yoshua okón
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yoshua okón: biography, selected museum exhibitions and shows at kaufmann repetto
biography
Yoshua Okón was born in Mexico City in 1970. He lives and works in Mexico City.
His work, like a series of near-sociological experiments executed for the camera, blends staged situations, documentation and improvisation and questions habitual perceptions of reality and truth, selfhood and morality.
selected museum exhibitions
His solo shows exhibitions include: Yoshua Okón: Collateral, MUAC, Mexico City and Amparo Museum, Puebla; Yoshua Okón, Ghebaly Gallery, LA; Yoshua Okón: In the Land of Ownership, ASAKUSA Tokyo; Salò Island, UC Irvine, Irvine; Piovra, kaufmann repetto, Milan; Poulpe, Mor Charpentier, Paris; Octopus, Cornerhouse, Manchester and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and SUBTITLE, Städtische Kunsthalle, Munich. His group exhibitions include: Manifesta 11, Zurich; Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul; Gwangju Biennale, Korea; Antes de la resaca, MUAC, Mexico City; Incongruous, Musèe Cantonal des Beux-Arts, Lausanne; The Mole´s Horizon, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Mercosur Biennial, Porto Alegre; Amateurs, CCA Wattis; San Francisco; Laughing in a Foreign Language, Hayward Gallery, London; Adaptive Behavior, New Museum, NY and Mexico City: an exhibition about the exchange rates between bodies and values, PS1, MoMA, NY, and Kunstwerke, Berlin. His work is included in the collections of Tate Modern, Hammer Museum, LACMA, Colección Jumex and MUAC, among others.
shows at Kaufmann Repetto
Piovra, 2011, solo show at kaufmann repetto Milan
Bocanegra, 2005, solo show at kaufmann repetto Milan
Cockfight, 2003, solo show at kaufmann repetto Milan
Selected solo exhibitions
2019 Poder , Centro Cultural Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile
2018 Future Shock, Chalton Gallery, London Shita, Asakusa, Tokyo
Yoshua Okón, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico
2017 Oracle, Torrance Art Museum, California
Yoshua Okón: Collateral, MUAC Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico
Miasma, Parque Galería, Mexico City, Mexico
2016 Miasma, Testite, Austin
Yoshua Okón, Fluent Collaborative, Austin
Yoshua Okón, Artspace, Sydney
Yoshua Okón: In the Land of Ownership, Asakusa, Tokyo
Yoshua Okón, MUAC Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City
2015 Oracle, UMOCA, Utah
Octopus, ASU Art Museum, Phoenix
2014 The Indian Project: Rebuilding History, Galerie Mor Charpentier, Paris
Salo Island, UC Irvine Contemporary Arts Center, Irvine
2013 PULPO, Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City, curated by Emiliano Valdes Octopus, Cornerhouse, Manchester
Yoshua Okón, falk visiting artist, curated by Xandra Eden, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro
2012 Revolver Galería, Lima, Perú
Proyecto Liquido, Fundación Alumnos, curated by Jessica Berlanga, Mexico City
2011 La Central, Bogotá, Colombia
Pulpo, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico City
Piovra, kaufmann repetto, Milan
Octopus, Hammer Museum, Hammer Projects, Los Angeles
Galería Ignacio Liprandi, Buenos Aires
Baró, Sao Paulo
2010 Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), curated by Shamim Momin, Los Angeles
Yoshua Okón: 2007-2010, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, curated by Betti-Sue Hertz
2009 Chille, Galeria Gabriela Mistral, Santiago de Chile, curated by Ponzalo Pedraza
Ventanilla unica, Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City, curated by Roberto Barajas
Hypnostasis, in collaboration with Raymond Pettibon, The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena
Canned Laughter, Via Farini DOCVA, Milan, curated by Gabi Scardi
2008 SUBTITLE, Lothringer 13 – Staditsche Kunsthalle Munchen, Munich
MAVI, Galeria Revolver, Lima
High Desert Test Sites, Los Angeles
2007 Bocanegra, The Project, New York
2006 Saldo a Favor, Galeria Espacio Minimo, Madrid
Gaza Stripper, Hertzeliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Hertzeliya, Israel
2005 Bocanegra, galleria francesca kaufmann, Milan
Lago Bolsena, The Project, New York
2004 Lago Bolsena, Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros, Mexico City Shoot, MC, Los Angeles
HCl, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City
2003 Art Statement, Art Basel Miami Beach, galleria francesca kaufmann, Milan
