Santiago, Chile, 1975.
Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Cristián Silva-Avária has lived in Rio de Janeiro since 2011. He has an MFA from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a BA from the University of Chile. He is an associate professor at the Diego Portales University in Santiago, Chile.
One of the main characteristics of Silva-Avaria’s work is his interest in urban intersections that define time, space, and place in different cities. The artist explores the unintended consequences of urban production on contemporaneity. Silva-Avária presents these traces and marks of social-urban friction in a critical dialogue with the exhibition context by predominantly using photography and video in different formats and materials, including: video-installations of two or three channels, back-lighting, diasec, c-prints, and stop-motion-animation. Certain of these aspects are accentuated and linked to the physical body of each type of image and its relationship to the spectators.
“Mind the gap”, 2014. Duration: 12’04”
“Alternative Work & Tourist Leaving the Hotel”, 2013. Duration: 7’07”
“The City, The Runners and The Fisherman”, 2012. Duration 2’03”
“Construction Under Destruction”, 2012. Duration: 9’48”
“Trabajo Colectivo o Tiempo Diferido / Group Work or Deferred Time“, 2012. Duration: 20’55”
Solo Exhibitions
2014
-“Mind the Gap”, Gallery Laura Marsiaj, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Observaciones Transitorias”, curated by Alexia Tala, Solo Project, Summa Art Fair, Madrid, Spain.
-“Observaciones Transitorias”, curated by Olivier Collet and Jérôme Lefaure, Homesession Art Space, Barcelona, Spain.
2012
-“Borderline”, Gallery Patricia Ready, Santiago, Chile.
-“Summertime”, curated by Alex Mora, Kunsthaus Rhenania, Cologne, Germany.
2011
-“The Reverso Project, Part II”, curated by de Alexia Tala, Gallery Laura Marsiaj, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2010
-“Pintura Abstracta Chilena”, curated by Camilo Yañes, espacio L390, Santiago, Chile.
2009
-“The Reverso Project, Primeira Parte”, Gallery MORO, Santiago, Chile.
2008
-“Punto Medio”, curated by Linda Nilson, VVV Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2007
-“Match Point Project”, Gallery Animal, Santiago, Chile.
2004
-“Color Local”, Gallery Animal, Santiago, Chile.
Group Exhibitions
2014
-“Encontro de Mundos, diversidade na coleção MAR”, curated by Paulo Herkenhoff, Museum of Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Geografias”, curated by Alberto Madrid, Sala de Arte CCU, Santiago, Chile.
-“El Paisaje Urbano”, curated by Hernán Garfias, Sala de Arte Academia de Idiomas y Estudios Profesionales, Santiago, Chile.
2013
-“55th Venice Biennial, curated by Alfons Hug, commissioned by Sylvia Irrazábal, project in collaboration with Harun Farocki and Antje Ehmann, Ital0-Latin American Institute, Italy.
-“Urban Perspectives”, curated by Aline Shkurovich, Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain, Washington D.C., USA.
-“Fronteiras”, curated by Felipe Scovino and Giselle Ruiz, Cultural Space Sérgio Porto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Intervenciones”, Gallery Patricia Ready, Santiago, Chile.
-“Minimalismo made in Chile”, curated by Gonzalo Pedraza, Cultural Centre Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile.
2012
-“Storm Festival”, curated by Alex Mora, Kunst Kunsthaus Rhenania, Cologne, Germany.
– Deslocamento F(r)icção”, Palácio Gustavo Capanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2011
-“A Sangue Frio”, curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Gallery Moura Marsiaj, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Offene Ateliers”, curated by Alex Mora, Münster, Germany.
-“Operación Verdad”, curated by Guillermo Machuca, Museum of Solidarity Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile.
-“Chile Arte Extremo”, curated by Carolina Lara, Cultural Centre de Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
-“Artistas de Galeria Moro”, Museum of Contemporary Art of Valdivia, Chile.
2010
-“Silêncio”, curated by Paula Braga, Gallery Zipper, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Planos Individuales”, curated by Carlos Navarrete, Gallery StuArt, Santiago, Chile.
-“Artistas SXXI bicentenário”, curated by Luz María Wiliamsom, Extension Centre of the Catholic University, Santiago, Chile.
-“2,1,20”, Gallery Moro, Santiago, Chile.
2009
-“Obsidiana”, curated by Adrian and Luna Fischer, Gallery AFA, Santiago, Chile.
-“Ver”, VVV Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2008
-“Colección de Invierno”, Gallery AFA, Santiago, Chile.
2007
-“Niños Jugando”, curated by Caterina Purdy, Sala de Arte Sotomayor, Valparaíso, Chile.
-“Materia dolorosa”, curated by Alexia Tala and David Medalla, Gallery Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile.
2006
-“De la Mano a la Boca”, Museum of Contemporary Art of Santiago, Chile.
-“Absolute Eruptions”, Gallery Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile.
2004
-“Arte Contemporáneo Chileno”, curated by Ethel Klenner and Soledad Novoa, Gallery Valenzuela y Klenner, Bogotá, Colombia.
-“Chile & Italia, artistas emergentes”, curated by Antonio Arévalo, Italo-Latin American Institute, Rome, Italy.
-“Fantasmatic”, curated by Luz María Williamson, Millenium Museum, Beijing, China.
Awards & Grants
2013
-Grant, National Council of Culture and the Arts of the Government of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
2012-2014
-Grant for the MFA research project “Encontros Improváveis: imagem, experiência urbana, estranhamento”, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of the Government of Brazil, Post-Graduate Programme in the Visual Arts, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2011
–Grant for Artistic Research, Beca Arte+, Corporación Arte+, Santiago, Chile.
2009
-Award for the best exhibition of 2009, Reverso Project, Círculo Críticos de Arte de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
2008
-First Prize, Artistas Siglo XXI, Catholic University of Chile and Canal 13 TV, Santiago, Chile.
2006
-Grant, National Council of Culture and the Arts of the Government of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Residencies
2013
-Homesession Art Space, Barcelona, Spain.
2011-2012
-Kunsthaus Rhenania, Cologne, Germany.
Selected Collections
-Museum of Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-Institute Figueiredo Ferraz, Riberão Preto, Brazil.
-CCU, Santiago, Chile.
-Catholic University Artistic Patrimony Collection, Santiago, Chile.
-National Council of Culture and the Arts of the Government of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
-Gallery Gabriela Mistral, National Council of Culture and the Arts of the Government of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
