Adriana Salazar

Born in 1980
Lives and works in Bogota, Colombia

“The purpose of our actions somehow always escapes our comprehension, and yet we keep moving and doing things throughout our life without thinking about our behavior. My work is an attempt at putting this into question, appealing to the absurd and the useless as critical strategies: people perform coherent and sophisticated actions that are purposeless, and they do this constantly.

I am thus interested in showing human behavior happening without human presence: just the action repeating itself over and over. The idea of isolating an action from its context results in the conception of a series of “machine-like objects,” which perform “non-practical” actions (as opposed to what a machine would usually do): a machine that smokes cigarettes, a machine that tries to thread a needle, a machine that cries, etc. They all share an absence of purpose and a lack of practical value. Also, they perform in a clumsy way, and they are simple in their design and construction: almost all of them are hand-crafted.”

Recent Solo Shows
2012 – Still Life – Espacio Odeón, Bogotá
2012 – The Life of Dead Things – La Miscelanea, Mexico City
2011 – Failed Attempts – Casa Vasquez, Corumbá
2010 – Disappearing Exercises – LA Galería, Bogota
2008 – Doing it myself – Toulouse Gallery, Rio de Janeiro
2008 – Savage life – LA Gallery, Bogota
2006 – Measure – Alliance Française, Bogota
2005 – Machines that do things and things done with the hand – 302 Workshop, Bogota

Recent Group Exhibitions
2013 – California-Pacific Triennial – Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
2013 – Kinesthetics – Pratt institute, New York
2013 – Transitional – Sicardi Gallery, Houston
2012 – Pinta New York – LA Galeria, New York
2012 – Tribute to John Cage – Sala U, Medellin
2012 – Escaping with the Landscape – Luz y Oficios Gallery, La Habana
2012 – Los Impolíticos – Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, Montevideo
2011 – The Birdwatchers – Bitforms Gallery, New York
2011 – Trivialities and Commonplaces – Sandra Montenegro Contemporary Art, Miami
2011 – Art and movement – Galeria Marta Traba, Memorial de América Latina, Sao Paulo
2011 – Catalejo Project – Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Bogota
2011 – ArtRio 2011 – Pier Muá, Rio de Janeiro
2011 – Seven Women, Seven Stories – Arteamericas, Miami
2011 – On the Territory: Contemporary Art in Colombia – Santralistanbul Museum, Istanbul
2011 – On the Territory: Contemporary Art in Colombia – Cermodern, Ankara
2011 – Attempts for a Perfect World – Banco de la Republica Museum, Bogota
2011 – RE Discovering Akiyoshidai – Akiyoshidai International Art Village Yamaguchi, Japan
2010 – It could have been – LA Galería, Bogota
2010 – Puntos suspensivos – Mexico City Museum, Mexico DF
2010 – Trans Fronteiras Contemporaneas – Galeria Marta Traba, Sao Paulo
2010 – Artbo 2010 – LA Galería, Bogota
2010 – Fictions and Fantasies – El Museo Gallery, Bogota
2010 – I would rather do it – Los Andes University’s Project Room, Bogota
2010 – Artistic Residencies – Galería Santa Fé, Bogota
2009 – Los Impolíticos – PAN Palazzo delle Arti, Naples
2009 – Asimetrías y Convergencias – Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo
2009 – Borderless Generation – Korea Cultural Center, Seoul
2009 – Regreso, arte latinoamericano y memoria – Palacio Linares, Casa de América Madrid