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adrián villar rojas

adrian_villar_rojas_geffen_contemporary_MOCA_2017

adrián villar rojas

1980, Rosario, Argentina

Adrián Villar Rojas has built his practice across numerous media to create immersive environments and experiences that seem to be in a state of perpetual space-time travel. Evolving over the years towards the design of topography-based, mutant, organic-inorganic systems, he invites viewers to explore an unpredictable microcosmos of his own creation. There, the future, the past, and alternate versions of our own present interact as a constantly changing totality. By way of this world-building, Villar Rojas posits the question: what if we could see and think of ourselves—humanity—from an alien perspective? That is, from a detached, unprejudiced, even amoral perspective? What if we could see and think of ourselves from the edge of our own completed path?

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Sharjah Biennial Prize, awarded by the Sharjah Art Foundation (2015); the Zurich Art Prize at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv (2013); the ninth Benesse Prize at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); the Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe Scholarship for Young Artists (2006); and first prize at the Bahía Blanca Biennial, held at the Contemporary Art Museum of Bahía Blanca, Argentina (2005).

Adrián Villar Rojas lives and works nomadically

download full CV

Selected Works

Selected Works Thumbnails

the most beautiful of all mothers, 2015

variable dimensions

installation view at the 14th istanbul biennial, 2015

 

the most beautiful of all mothers (xiv), 2015

organic and inorganic materials
132.28 x 135.43 x 129.53 in. installed

installation view at the 14th istanbul biennial, 2015

the most beautiful of all mothers (ix), 2015

organic and inorganic materials

102.36 x 85.43 x 70.08 in. installed
installation view at the 14th istanbul biennial, 2015

 

rinascimento, 2015

stones, pigments, metal, wood, found objects

variable dimensions

installation view of rinascimento: adrián villar rojas, fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo, turín, italia, 2015

 

rinascimento, 2015

stones, pigments, metal, wood, found objects

variable dimensions

installation view of rinascimento: adrián villar rojas, fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo, turín, italia, 2015

rinascimento, 2015

stones, pigments, metal, wood, found objects

variable dimensions

installation view of rinascimento: adrián villar rojas, fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo, turín, italia, 2015

detail

the theater of disappearance, 2017

inert materials

variable dimensions

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017 

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

inert materials

variable dimensions

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

inert materials

variable dimensions

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

ivy, coloured lights, recreations of parietal pictographs, pixacao and roman period graffiti, floor tiles and blocks of moroccan marble encrusted with ammonites and orthoceras fossils, fossilized turtle shells, neolithic stone tools, septarian concretions

on site installation

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, kunsthaus bregenz, austria, 2017 

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at kunsthaus bregenz, 2017 

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at kunsthaus bregenz, austria, 2017 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

from the series the theater of disappearance (xiii), 2017

freezer, organic and inorganic materials

80.71 x 55.12 x 35.04 in.

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

the most beautiful of all mothers, 2015

variable dimensions

installation view at the 14th istanbul biennial, 2015

 

the most beautiful of all mothers (xiv), 2015

organic and inorganic materials
132.28 x 135.43 x 129.53 in. installed

installation view at the 14th istanbul biennial, 2015

the most beautiful of all mothers (ix), 2015

organic and inorganic materials

102.36 x 85.43 x 70.08 in. installed
installation view at the 14th istanbul biennial, 2015

 

rinascimento, 2015

stones, pigments, metal, wood, found objects

variable dimensions

installation view of rinascimento: adrián villar rojas, fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo, turín, italia, 2015

 

rinascimento, 2015

stones, pigments, metal, wood, found objects

variable dimensions

installation view of rinascimento: adrián villar rojas, fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo, turín, italia, 2015

rinascimento, 2015

stones, pigments, metal, wood, found objects

variable dimensions

installation view of rinascimento: adrián villar rojas, fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo, turín, italia, 2015

detail

the theater of disappearance, 2017

inert materials

variable dimensions

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017 

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

inert materials

variable dimensions

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

inert materials

variable dimensions

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

ivy, coloured lights, recreations of parietal pictographs, pixacao and roman period graffiti, floor tiles and blocks of moroccan marble encrusted with ammonites and orthoceras fossils, fossilized turtle shells, neolithic stone tools, septarian concretions

on site installation

installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, kunsthaus bregenz, austria, 2017 

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at kunsthaus bregenz, 2017 

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at kunsthaus bregenz, austria, 2017 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

the theater of disappearance, 2017
installation view at national observatory of athens, hill of the nymphs, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

 

the theater of disappearance, 2017

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

from the series the theater of disappearance (xiii), 2017

freezer, organic and inorganic materials

80.71 x 55.12 x 35.04 in.

installation view at the geffen contemporary at moca, los angeles, 2017

notable solo exhibitions

notable solo exhibitions

Solo exhibitions include: Poems for Earthlings, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2019); The Theater of Disappearance, the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles (2017); The Theater of Disappearance, commissioned and presented by NEON Foundation at National Observatory of Athens, Hill of the Nymphs, Athens (2017); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2017); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2017); Rinascimento, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2015); Two Suns, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (2015); Fantasma, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2015); The Evolution of God, High Line at the Rail Yards, New York (2014); Los teatros de Saturno, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2014); Films Before Revolution, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2013); Today We Reboot the Planet, Serpentine Galleries, London (2013); The Work of the Ocean, Foundation 11 Lijnen, Belgium (2013); Before My Birth, Arts Brookfield with the New Museum, World Financial Center Plaza, New York (2012); and Poems for Earthlings, SAM ART Projects, the Louvre Museum, Paris (2011). 

biennials

Villar Rojas represented Argentina in the 54th Venice Biennale, ILLUMInations, Italy (2011).

He has participated in international biennials including the 12th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2018); the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA I), Riga (2018); the 14th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2015); the 12th Havana Biennial, Havana (2015); Sharjah Biennial 12, Kalba (2015); the ninth Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai (2012); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel and Kabul (2012); and the New Museum Triennial, New York (2012).

His 2013 film Lo que el fuego me trajo (32', produced by Rei Cine) screened at the 2013 Locarno International Film Festival. His 2017 film trilogy The Theater of Disappearance, (1h58'37", produced by Rei Cine) screened at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival (2017).