Ivan Argote:
To Move and be Moved

Step into a realm where public spaces are reimagined, power structures challenged, and narratives rewritten. To Move and be Moved by world-renowned visual artist Iván Argote invites you to question the nature of public urban spaces and their complex power dynamics. 

Public spaces can evoke a myriad of emotions when we navigate them: from a sense of belonging to a feeling of injustice. Visual artist Iván Argote has dedicated his career to exploring human relationships with public urban spaces and their power structures through a body of works – from bold interventions and playful actions to performative gestures, sculptures, films, and installations. 

REIMAGINING PUBLIC SPACES

In Argote’s work, public spaces are not just seen as physical entities, but rather as psychological dimensions that could look different if one shifts perspective. Through To Move and be Moved, Argote challenges entrenched narratives and invite viewers to reimagine our shared spaces as platforms for ‘radical tenderness’, inclusivity, and playfulness. The exhibition showcases a diverse range of Argote’s works, including sculptures, installations, films, and performances, all united by a common theme: the creation of ‘anti-monuments’ that defy traditional notions of heroism and political and religious authority. 

MONUMENTAL INTERVENTIONS

Monuments are not immutable; they are vessels for our evolving stories. Argote’s interventions on monuments, often depicting figures associated with colonialism, provoke critical dialogue on collective memory and historical narratives. By temporally shifting these silent structures, he invites viewers to question their authority and envision alternative futures. The exhibition is accompanied by a public art commission in Copenhagen, curated by MAPS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, opening by the end of August expanding on the notion of ‘anti-monuments’. 

 ABOUT IVÁN ARGOTE

Iván Argote is a visual artist and film director. Through his sculptures, installations, films, and interventions, he questions our intimate relationship with others, institutions, power, and belief systems. He develops strategies based on tenderness, affect, and humour through which he suggests critical approaches to dominant historical narratives and attempts to decentralize them. In his interventions on monuments, large-scale installations, and performances, Iván Argote proposes new symbolic uses of public spaces. 

In 2024, Iván Argote participated in the main exhibition at the Giardini Della Biennale, Venice, with a new public artwork, Descanso, as one of five artists invited to create outdoor installations at the Venice Biennale. In September 2024, Argote will participate in the Lyon Biennale. 

Works by the artist are included in the permanent collections of numerous prestigious institutions worldwide, including the Guggenheim Museum (New York, US); Centre Pompidou (Paris, France); ASU Art Museum (Phoenix, US); Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (Miami, US); Colección de Arte del Banco de la República (Bogotá, Colombia); Kadist (San Francisco, US); MACBA (Barcelona, Spain). 

To Move and be Moved is curated by Irene Campolmi, Senior Curator at MAPS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, and developed thanks to the invaluable collaboration of Perrotin (Paris, Hong Kong, New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Los Angeles), Iván Argote Studio, Eidotech, and Søberg Lystek.