Cockfight, galleria francesca kaufmann, Milan
2002 Oríllese a la Orilla, Art & Public, Geneva
Yoshua Okon, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City
New decor, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles
2000 Cockfight, Modern Culture, New York
Orillese a la Orilla, Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City
Lo Mejor de lo Mejor, La Panadería, Mexico City
1999 Yoshua Okon, Espace d’Art Yvonamor Palix, Paris
1998 Rise & Fall, Brasilica, Vienna
1997 KOBLENZ, La Panadería, Mexico City
Beautiful Fluffy Stylish Hairy Butts., Chorus, Minneapolis
A Propósito, in collaboration with Miguel Calderon, La Panadería, Mexico City
Selected group exhibitions
2019 Entanglements: Before and After NAFTA, International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York
The Imperial Ghost in the Neoliberal Machine, E-Flux, New York
Reverberaciones, Museo Espacio, Aguacalientes City, México
Realidad Programada, Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City
2017 Extra Bodies – On the use of the Other Body in Contemporary Art, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
High Desert Test Sites Archive Exhibition, Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center Firehouse, Joshua Tree, CA
Bienal Sur: dura lex sed lex, Centro Cultural Parque de España, Rosario, Argentina
Animal Farm, kaufmann repetto, New York
Reverberaciones, MUAC Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico
First Day of Good Weather, Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, Germany
2016 Critical Aesthetics: The First 10 Years, Room Gallery, Irvine
What People do for Money: Some Joint Ventures, Manifesta 11, Zurich
The Natural Order of Things, Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City
The Fraud Complex, West Space, Melbourne
Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Raw Future of 100 Years Before, Spatiu Intact, Cluj-Napoca
2015 The Pleasure Principles, FARAGO, Los Angeles
Playback, OCAT, Shanghai
Corpocracy, The Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston
Safe, Home, Manchester
Strange Currencies: Art & Action in Mexico City 1990-2000, The Galleries at Moore, Philadelphia
Rompiendo las reglas: juego y desafio ètico para el cambio social, Gallery of Electronic Art
2014 Manuel Felguérez Cenart, Mexico City
Standard of Living, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago
Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea, curated by Jessica Morgan
Permission To Be Global, MFA Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Does Humor Berlong in Art?, HALLE 14 – Center for Contemporary Art,
Leipzig, curated by Frank Motz
La Historia la Escriben los Vencedores, OTR, Madrid
2013 In motion: Borders and Migrations, UMOCA Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, curated by Rebecca Maksym SUR Biennal, Torrance Art Museum, Torrace, USA
No bingo for felons, Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, curated by Julian Hoeber and Alix Lambert
Home Away, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, curated by Kris Kuramitsu
Synthetic Ritual, Northeastern Illinois University Fine Arts Center Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, curated by Gabi Scardi and Ciara Ennis
Mexico inside Out, Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, Forth Worth, USA
The Last Laught, Apexart, New York, USA, curated by Kari Cwynar
California Pacific Triennal, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, curted by Dan Cameron
The Armory Show, Pier94, New York
arteBa, La Rural, Buenos Aires, Argentina
INSIDE JOKE, Diablo Rosso, Panama City
Book Machine, Centre Pompidou, Paris
An Afternoon of Fauna, From Ants to Whales, New Museum, New York
Cats & Dogs, Crossroads School, Santa Monica
Más viejo que el diablo, Museo de la Naciòn, Lima, Perù
2012 Synthetic Ritual, University of Idaho, Idaho, curated by Clara Ennis and Gabi Scardi
VIVA Performance Lab, Cosenza City Center, Italy, curated by Tani Bruguera and Cristiana Perella
Dialogos de emancipación, Santiago, Chile, curated by Francisco Papas Galería Metropolitana
Galerie Mor Charpentier, Paris, France
Lo Carnavalesco, Mycellum Ingenium, Mexico City
2011 Galleri Rotor, Valand School of Fine Arts, Gothenburg, curated by Julio Cesar Morales
Synthetic Rituals, Pitzer Art Gallery, Claremont, curated by Gabi Scardi and Ciara Ennis
Proyecto Juarez, Matadero, Madrid, curated by Mariana David
