Image: MCA Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago will host a talk on August 8 bringing together Petra R. Rivera-Rideau and Vanessa Díaz with collaborators from Bad Bunny’s creative circle to discuss the artist’s global superstardom and its relationship to political activism around Puerto Rico. The event is scheduled for 2 pm to 3:30 pm in the Edlis Neeson Theater, and it will be followed by a book signing with the authors.
The program is tied to Rivera-Rideau and Díaz’s new book, 'P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance'. According to the MCA, the conversation will explore what it is like to collaborate creatively with Bad Bunny and how his visibility has influenced political activism around Puerto Rico. Among the collaborators joining the discussion is Kacho López Mari, a Puerto Rican filmmaker and music video director.
The talk sits within a broader MCA programming context that is closely linked to music, performance and social history. The museum’s August newsletter framed the event alongside other summer offerings, but the Bad Bunny program also connects directly to 'Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón', the MCA’s exhibition on view in the same season. The event page specifically notes that visitors may stop by the exhibition before or after the talk.
The MCA describes 'Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón' as a related exhibition, and the museum’s series page says the month of July in Tuesday evening concerts was given over to Latin and Caribbean artists in relation to that show. The exhibition itself runs from April 13 to September 19, 2026. In the museum’s event listing, the talk is presented as part of the institution’s Talks program and is also tagged Music.
Rivera-Rideau and Díaz are identified on the MCA site as the authors of the 2026 Duke University Press book and as co-creators of the Bad Bunny Syllabus Project. Rivera-Rideau is an associate professor and chair of American studies at Wellesley College, while Díaz is described as a multimedia ethnographer and journalist who has written on race, gender and labor in popular culture across the Americas. Their publication offers the framework for the discussion, which the museum has positioned around the cultural and political reach of one of Puerto Rico’s most visible contemporary musical figures.
López Mari’s participation adds a direct creative link to Bad Bunny’s visual output. The MCA notes that his work has shaped the visual evolution of reggaetón and contemporary Latin pop over the past two decades, with collaborations including Bad Bunny’s 'Callaíta', the documentary-hybrid 'El Apagón: Aquí Vive Gente', and 'Baile Inolvidable'. The museum also identifies English and Spanish CART captioning for the event, with additional accessibility requests handled through the institution.
The talk will take place at the MCA Chicago, 220 E Chicago Ave., on August 8, 2026, from 2 pm to 3:30 pm in the Edlis Neeson Theater.
