photo: emman montalvan
gala porras-kim
1984, Bogotá, Colombia
Gala Porras-Kim makes work about the social and political contexts that influence how intangible things, such as sounds, language and history, have been framed through the fields of linguistics, history and conservation. Her practice considers the way institutions shape inherited codes and forms and conversely, how objects can shape the contexts in which they are placed. She received an MFA from CalArts and an MA in Latin American Studies from UCLA. She was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (2019), the artist-in-residence at the Getty Research Institute (2020-22), and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2025).
Porras-Kim lives and works between Los Angeles and London.
installation view of gala porras-kim: non-consenting collaborators, castello di rivoli, turin, 2025. photo: luca vianello and silvia mangosio
installation view of gala porras-kim: non-consenting collaborators, castello di rivoli, turin, 2025. photo: luca vianello and silvia mangosio
installation view of gala porras-kim: non-consenting collaborators, castello di rivoli, turin, 2025. photo: luca vianello and silvia mangosio
installation view of gala porras-kim: the reflection at the threshold of a categorical division, carniege museum of art, pennsylvania, 2025. photo: zachary riggleman
installation view of gala porras-kim: the reflection at the threshold of a categorical division, carniege museum of art, pennsylvania, 2025. photo: zachary riggleman
installation view of gala porras-kim: the reflection at the threshold of a categorical division, carniege museum of art, pennsylvania, 2025. photo: zachary riggleman
installation view of gala porras-kim: the motion of an alluvial record, storefront for art and architecture, new york, 2024. photo: luis corzo
installation view of gala porras-kim: the motion of an alluvial record, storefront for art and architecture, new york, 2024. photo: luis corzo
installation view of gala porras-kim: the motion of an alluvial record, storefront for art and architecture, new york, 2024. photo: luis corzo
installation view of gala porras-kim: a hand in nature, museum of contemporary art denver (mca denver), 2024. photo: wes magyar
installation view of gala porras-kim: a hand in nature, museum of contemporary art denver (mca denver), 2024. photo: wes magyar
installation view of gala porras-kim: a hand in nature, museum of contemporary art denver (mca denver), 2024. photo: wes magyar
installation view of gala porras-kim: between lapses of histories, museo de arte contemporáneo (muac), mexico city, 2023. courtesy of museo de arte contemporáneo (muac) and the artist
installation view of gala porras-kim: between lapses of histories, museo de arte contemporáneo (muac), mexico city, 2023. courtesy of museo de arte contemporáneo (muac) and the artist
installation view of gala porras-kim: between lapses of histories, museo de arte contemporáneo (muac), mexico city, 2023. courtesy of museo de arte contemporáneo (muac) and the artist
installation view of gala porras-kim: out of an instance of expiration comes a perennialshowing, gasworks, london, 2022. photo: andy keate
installation view of gala porras-kim: out of an instance of expiration comes a perennialshowing, gasworks, london, 2022. photo: andy keate
installation view of gala porras-kim: out of an instance of expiration comes a perennialshowing, gasworks, london, 2022. photo: andy keate
installation view of gala porras-kim: made in la a the through only, hammer museum, los angeles, 2016. photo: brian forrest
installation view of gala porras-kim: made in la a the through only, hammer museum, los angeles, 2016. photo: brian forrest
installation view of gala porras-kim: made in la a the through only, hammer museum, los angeles, 2016. photo: brian forrest
Selected solo exhibitions include: Espacios del futuro replican los del pasado, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2026); Non-Consenting Collaborators, Villa Cerruti and Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy (2025); The reflection at the threshold of a categorical division, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2025); The motion of an alluvial record, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (2025); Conditions for recognising a living stone, Delfina Foundation, London (2024); A Recollection Returns with a Soft Touch, Museo della Civiltà Romana, Rome (2024); The motion of an alluvial record, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York (2024); Entre lapsos de historias, Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City (2023); National Treasures, Leeum - Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2023); Out of an instance of expiration comes a perennial showing, Gasworks, London (2023); Precipitation for an Arid Landscape, Amant/Kadist, New York (2021); Open House: Gala Porras-Kim, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA) (2019); Trials in Ancient Technology, Headlands Center for the Arts, California (2018); An Index and its Histories, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles (2017); For Prospective Rock/Artifact Projection, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles (2015); The Mute Object and Ancient Stories of Today, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles (2013); Whistling and Language Transfiguration, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles (2012); I Want to Prepare to Learn Something I Don’t Know, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles (2010); Adaptation, Dobaebacsa HQ, Seoul (2010), among others.
Her work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions, such as: Grounded, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (2025); MMCA Performing Arts 2024: Space Elevator, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul (2025); Diary of Flowers: Artists and their Worlds, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA) (2025); Ways of Knowing, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2025); Scientia Sexualis, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Los Angeles (2024); Atrium Series, Art at Americas Society, New York (2024); Countering Time, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, China (2024); Rituals of the Everyday, Collegium, Arévalo, Spain (2024); Korea Artist Prize, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul (2023); Chosen Memories: Contemporary Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift and Beyond, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2023) Frequencies of Tradition, Kadist, San Francisco (2022); NOT I: Throwing Voices (1500 BCE - 2020 CE), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (2021); Grain of a Hand: Drawings with Graphite, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) (2021); Block Party, The Arts Club, London (2020); Out of Place: A feminist look at the collection, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2020); An Opera for Animals, Para Site, Hong Kong/ Rockbund Museum, Shanghai, China (2019); Two Worlds: A Dialogue between the MMK Collection and the History of Experimental Latin American Art, 1940s - 1980s, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) (2018); Guest, Ghost Host: Marathon, Serpentine Galleries, London (2017); A Universal History of Infamy, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (2017); Acciones Territoriales, ExTeresa Arte Actual, Mexico City (2014); After the Gold Rush: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), New York (2011); among others.
Her work has been exhibited in international biennials and triennials such as: In Minor Keys, Applied Arts Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale (2026); In Interludes and Transitions, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Saudi Arabia (2026); Pure Intention, Singapore Biennale 2025; uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things, 12th Liverpool Biennial, United Kingdom (2023); Flowing Moon, Embracing Land, 3rd Jeju Biennial, South Korea (2022); Faz escuro mas eu canto, 34th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2021); Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, 13th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2021); Whitney Biennial 2019, New York (2019); Immortality, Ural Industrial Biennial, Yekateringburg, Russia (2019) and Made in L.A: a, the, through, only, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016).