Before the Hangover, MUAC, Museo Universitariode Arte Contemporàneo, Mexico curated by Sol Henaro Commercial Break presented by the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Venice
Incongruous, Musée Cantoral des beaux-arts, Lausanne
The Workers, Mass MOCA, North Adams, Massachusetts In Focus: The Humorous, Red Cat, Los Angeles (screening)
2010 En cada instante, ruptura, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City Proyecto Juarez, Museo de arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City, curated by Mariana David
La Frontera: the Cultural Impact of Mexican Migration, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Crossing [Travessias], Paço das Artes, São Paulo
Arsenal, Baró Galería , São Paulo
The Mole’s Horizon, Center for Fine Arts, Brussels
The Moving Image part two: from scan to screen, pixel to projection,
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach
The Mole’s Horizon, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels
I don’t know whether to laught or cry, London Museum, Ontario
Noise, Sfeir-Semler gallery, Beirut, Lebanon, curated by Negar Asimi
2009 Manimal, National Center for Contemporary Art in association with the International University of Moscow, Moscow
The Moving Image: Scan to Screen, Pixel to Projection II, Orange Country Museum, Newport Beach
O riso e a melancolia, Galeria Iberê Camargo – Usina do Gasômetro, Porto Alegre
Tragicomedia, Cajsol y Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla
Yoshua Okon + Barry Johnston, N.T.B.R., Los Angeles
2008 Art Wrestling, Art Perform, curated by Jens Hofmann, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami
Amateurs, CCA Wattis, San Francisco
White Russians, HDTS, California Biennial, High Desert, USA
Escultura Social, Museo Alameda, San Antonio
Laughing in a Foreign Language, Hyword gallery, London
Laugh Track, YUM21C, Brussels Biennial Off program, Brussels
Electioneering, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Texas
The Station, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami
2007 New Images of Identity. Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena
Mercosur Biennal, Porto Alegre, Brasil
Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art From Mexico City, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Mercosur Biennale, Porto Allegre, Brazil
Era de la Discrepancia. Arte y Cultura Visual Mexico 1968-1997, MUCA,
Mexico City; Fine Arts Museum, Houston; MOCA, Los Angeles; Art Gallery,
Vancouver; Malba, Buenos Aires
The Believers, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art- MASS, Moca North, USA
Black Sphinx, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
The Jewish Identity Project, The Jewish Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco
2006 Coyotería, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
Diálogos Fronterizos, Palacio de Congresos, Madrid
SCAPE 2006 – don’t misbehave! SCAPE Biennial of Art in Public Space, Christchurch, New Zealand
NEOCON – Contemporary Returns to Conceptual Art, intinerant show: Apex Art, New York; British School, Rome
Los Angeles / Mexico: Complexities & Heterogeneity, La Coleccion Jumex, Mexico City
Blessed Are The Merciful, Feigen Contemporary, New York
Proximamente… Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
Los Angeles / Mexico: Complexities & Heterogeneity, La Coleccion
2005 La Sindrome di Pantagruel, Turin first Triennale, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, curated by Francesco Bonami and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
America Tropical, Centre Culturelle du Mexique, Paris
Day Labor, PS1 MOMA, New York
Oracle of Truth, Aeroplastics, Brussels
SCAR, Parkeergarage De Appelaar, Haarlem
Boosts in the Shell (The Pursued), DeBond, Brugges
Human Nature, Pump House Gallery, London
Register the Distance, Borusan Gallery, Istanbul
Surveying the Border, Getty Center, Los Angeles
The Jewish Identity Project, The Jewish Museum, New York
Monuments for the USA, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary, San Francisco
2004 Adaptive Behaviour, New Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Fishing in International Waters, Blanton Museum, Austin
Don’t Call It Performance, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid and El Museo del Barrio, New York
2003 Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul
First ICP International Triennial of Contemporary Photography, International Center of Contemporary Photography, New York
