ADRIAN VILLAR ROJAS

Villar Rojas’s project unfolds against the chrono-normative order. He generates porous tissues that attempt to rethink human histories retro-and prospectively at once. He thus sets out to destabilize linear time, which drives bodies and things into the productive and capitalist space, proposing an alternative fabric of thoughts situated in and with the persons, cities, and institutions with which he is invited to work.

His methodology is enmeshed in his nomadic life and the collectivization of his process. During long spells with a group of collaborators, he explores the potentialities of an experience that is first and foremost territorial and human. What remains of that immersive and irretrievable time is an always precarious and insufficient material testament, that is, the exhibition.

To dematerialize the hierarchies that stratify toils in the artistic field and in society as a whole, he envisions part of his practice as housekeeping, that is, as a series of invisibilized activities that enable other lives and works that are symbolically more “valuable.” His production, then, acts as a platform for the political transformation of the Capitalocene. Villar Rojas embraces the commitment of constructing chrono-topo-specific experiences and processes that contribute other ways of coexisting on our planet.

In his art, time is a force that models and modifies things, that reintegrates them into their environment. His designed worlds interact with a variety of human and nonhuman, organic and inorganic agents in a material and critical interdependence with their contexts. The artist thus deconstructs the ontological difference between work and space and between art and life, while revealing that the only possible project is disappearance.

Selected Works

De la serie, The Theater of Disappearance
2020 Organic, inorganic, human and machine-made matter, in freezer. 125 x 96 x 40 cm (Disponible)
De la serie, Theater of disappearance
2019 Installation view at Tank Shanghai, China.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Installation view at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, USA.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Installation view at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, USA.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Freezer, organic and inorganic materials. 205 x 140 x 89 cm.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Freezer, organic and inorganic materials.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Freezer, organic and inorganic materials.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Detail
De la serie Theater of Disappearance
2017 Installation view, National Observatory Athen, Greece.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Installation view, National Observatory Athen, Greece.
2017 De la serie Theater of disappearance
Installation view, National Observatory Athen, Greece.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Installation view, National Observatory Athen, Greece.
De la serie, Theater of disappearance
2017 Installation view, Kunsthaus Bregen, Austria.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Installation view, Kunsthaus Bregen, Austria.
De la serie Theater of disappearance
2017 Installation view, Kunsthaus Bregen, Austria.
De la serie, The Theater of Disappearance
2017 Installation view, Kunsthaus Bregen, Austria.
Theater of Disappearance
2017 Installation view at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA.
Theater of Disappearance
2017 Installation view at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA.
Theater of Disappearance
2017 Installation view at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA.
Theater of Disappearance
2017 Installation view at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA.
The most beautiful of all mothers
2015 Organic and inorganic materials 14th Istanbule Biennal. Istanbul, Turkey.
The most beautiful of all mothers
2015 Organic and inorganic materials 336 x 344 x 329 cm 14th Istanbule Biennal. Estambul, Turquía.
De la serie "Fantasma"
2015 Various objects on backlit platform 150 x 150 x 150 cm (Disponible)
De la serie "Fantasma"
(detail)
De la serie "Fantasma"
(detail)
De la serie "Fantasma"
2015 Various objects on backlit platform 150 x 150 x 150 cm (Disponible)
De la serie "Fantasma"
(detail)
De la serie "Fantasma"
(detail)
Fantasma
2015 Installation view at Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Fantasma
2015 Installation view at Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Fantasma
2015 Installation view at Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Planetarium
2015 Installation view at Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Planetarium
2015 Installation view at Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Planetarium
2015 Installation view at Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Planetarium
2015 Installation view at Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Return the world
2012 Installation view at Documenta 13 Kassel, Germany.
Return the world
2012 Installation view at Documenta 13 Kassel, Germany.
Return the world
2012 Installation view at Documenta 13 Kassel, Germany.
Return the world
2012 Installation view at Documenta 13 Kassel, Germany.
Ahora estaré con mi_hijo / Now I shall be with my son
2011 Installation view at Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France.
Ahora estaré con mi_hijo / Now I shall be with my son
2011 Installation view at Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France.
El asesino de tu herencia (The Murderer of your Heritage)
2011 Installation view at the 54th Venice Biennial, Argentine Pavilion.
El asesino de tu herencia (The Murderer of your Heritage)
2011 Installation view at the 54th Venice Biennial, Argentine Pavilion.
El asesino de tu herencia (The Murderer of your Heritage)
2011 Installation view at the 54th Venice Biennial, Argentine Pavilion.
De la serie "Return the world"
2010-2012 Digital photography Edición de 7 60 x 42 x 4 cm (Disponible)
Mi abuelo muerto
2010
Mi familia muerta
2009
Mi familia muerta
2009
Mi familia muerta
2009
Lo que el fuego me trajo
2008 Installation view at Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte.
Lo que el fuego me trajo
2008 Installation view at Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte.
Lo que el fuego me trajo
2008 Installation view at Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte.
Lo que el fuego me trajo
2008 Installation view at Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte.
Lo que el fuego me trajo
2008 Digital image 44 x 56 cm (Disponible)
De la serie " Pedazos de las personas que amamos"
2007 Photography direct shot 80 x 110 cm (Disponible)
De la serie "Me sangra la nariz"
2006-2008 Photography direct shot 75 x 100 cm (Disponible)
Incendio
2004 Room view at Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte
Incendio
2004 Room view at Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte
Counter Strike
2003 Digitally modified screenshots, printed on photographic paper. 75 x 100 cm (Disponible)

