Culture Now: Abraham Cruzvillegas

Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas is in conversation with Jochen Volz, Head of Programmes at the Serpentine Gallery, London. The pair will explore Cruzvillegas’ sculptural propositions of ‘autoconstrucción’ and ‘autodestrucción’, ahead of a new body of work opening at Thomas Dane Gallery. Cruzvillegas has garnered much attention for his dynamic assemblage sculptures made of found objects. ‘Autoconstrucción’ (auto-construction) is the term Cruzvillegas uses to describe his art, the roots of which lie in the improvised construction methods and techniques of his native Mexico City.

Born 1968, Abraham Cruzvillegas lives and works in Mexico City and Paris. Recent solo exhibitions include: Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Autoconstrucción Suites, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2014; Abraham Cruzvillegas: The Autoconstrucción Suites, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2013; Autodestrucción 2, Museo Experimental el Eco, Mexico City, 2013; Autodestrucción 3: Avant et après le voyage de AA a la terre rouge, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, 2013; Abraham Cruzvillegas, Kurimanzutto, Mexico City, 2012; Abraham Cruzvillegas: Autodestrucción 1, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, 2012; and Autoconstrucción: Antonio Castro, Abraham Cruzvillegas & Antonio Fernández Ros, Tate Modern, London, 2012.

Jochen Volz is Head of Programmes at the Serpentine Gallery in London. He also is a curator at the Instituto Inhotim, Minas Gerais, since 2004, where he has served as General Director between 2005 and 2007 and Artistic Director between 2007 and 2012. He has contributed to many exhibitions throughout the world, including Planos de fuga, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in São Paulo (2012), Olafur Eliasson – Your body of work as part of the 17^th International Festival of Contemporary Art – SESC_Videobrasil in São Paulo (2011), The Spiral and the Square at Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2011), the Aichi Triennale in Nagoya (2010) and Cinthia Marcelle at the Biennale de Lyon (2007). In 2009, he organized Fare Mondi / Making Worlds, the international section of the 53rd International Venice Biennale together with Daniel Birnbaum. In 2006, he was a guest curated for the 27th São Paulo Biennial. Between 2001 and 2004, he was curator of Portikus Frankfurt am Main. As a critic he is writing for magazines and catalogues and is contributing editor to Frieze.