
Miguel Ángel Ríos shooting Untitled from the series The Ghost of Modernity
Miguel Angel Ríos shooting The Ghost of Modernity Lixiviados and Untitled in Saachila, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2012
Miguel Ángel Ríos Video shooting THE GHOST OF MODERNITY lixiviados
Miguel Angel Ríos, Endless Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2015
Miguel Angel Ríos, Piedras Blancas (Edition of 3 + 2AP), 2015. Inkjet print on 300 gr. Hahnemühle cotton paper, dibond, 13 x 19 3/4 in.
Miguel Ángel Ríos recording Piedras Blancas in Amatlán de Quetzalcóatl, Morelos, Mexico, 2014. Photo courtesy Carlos Cárdenas
Miguel Angel Ríos, Endless Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2015
Miguel Angel Ríos, Untitled Nº 16 from the Endless series (Edition of 3 + 2AP), 2015. Inkjet print on 300 gr. Hahnemühle cotton paper, and dibond, 15 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.
Miguel Angel Ríos, Endless Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2015
Miguel Angel Ríos, Endless Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2015
Miguel Angel Ríos, Drawings from the series Endless, 2015. Ink and pencil on paper and cut out, 14 1/8 x 11 in. each
Miguel Angel Ríos: Torn to Shreds Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2019
Miguel Angel Ríos, MAGAILLAN, 1992-1993. Cibachrome mounted on canvas, polyester cord and push pins, 196 13/16 x 151 9/16 in.
Miguel Ángel Ríos, Eminencia. Cibachrome mounted on canvas and push pins, 122 7/16 x 85 in.
Miguel Angel Ríos, Mapa Poncho, 1995-1996. Cibachrome mounted on canvas and push pins, 90 15/16 x 93 11/16 in.
Miguel Angel Ríos: Torn to Shreds Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2019
Miguel Ángel Ríos, installing Las estrellas nos guían at Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino 2019 Torn to Shreds [1992-93 Cibachrome mounted on pleated canvas and push pins, 112 9/16 x 91 5/16 in.]
Miguel Angel Ríos, Le premier voyage a l’inconnu, 1993-1994. Cibachrome pencil and acrylic mounted on pleated canvas with push pins, 125 15/16 x 62 15/16 in.
Miguel Angel Ríos, Folding Borders Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2013
Miguel Angel Ríos, Folding Borders Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2013
Miguel Angel Ríos, Folding Borders Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2013
Miguel Angel Ríos, Folding Borders Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2013
Miguel Angel Ríos, Untitled, 2012. Graphite on cutout paper, 51 in. diameter
Miguel Angel Ríos, Folding Borders Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2013
Miguel Angel Ríos, Folding Borders Exhibition, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, 2013
Miguel Angel Ríos, WE TRUST, 2011. Mexican craft paper, 9 x 21 x 1 3/4 in.
Installation view of works by Miguel Angel Rios on view in the exhibition Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011 at MoMA PS1, New York from November 3, 2019 to March 1, 2020. Image courtesy of MoMA PS1. Photo by Matthew Septimus.
MIGUEL ANGEL RÍOS (b. 1943, Catamarca, Argentina)
"...I make visible the violent moment in which we live, where we feel that life has no value. It is competition, power, violence, and chaos. The viewer may choose to identify with the powerful or with the vulnerable..."
Miguel Angel Ríos studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires before moving to New York in the 1970s to escape the military dictatorship in Argentina. He subsequently relocated to Mexico and now divides his time between the U.S. and Mexico.
In his work, Ríos pairs a rigorous conceptual approach with a meticulously constructed, often handmade aesthetic. Since the 1970s, he has made work about the concept of the "Latin American," using this idea as both an artistic strategy and a political problem. In the 1990s, he began creating a series of maps, which he carefully folded and pleated by hand. Marking the 500th anniversary of the "discovery" of the Americas, the maps indicate long histories of power and colonial experience, and they reference traditional indigenous arts in the Americas, including the Andean quipu.
