adrián villar rojas
1980, Rosario, Argentina
Adrián Villar Rojas has built a practice working across multiple forms of media to create immersive environments and experiences that evoke a state of perpetual space-time travel. Evolving his methodology over many years towards topography-based, mutant, organic-inorganic systems, the artist invites viewers to become explorers of an unpredictable microcosmos—where the future, the past, and alternate versions of our own present interact as a constantly changing totality. Through this world-building, Villar Rojas posits the question: what if we could see and think of ourselves—humanity—from an alien perspective: detached, unprejudiced, even amoral? What if we could see and think of ourselves from the border of our own completed path?
Villar Rojas has been 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); 9th Benesse Prize in the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe Scholarship for Young Artists (2006); and first prize in the Bienal Nacional de Arte de Bahía Blanca at the Contemporary Art Museum of Bahía Blanca, Argentina (2005). In 2020 he was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY.
Adrián Villar Rojas lives and works nomadically.
adrián villar rojas
untitled 3, from the series the end of imagination, 2024
inkjet print and acrylic paint on paper
61.5 x 46 x 4 cm (24.21 x 18.11 x 1.57 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled 4, from the series the end of imagination, 2024
inkjet print and acrylic paint on paper
61.5 x 46 x 4 cm (24.21 x 18.11 x 1.57 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled 5, from the series the end of imagination, 2024
inkjet print and acrylic paint on paper
61.5 x 46 x 4 cm (24.21 x 18.11 x 1.57 in.)
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
485 x 545 cm (191 x 214 5/8 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the end of imagination vii, 2024
live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
320 x 370 cm (126 x 145 5/8 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the end of imagination, 2024
hand-painted reproduction of piero della francesca’s madonna del parto, layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter including metals, concrete, soil, plaster, wood, sand, marble dust, glass, salt, wax, resin, pigments, water, tree barks, adhesives, spray paint, salvaged auto parts, recycled plastics
variable dimensions
adrián villar rojas
untitled 22, from the series the end of imagination, 2023
live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
80 x 68 x 69 cm (31.5 x 26.77 x 27.17 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled 20, from the series the end of imagination, 2023
live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
71.5 x 55 x 59 cm (28.15 x 21.65 x 23.23 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled 21, from the series the end of imagination, 2023
live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
86 x 46 x 66.5 cm (33.86 x 18.11 x 26.18 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled 2. from the series the end of imagination, 2023-2025
live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
30 x 33 x 70 cm (11 3/4 x 13 x 27 1/2 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled 8. from the series the end of imagination, 2023-2025
live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
144 x 95 x 100 cm (56 3/4 x 37 3/8 x 39 3/8 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled 9. from the series the end of imagination, 2023-2025
live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
48 x 47 x 100 cm (18 7/8 x 18 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the theater of disappearance (i), 2017
recreation of the fossilized skeleton of australopithecus afarensis "lucy", recreation of a black footed albatross skeleton, silver chain with crucifix pendant, gold hoop earrings with infinity symbol, linen, sand, metal and glass case
100 x 180 x 106 cm (39.37 x 70.87 x 41.73 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series the theater of disappearance, 2017
floor comprised of moroccan marble encrusted with orthoceras fossils, fire, petrified wood (from rinascimento, 2015), bkf2000 armchairs, glass, beespoke steel frame and chandelier, hand painted reproductions of guernica by pablo picasso, giraffatitan brancai by john conway, and cro-magnon man by zdeněk burian
variable dimensions
adrián villar rojas
the theater of disappearance (4), 2017
inert materials
78.5 x 300 x 145 cm (30.91 x 118.11 x 57.09 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the theater of disappearance (6), 2017
inert materials
181 x 300 x 145 cm. (71.26 x 118.11 x 57.09 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the theater of disappearance (8), 2017
inert materials
369.8 x 190.5 x 254 cm (145.59 x 75 x 100 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the theater of disappearance (11), 2017
inert materials
214.8 x 78 x 93 cm (84.57 x 30.71 x 36.61 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the theater of disappearance (12), 2017
inert materials
265.3 x 124 x 154 cm (104.45 x 48.82 x 60.63 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the theater of disappearance (14), 2017
inert materials
189.5 x 82 x 72 cm (74.61 x 32.28 x 28.35 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series the theater of disappearance (ii), 2017
freezer, organic and inorganic materials
193 x 70 x 87 cm (75.98 x 27.56 x 34.25 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series the theater of disappearance (ix), 2017
display refrigerator, organic and inorganic materials
120 x 210 x 82 cm (47.24 x 82.68 x 32.28 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series the theater of disappearance (iv), 2017
display refrigerator containing rubber, cables, hose, metal, plastic parts, taros, potatoes, sweet potatoes, hominid skeleton hand replica and cassavas from los angeles; corals from kalba, united arab emirates; branches from mexico city; stone from ankara, turkey, drywall and blue chroma key paint; concrete and recycled base rock
125 x 196 x 100 cm (49.21 x 77.17 x 39.37 in.) display
220 x 150 x 60 cm (86.61 x 59.06 x 23.62 in.) stone
adrián villar rojas
from the series the theater of disappearance (x), 2017
freezers, organic and inorganic materials
210 x 272 x 150 cm (82.68 x 107.09 x 59.06 in.)
adrián villar rojas
fom the series the theater of disappearance (xiii), 2017
freezer, organic and inorganic materials
205 x 140 x 89 cm (80.71 x 55.12 x 35.04 in.)