ADRIAN VILLAR ROJAS CV

Adrián Villar Rojas (Rosario, Argentina, 1980. Lives and works nomadically) conceives long-term projects, collectively and collaboratively produced, that take the shape of large-scale and site-specific installations, both imposing and fragile. Within his research, which mixes sculpture, drawing, video, literature and performative traces, the artist explores the conditions of a humanity at risk, on the verge of extinction or already extinct, tracing the multi-species boundaries of a post-anthropocene time folded in on itself, in which past,
present and future converge. Recent exhibitions include The End of Imagination, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2022); El fin de la imaginación, The Bass, Miami (2022); Poems for Earthlings, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2019); The Theater of Disappearance, The Geffen Contemporary at Moca, Los Angeles (2017); NEON at Athens National Observatory, Greece (2017); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2017); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2017).

Villar Rojas has been the recipient of numerous prizes such as Konex Award (2012 and 2022); the Sharjah Biennial Prize (2015); the Prix Canson, Paris (2015); the Zurich Art Prize at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv (2013); the 9th Benesse Prize in the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); the Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe Scholarship for Young Artists (2006); and the First Prize National Art Biennial of Bahía Blanca, Argentina (2005). In 2020 he was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize.

Individual exhibitions

2019
Sometimes you wonder, in an interconnected universe, who is dreaming who?. TANK Shanghai, China.
Poems for Earthlings. Oude Kerk, Amsterdam.

2017
The Theater of Disappearance, Roof Garden Commission, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, EEUU
The Theater of Disappearance, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria The Theater of Disappearance, NEON Foundation. Atenas, Grecia.

2015
Two Suns, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York Fantasma, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Rinascimento, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Italia.

2014
Lo Que El Fuego Me Trajo: a Film by Adrian Villar Rojas, Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris, Francia.
En Casa, a collaboration with Enrique Radigales, Casa Encendida. Madrid, España.
A Thousand Doors, The Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies. Atenas, Grecia.
The Real DMZ Project, Artsonje Center and other locations, Seoul, South Korea The Evolution of God, The High Line. Nueva York, EEUU.

2013
The Work of the Ocean, Foundation de 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Brussels, Belgium Today We Reboot The Planet, Serpentine Gallery. Londres.
Films Before Revolution, Museum Haus Konstructiv. Zurich, Suiza.
Lo Que El Fuego Me Trajo: a Film by Adrian Villar Rojas, Galerie Marian Goodman. Paris, Francia.
The Evolution of God, Highline, Nueva York, EE.UU.

2012
Before My Birth, Arts Brookfield with The New Museum Triennial The Ungovernables, World Financial Center Plaza. Nueva York, EE.UU.

2011
Ahora estaré con mi hijo, el asesino de tu herencia (Now I will be with my son, the murderer of your heritage), ILLUMInations, The 54th International Art
Exhibition of the Venice Biennial, Italy
Poems For Earthlings, SAM ART Projects, Musée du Louvre. Paris, Francia.
La Moral de los Inmortales (The Immortals Morality), Luisa Strina Gallery. San Pablo, Brasil.

2010 My Dead Grandfather, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany Un Beso Infinito, Casa Riegner Gallery, Bogota, Columbia

2009
El momento más hermoso de la guerra no sabe distinguir el amor de cualquier sentimiento (The Most Beautiful Moment of War Cannot Distinguish Love from Any Other Feeling). X Bienal de Cuenca. Cuenca, Ecuador.
Mi familia muerta (My Dead Family).II Bienal del Fin del Mundo. Ushuaia, Argentina.

2008
Lo que el fuego me trajo (What Fire Has Brought Me), Ruth Benzacar Gallery. Buenos Aires, Argentina

2007
15,000 años nuevos, Belleza y Felicidad, Buenos Aires, Argentina Diario íntimo 3D. Centro Cultural Borges. Buenos Aires, Argentina

2006
Estas son las probabilidades de que te pase algo. El Poste Gallery, Ricardo Rojas Cultural Center. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2005
Un mar. Alianza Francesa de Buenos Aries & Ruth Benzacar Art Gallery. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2004
Incendio. Ruth Benzacar Art Gallery. Buenos Aires, Argentina

Group exhibitions

2022
Reunión. Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2020
Dhaka Art Summit.
Lahore Biennale 02: between the sun and the moon. Pakistan.
Ancient History of the Distant Future. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, United States.
La Collezione Cerruti / The Cerruti Collection. Castello di Rivoli, Turín.

2019
No habrá nunca una puerta. Estás adentro. Obras de la Coleção Teixeira de Freitas. Sala de Arte Santander, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid.

