, Spain, Germany, and Holland. This trajectory illustrates how live-coding scenes typically evolve: an institutional anchor seeds a community, which then disperses and self-organises. The 2019 concert “A la escucha del código fuente” at Ex Teresa Arte Actual, with 13 live coders across music and visual sets, marked a moment of broader public visibility.

Examples

The source traces one concrete arc: mU at CMM (2006) → CMM as national epicentre (2010–2014) → dispersal since 2014 to Morelia, Toluca, Guadalajara and abroad. A hub institution seeds a scene that later self-organises beyond it.

Assessment

Name the institution that anchored early live-coding practice in Mexico and describe what happened to the scene after 2014. What does this trajectory suggest about how scenes sustain themselves once a founding institution is no longer the sole centre?