adrián villar rojas
the most beautiful of all mothers (ii), 2015
site specific installation. organic and inorganic materials
300 x 300 x 200 cm (118.11 x 118.11 x 78.74 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series la inocencia de los animales (55), 2014
oil on color print
46 x 56 x 4.2 cm (18.11 x 22.05 x 1.65 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series la inocencia de los animales (56), 2014
oil on color print
46 x 56 x 4.2 cm (18.11 x 22.05 x 1.65 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series today we reboot the planet (11), 2014
oil on color print
46 x 56 x 4.2 cm (18.11 x 22.05 x 1.65 in.)
adrián villar rojas
from the series today we reboot the planet (12), 2014
oil on color print
46 x 56 x 4.2 cm (18.11 x 22.05 x 1.65 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled from the series los teatros de saturno, 2014
clay, concrete and potato
12.3 x 28.5 x 27 cm (4.84 x 11.22 x 10.63 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled from the series los teatros de saturno, 2014
clay, concrete, watermelon, soap and potato
27.5 x 25 x 25 cm (10.83 x 9.84 x 9.84 in.)
adrián villar rojas
untitled from the series los teatros de saturno, 2014
clay, concrete, mushroom, glass, sunflower germ, potato and peanut candy
15 x 27 x 27 cm (5.91 x 10.63 x 10.63 in.)
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the language of the enemy, art sonje center, seoul, 2025. photo seowon nam
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the language of the enemy, art sonje center, seoul, 2025. photo seowon nam
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the language of the enemy, art sonje center, seoul, 2025. photo seowon nam
installation view of adrián villar rojas: (untitled) the language of the enemy, vallée de joux, le brassus, 2025. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: (untitled) the language of the enemy, vallée de joux, le brassus, 2025. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: (untitled) the language of the enemy, vallée de joux, le brassus, 2025. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the end of imagination, the tank at the art gallery of new south wales, sydney, 2022. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the end of imagination, the tank at the art gallery of new south wales, sydney, 2022. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the end of imagination, the tank at the art gallery of new south wales, sydney, 2022. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the theater of disappearance, the metropolitan museum of art, new york, 2017. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the most beautiful of all mothers in saltwater: a theory of thought form, the 14th istanbul biennial, turkey, 2015. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the most beautiful of all mothers in saltwater: a theory of thought form, the 14th istanbul biennial, turkey, 2015. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: the most beautiful of all mothers in saltwater: a theory of thought form, the 14th istanbul biennial, turkey, 2015. photo: jörg baumann
installation view of adrián villar rojas: los teatros de saturno, kurimanzutto, mexico city, 2014.
installation view of adrián villar rojas: los teatros de saturno, kurimanzutto, mexico city, 2014.
installation view of adrián villar rojas: los teatros de saturno, kurimanzutto, mexico city, 2014.
installation view of adrián villar rojas: la inocencia de los animales, moma ps1, new york, 2013. courtesy of the artist.
installation view of adrián villar rojas: la inocencia de los animales, moma ps1, new york, 2013. courtesy of the artist.
installation view of adrián villar rojas: la inocencia de los animales, moma ps1, new york, 2013. courtesy of the artist.
Solo exhibitions include: Untitled (From the Series The Language of the Enemy), Audemars Piguet Contemporary, Le Brassus, Switzerland (2025); Adrián Villar Rojas: The Language of the Enemy, Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2025); The End of Imagination, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2022); El fin de la imaginación, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami (two-person exhibition with Mariana Tellería) (2022); adrián villar rojas - untitled vi, vii, viii (from the series rinascimento), as part of Siembra, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2021); 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 (2017); The Theater of Disappearance, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2017); The Theater of Disappearance, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), New York (2017); Rinascimento, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2015); Fantasma, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (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, Switzerland (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, Louvre Museum, Paris (2011), among others.
Selected group exhibitions include: MACHINE LOVE: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2025); Dancing with All: The Ecology of Empathy, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2024); Dance with Daemons, Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2024); Overture 2024, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Italy (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); DMZ, Culture Station Seoul 284 (2019); No habrá nunca una puerta. Estás adentro. Obras de la Coleção Teixeira de Freitas, Sala de Arte Santander, Madrid (2019); Au diapason du monde (In Tune with the World), Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2018); The Willfulness of Objects, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami (2018); Like A Moth To A Flame, Officine Grandi Riparazioni and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2017); Jerusalem Lives, The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit, Palestine (2017); Unfinished Conversation: New Work from the Collection, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2017); Frozen World of the Familiar Stranger, KADIST, San Francisco, and Khoj Studios, New Delhi, India (2016); Miracle Marathon, Serpentine Galleries, London (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); Berni y las representaciones argentinas en la Bienal de Venecia, Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, Buenos Aires (2013); Dark Optimism, as part of EXPO 1: New York, MoMA PS1, New York (2013); Map Marathon 2010, Serpentine Galleries, 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 (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: 6th Kochi Muziris Biennale, Kerala, India (2025); Aichi Triennale, Japan (2025); New Directions May Emerge, Helsinki Biennial 2023, Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), Finland (2023); Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More, Riga International Biennale, Latvia (2018); Do We Dream Under the Same Sky, ARoS Triennial, Aarhus, Denmark (2017); Not New Now, The 6th Marrakech Biennale, Morocco (2016); 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2013); The Ungovernables, 2012 New Museum Triennial, World Financial Center Plaza and New Museum, New York (2012); IX Shanghai Biennale, China (2012); 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011); X Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador (2009); Intemperie, 2nd End of the World Biennial, Ushuaia, Argentina (2009); The Poly/Graphic San Juan Triennial Second Edition, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2009); and Bienal Nacional de Arte de Bahía Blanca, Contemporary Art Museum, Bahía Blanca, Argentina (2005).
His 2013 film Lo que el fuego me trajo, produced by Rei Cine, was screened at Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland (2013); and film trilogy The Theater of Disappearance, also produced by Rei Cine, was shown 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.
