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.
the end of imagination iv, 2024. installation view at fondation beyeler & luma foundation's summer exhibition, 2024
fondation beyeler, riehen/basel, 2024. adrián villar rojas, the end of imagination vi, 2024, live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human and machine-made matter, courtesy the artist. © adrián villar rojas. photo: stefan bohrer
the end of imagination iv, 2024 (detail). installation view at fondation beyeler & luma foundation's summer exhibition, 2024
fondation beyeler, riehen/basel, 2024. adrián villar rojas, the end of imagination vi, 2024, live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human and machine-made matter, courtesy the artist. © adrián villar rojas. photo: stefan bohrer
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 theater of disappearance, 2017
hand-painted reproduction of piero della francesca’s madonna del parto, transparent film on glass walls, mirror-clad column
on site installation
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, kunsthaus bregenz, austria, 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
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
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 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
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, 2015
variable dimensions
installation view at the 14th istanbul biennial, 2015
Solo exhibitions include: El fin de la imaginación, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL (2023); The End of Imagination, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2022); 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); Poems for Earthlings, SAM ART Projects, the Louvre Museum, Paris (2011); among many others.
Selected group exhibitions include: Dance with Daemon (Summer Group Show), Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland (2024); Lo que la noche le cuenta al día, PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan—Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires (2024); Chosen Memories Contemporary Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift and Beyond, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2023); Picasso: Sin Título, La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2023); TODOS JUNTOS (All Together), kurimanzutto, New York (2022); “Carte blanche” to Anne Imhof, Natures Mortes, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2021); Seismic Movements, Dhaka Art Summit 2020, Bangladesh (2020); La Collezione Cerruti / The Cerruti Collection, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy (2020); Potential Worlds 2: Eco-Fictions, Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Zurich, Switzerland (2020); DMZ, Culture Station Seoul 284 (2019); No habrá nunca una puerta. Estás adentro. Obras de la Coleção Teixeira de Freitas, Sala de Arte Santander, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid (2019); Au diapason du monde (In Tune with the World), Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2018); Into Nature, organized by Drents Museum, Kunst & Cultuur Drenthe, Kunst in Kolderveen (KiK), and Museum De Buitenplaats, The Netherlands (2018); The Willfulness of Objects, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL (2018); Death is Irrelevant, Hudson Valley MOCA, Peekskill, NY (2018); Emerald City, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong, China (2018); Like A Moth To A Flame, Officine Grandi Riparaziono and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2017); Jerusalem Lives, The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit (2017); Unfinished Conversation: New Work from the Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2017); Unpacking: The Marciano Collection, The Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA (2017); The Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2017); Monumentos, anti-monumentos y nueva escultura pública, Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ), Mexico (2017); Everything you are, I am not. Latin American contemporary art from the Tiroche DeLeon Collection, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ (2016); Towards a Larger World, Moderna Museet Malmö, Sweden (2016); Frozen World of the Familiar Stranger, KADIST, San Francisco, CA, and Khoj Studios, New Delhi, India (2016); Animality, Marian Goodman Gallery, London (2016); Miracle Marathon, Serpentine Gallery, London (2016); Con texto: palabra, escritura y narración en el arte contemporáneo, Museo Universidad de Antioquia (MUUA), Medellín, Colombia (2016); Une Histoire. Art, architecture et design, des années 80 à aujourd‘hui, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015); Motherland, Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2015); United States of Latin America, Museum of Comtemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), IL (2015); Territories and Subjectivities: Contemporary Art from Argentina, Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), Washington, D.C. (2013); Berni y las representaciones argentinas en la Bienal de Venecia, Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, Buenos Aires (2013); El barro y la paja, La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2013); Dark Optimism, as part of EXPO 1: New York, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY (2013); Map Marathon 2010, Serpentine Gallery, London (2010); Panamericana, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2010); The return of the landscape, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2010); Moby Dick, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA (2009); Panorama das Artes Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil (2009); Periférica / Arte de Base, Club del Dibujo, Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires (2005); among others.
Villar Rojas has participated in numerous international biennials, notably: New Directions May Emerge, Helsinki Biennial 2023, Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) (2023); 12th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2018); Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA I), Latvia (2018); 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015); 12ª Bienal de La Habana (2015); Sharjah Biennial 12, United Arab Emirates (2015); 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel and Kabul (2012); New Museum Triennial, New York (2012) and The 54th Venice Biennial, ILLUMInations, Italy (2011).
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).
Read full review on Adrián Villar Rojas' amazing Venice Biennale in 2011 in ArtCulture Magazine.
Read full article on how Mariana Tellería and Adrián Villar Rojas' intervention at Rosario's Contemporary Museum.
Potential Worlds 2: Eco-Fictions inquires into the potential worlds that might emerge from the ruins of humanity’s making
The Willfulness of Objects presents a selection of works from The Bass’ collection, many newly acquired, by artists who utilize found, altered, recycled, or transformed everyday objects as their materials to explore facets of human nature, history, and the surrounding environment.
The sculptural work of adrián villar rojas - sometimes you wonder, in an interconnected universe, who is dreaming who? traces the chronology of its origins through the materials with which they are made and the physical and mental landscapes with which they are used. A complete visual map of the exhibition and the concepts it encompasses (in the form of a booklet) provides the keys to reading and navigating the creative process of Villar Rojas.
The 12th Gwangju Biennale’s Imagined Borders is a guiding concept that responds to the current times of change and uncertainty by recognizing the limits of grand narratives, singular authorship and the necessity to return to the complexities of multiple voices and perspectives. Seven exhibitions, spread across the city at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall, the Asia Culture Center, and other historical sites, will present responses to the imagination of borders—as historical and real, experiential and abstract, imaginary and transgressive.
As part of its series of new digital initiatives, the New Museum presents Bedtime Stories, a project initiated by the artist Maurizio Cattelan in which different artists are invited to read a selection from their favorite book.
The Murderer of Your Heritage is the second part of an editorial trilogy that is completed with Ahora seré con mi hijo (I) and Terrestrial Poems (III). This book gathers interviews with the artist, texts and images about his artistic production.
This booklet An interview with Adrián Villar Rojas by Hans Ulrich Obrist, along with the invitation/poster and the 4th edition of the SAM Art Projects artist book, belongs to Poems for Earthlings - a monumental sculpture exhibited with the Louvre in the Jardin des Tuileries on September/October 2011.
A reissue of Issue No. 1 of the Cahiers d’Art revue originally published in 2012. Faithful to the spirit of the original revue, the first issue contains an extensive article of seventy pages dedicated to a defining artist, Ellsworth Kelly; texts from renowned architects, art historians and critics; as well as portfolios devoted to Cyprien Gaillard, Sarah Morris, and Adrián Villar Rojas.
Colossal scale works produced especially for Kunsthaus Bregenz set the stage for The Theater of Disappearance. This exhibition catalog documents and preserves the site-specific presentation, from the initial designs, through the installation process, to the final presentation.