This Is Not a Movie, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Terror Chic, Spruth/Magers Gallery, Munich
The Virgin Show. The Wrong Gallery, New York
Female Turbulence, Aeroplastics, Brussels
2002 Big Sur. The Project, Los Angeles, California and Sala Mendoza, Venezuela
Mexico City: an Exhibition about the Exchange Rates of Bodies and Values,
P.S.1 MoMA, New York and Kunstwerke, Belin
8 x 2, Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis
Use your illusion, Vedanta Gallery, Chicago
California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Irvine
Pictures of You, Americas Society, New York
ALIBIS, Centre Culturel du Mexique, Paris and Witte de Witt, Rotterdam
2001 Pay Attenti[on] Please, Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Italy
ZONING, The Project, New York City
Políticas de la Diferencia, Arte Iberoamericano fin de Siglo, Generalitat Valenciana, Spain; Pinacoteca del Estado, Rio de Janeiro; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires; Museo Sofía Iber, Caracas and Museo de Arte Moderno Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
Sala de Recuperación, Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
City of Fictions, Mercer Union, Toronto
BURIED MIRRORS, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York
2000 Action Videos by Latin American artists, Artists Space, New York
c/o la ciudad, SAW Gallery, Ottawa, and Blackwood Gallery, Toronto
EXTRAMUROS, Alternative project to the Habana Biennale, La Habana
1999 Sous la grisaille de Mexico, Passage de Retz, Paris and Capella de l’antic Hospital de la santa creu, Barcelona
Paradas Continuas Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
1998 MEXELENTE, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
OKON CALDERON OCAMPO, Galerie Philomene Magers, Cologne
Vidéos d’art du Mexique et des Etats-Unis, Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon
1997 CAMBIO, 526W 26th Street, New York
Solo artists talk
2014 MUAC Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico
SOMA, Mexico City, Mexico
Department of Art and History, Standford University, California, USA
Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, USA
Skowhegan, Resident Faculty and Artist Talk, Madison, USA
2013 Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, USA
2012 Cosenza City Center
Cuadrante Creativo, Culiacán, México
Art and Social Practice, MFA Portland State University, Portland
Hayward Gallery. London, England
2011 Spring, Otis College of Art and Desing, Los Angeles
2010 The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Northwestern University, Art Department. Chicago
MIS, Museu da Imagem e do Som, Sao Paulo
Instituto Cervantes, Sao Paulo
CIA, Centro de Investigaciones Artísticas, Buenos Aires
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Foro ENTRE, Oaxaca, Mexico
Selected conferences
2013 Yoshua Okon: Octopus, Cornerhouse, Manchester, England
2010 The School-Makers. Art Basel Conversations- Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach
Foro Proyecto Juárez: Sesiones de Diálogo y Relexión. Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico City
Yoshua Okón. Oaxaca Book Fair, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Roundtable discussion between artists from Audience as Subject and Yoshua Okon. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
Collections
Jumex Collection, Mexico City
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, USA
Blanton Museum Collection, Austin, USA
Colección Fundación ARCO, Madrid
CIFO, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami
Colección Lopez Rocha, Guadalajara, Mexico
Collection Pierre Huber, Ginebra, Switzerland
Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples
Colección Teófilo Cohen, Mexico City
Colección Juan Carlos Verme. Lima
Tate Modern, London
Education
2000-2002 MFA, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA
1990-1994 BFA, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Grants
US/Mexico Fund for Culture, Rockefeller Foundation, CONACULTA and Bancomer Foundation Young Creators, National Fund for Culture, Mexico Fulbright Sistema Nacional de Creadores, National Fund for Culture, Mexico Fulbright Grant Programa de Apojo para Estudios en el Extranjero, FONCA, Mexico USA/Mexico Commission for Culture. Rockefeller Foundation and FONCA, USA
Residencies
1988 Hammer museum, Los Angeles
School of Fine Arts of Annecy, France
BUNDESKANZLERAMT, Vienna