2018
Stand up. Centre des congrès de Rennes – Couvent des Jacobins, Rennes, Francia.

12a Bienal de Gwangju.
Au diapason du monde. Fondation Louis Vuitton, París.
Screening of Adrian Villar Rojas et Zhou Tao. Centre Pompidou, París. Into Nature (from the series ‘Brick Farm’). East of the Netherlands. Summer Selections Marian Goodman Gallery, Nueva York.
Into Nature Art Expedition. Drenthe, Holanda.
Riga International Biennale, Latvia.

2017
Like A Moth To A Flame. Officine Grandi Riparazionoand Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turín, Italia.

From the series Rinsacimento. Pompei@Madre, Materia Archeologica, Museo de Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Nápolea, Italia.
Jerusalen Live. The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit, Palestina.
Unfinished Conversation: New Work from the Collection. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Nueva York.

Unpacking: The Marciano Collection. The Marciano Art Foundation, Los Ángeles.
Ungestalt. Kunsthalle Basel, Suiza.
Mondialité. Boghossian Foundation, Villa Empain, Bruselas.
Monumentos, anti-monumentos y nueva escultura pública. Museo de Arte de Zapopan, México.

Frozen World of the Familiar Stranger. KHOJ, Nueva Delhi, India.

2016
The 6th Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech, Morocco
Tiroche DeLeon Collection Exhibition, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ Shanghai Project, Shanghai Himalayas Center. Shanghai, China.
5th Anyang Public Art Project, Anyang Art Park and the city of Anyang, South Korea ANIMALITY ,Marian Goodman Gallery. Londres, Reino Unido.
Miracle Marathon, Serpentine Sackler Gallery. Londres, Reino Unido.

2015
The 14th Istanbul Biennial. Estambul, Turquía.
Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim, The Solomon R. Guggenheim. Nueva York, EEUU.
Twelfth Havana Biennial. La Habana, Cuba.
Sharjah Biennial 12: the past, the present, the possible, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates United States of Latin America, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI

2014
A Thousand Doors, The Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies. Atenas, Grecia.
LVMH. Paris, Francia.

2013
The Insides are on the Outside, Casa de Vidro and SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo, Brazil 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art
La inocencia de los animales, EXPO 1, MoMA PS1. Nueva York, EEUU.

2012
IX Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China (through 2013)
Ultimas tendencias II, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Ungovernables, The New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York Return the World, dOCUMENTA(13), Kassel, Germany and Kabul. Afganistán.

2011
T Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), Istanbul, Turkey
Ars Apocalipsis – Kunst und Kollaps, Kunstverein Kreis Gütersloh e.V., Gütersloh. Alemania.
ECHORAUM – Transformationen, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Deutschland, Bonn. Alemania.

2010
Panamericana, Kurimanzutto Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico Map Marathon 2010, Serpentine Gallery. Londres.
Bundesrepublik
The Return of the Landscape, Akademie der Kunst, Berlin. Alemania.

2009
Moby Dick, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco
Mamõyguara Opá Mamõ Pupé, Panorama das Artes Brasileiras, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. Brasil.
X Bienal Internacional de Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador
2ª Bienal del Fin del Mundo – Intemperie. Ushuaia, Argentina

2008
Nuevas incorporaciones. MACRO – Juan B. Castagnino Fine Arts Museum. Rosario, Argentina.

2007
Open Studio, Basilisco Residency. Buenos Aires, Argentina

2005
Periférica/Arte de Base. Club del Dibujo, Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sobre el amor (en el arte contemporáneo).Centro Cultural Borges Alberto Sendros Galería de Arte. Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bienal Nacional de Arte de Bahía Blanca. Contemporary Art Museum, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

2004
LVIII Rosario ́s National Saloon. Juan B. Castagnino Museo de Bellas Artes, Rosario, Argentina
Contemporary Argentinean Art. Melting Point Gallery, San Francisco Festival de la Luz. Bellas Artes Rosa Galisteo, Santa Fe, Argentina

2003
Currículum Cero 03. Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Awards

2020
Nominado para el Premio Hugo Boss 2020.

2015

Prix Canson, Fonds Canson pour l’Art et le papier Sharjah Biennial Prize, Sharjah Art Foundation

2013
Zurich Art Prize, Museum Haus Konstruktiv

2012
Konex Prize: Merit Diploma-Sculpture and Object: 2007-2011, Ciudad Cultural Konex, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2011
The 9th Benesse Prize. Benesse Holdings Inc. Naoshima, Japan
SAM Art Projects, Artist Residency, Paris, France

2010
Raul Urtasun – Frances Harley Scholarship, Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada
La Residencia, Bogota, Columbia

2009
Panorama ́s Residency.San Pablo, Brasil

2007
ArteBA- Petrobras Prize. ArteBA 16 Contemporary Art Fair, Buenos Aires, Argentina El Basilisco. Artist Residency, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2006
Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe Scholarship for Young Artists, Rosario, Argentina

2005
First Prize “Bienal Nacional de Arte de Bahía Blanca”.Contemporary Art Museum, Bahía Blanca, Argentina
Visual Arts Workshop, Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2003 First Prize “Currículum Cero 03,” Ruth Benzacar Art Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Publications

Adrián Villar Rojas. Publicado por Phaidon