Since the early-2000s, Ríos has also delved into the medium of video to create symbolic narratives about human experience, violence, and mortality. His videos of spinning tops--trompos--use the childhood game of tops as a backdrop for a meditation on the transience of life, and the mechanics of power. In his 2012 Untitled video from The Ghost of Modernity, Ríos references high Modernism--with direct nods to John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, and Donald Judd--in the midst of the Mexican desert. "Is this ghostly geometric figure a lens through which the world can be reinterpreted?" the artist asks. "Or is it the paradigmatic principle of modernist thought that organizes the world around it? Are we inside or outside the cube? "
Miguel Angel Rios’ works are represented in several major collections including Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá, Colombia; Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, NY, USA; Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zürich, Switzerland; Fundación Arte y Mecenazgo, "la Caixa", Barcelona, Spain; Fundación Costantini, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano (MALBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, USA; La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France; Museo Nacional, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, TX, USA; The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA; Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, FL, USA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA and the Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
2019 | Landlocked, Roda Sten Konsthall Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Miguel Angel Ríos: Torn to Shreds, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA |
Miguel Angel Ríos: On the Edge, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA | |
2017
| Miguel Angel Rios: A Morir (To the Death) Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC USA |
| Miguel Angel Rios: Neither Colour, nor height, MUCEM, Marseilles, France |
| Miguel Angel Rios: Acirema, No es agua Ni Arena la Orilla del Mar, Espaivisor Galeria Visor, Valencia Spain |
2015 | Landlocked, Arizona State University Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ |
| Endless, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
2013 | Folding Borders, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX |
| Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico |
2012 | Museé d’Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne, France |
| Miguel Angel Ríos: Walkabout, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA and Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico (with exhibition catalogue) |
2011 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Alonso Garces Galeria, Bogotá, Colombia |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, Ruth Benzacar Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Mecha, Nederlans Instituut voor Mediakunst, The Netherlands |
2010 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Galeria Andres Millan, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin City Council, New Zealand |
2009 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Malba-Fundacíon Costantini, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| On The Edge, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), San Diego, CA |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, EVO Gallery, Santa Fe, NM |
| Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, France |
| Crudo, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
2008 | A Morir, Sala de Arte Contemporáneo, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain |
| Aquí, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands |
| Crudo, LA><ART, Los Angeles, CA |
| White Suit, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany |
2007 | Aquí, Ex-convento de Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico; Blaffer Art Museum at University of Houston, Houston, TX and EVO Gallery, Santa Fe, NM |
| On The Edge, Marco Noire Contemporary Art, Torino, Italy and ARCO, Madrid, Spain |
| Fuego Amigo, Ex-convento de la Natividad, Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico |
| A Morir, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ |
| Aquí, Galeria Milan Antonio, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Concentrations 49: Miguel Angel Ríos, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX |
2006
| Serie Homenaje a Robert Mapplethorpe, Galería Nina Menocal, Mexico City, Mexico |
| On The Edge, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY |
| Miguel Angel Ríos: Love, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL |
2005 | Love, Marco Noire Contemporary Art, Torino, Italy |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, Ruth Benzacar Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. |
2004 | A Morir, Art Unlimited, Marco Noire Contemporary Art, Art Basel, Switzerland |
2003 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, CA |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany |
| Ni me busques…no me encuentras, White Box, New York, NY |
| A Morir, Artists Space, New York, NY |
2002 | Ni me busques…no me encuentras, Basel Art Unlimited, Project Room, Marco Noire Contemporary Art, Basel, Switzerland |
2001 | El viaje del botanista, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela |
1999 | Manhattan Códice, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico and John Weber Gallery, New York, NY |
1998 | Los Vientos del Sur, Ruth Benzacar Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
1995 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Wohn Maschine Gallery, Berlin, Germany |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, John Weber Gallery, New York, NY |
1993 | Así en la tierra como en el cielo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, John Weber Gallery, New York, NY |
1992 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, Gallery Der Brucke, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Miguel Angel Ríos, Gallery Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico |
| Miguel Angel Ríos: El juego y el dolor, Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico |
1991 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, NY and ARCO, Madrid, Spain |
1989 | Miguel Angel Ríos, Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, NY |
1988 | Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico |
1984 | Allen/Wincor Gallery, New York, NY |
1983 | Ueda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (with exhibition catalogue) |
1980 | Ueda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (with exhibition catalogue) |
Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá, Colombia
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, USA
Cisneros Fontalnals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, FL, USA
Colección Isabel y Augustín Coppel
Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, NY, USA
Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zürich, Switzerland
Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Fundación Arte y Mecenazgo, "La Caixa", Barcelona, Spain
Fundación Costantini, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano (MALBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL, USA
Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (MEIAC), Badajoz, Spain
Museo Nacional, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona, Spain
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, TX, USA
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, FL, USA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
21 C Museum Hotel, Lexington, KY, USA
The Art, a Hotel, Denver, CO, USA
Leading contemporary conceptual artist Miguel Angel Ríos and his video Crudo, 2008, on view at The University of Texas at Austin.
A French and a Swiss curator – Paul Ardenne, art historian and author of an authoritative work on the art of the Anthropocene epoch, and Barbara Polla, writer and initiator of an Environment and Health Program of the University of Geneva – have been organizing yearly video reviews since 2011 for showcasing the most progressive works of video art. This year, exceptionally, the event is held in Hungary, within the framework of Art Capital. In terms of thematics, the works share in common references to the relationship between the natural and built environments, to the global effects of human interventions, as well as to the memory of Paradise Lost and the idea of creating a new Eden.
We are urged to imagine a sustainable, beautiful, inviting world: to reconstruct Eden and a post-human way of being in the world.
Bienvenue au Paradis !
Dans le cadre de l'exposition TALKING ABOUT A REVOLUTION, conçue par Paul Ardenne, Visconti22 et VIDEO FOREVER ont le plaisir de vous inviter à la projection VIDEO FOREVER 36 *RÉSISTANCES À LA MARGE*