Teresa Margolles
Teresa Margolles was born in 1963 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico
She currently lives and works between Mexico City and Madrid
Teresa Margolles’ works examines the social causes and consequences of violence. For her, the morgue accurately reflects society, particularly that of her home country where deaths caused by drug-related crimes, poverty, political crisis and the government’s inept response has devastated communities. She has developed a unique, restrained language in order to speak for her silenced subjects, the victims discounted as ‘collateral damage’ of the conflict. Margolles holds a degree in Forensic Medicine and Communication Science from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico.
Her work has been shown internationally in institutions such as Mattatoio, Rome (2021); MUAC, Mexico City (2021); Es Baluard, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (2020); BPS22, Charleroi, Belgium (2019); Kunsthalle Krems, Austria (2019); MSSA, Santiago de Chile (2019); MAMBO Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (2019); Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea in Milan (2018); the Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2018); the Musée d’art contemporain of Montréal (2017); the Neuberger Museum of Art, New York (2015), the Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid (2014), the Migros Museum, Zurich (2014), the Tate Modern, London (2012); the MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (2008); the Museo del Barrio, New York (2008); The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York (2007); the Kunsthalle, Vienna (2007); the Centre d’Art Contemporain of Brétigny, France (2006), The Museum für Moderne Kunst of Frankfurt, Germany (2004); P.S.1/MoMa, New York (2002); the Kunst-Werke in Berlin (2002) and the South London Gallery (2002) among others.
She has participated in many Biennials such as the 11th Bienal de Lanzarote (2022); the 22nd Sydney Biennial (2020), Los Angeles Biennial (2016), 7th Berlin Biennial (2012), Moscow Biennial (2007), 4th Liverpool Biennial (2006), Prague Biennial (2005), 4th Mercosul Biennial (2003) and 7th Cuenca Biennial (2002). Her presentation What Else Could We Talk About? was notably shown at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009), in the Mexican Pavilion exhibition, curated by Cuauhtémoc Medina. Teresa Margolles work is featured again in the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), as part of the International Exhibition May You Live in Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rogoff where she received a Special Mention of the Jury in recognition of her work. Margolles has also been awarded the Fourth Plinth comission in Trafalgar Square for 2024.
The work of Teresa Margolles is part of many art collections around the world like Tate Modern, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, US; Perez Art Museum, Miami; MACBA, Barcelona; CNAP, Paris; Museo del Banco de la República, Bogotá; FRAC Pays de la Loire, France; Neuberger Museum of Art, US; Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy; CGAC Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Colección Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Kunsthaus Zürich; Colección Jumex, Mexico City; Migros Museum, Zurich; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, US; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, US; Adrastus Collection, Arévalo, Spain, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, among many others.
Aproximación al lugar de los hechos, 2020 - Exhibition view, Biennale of Sydney, 2020
Muro Ciudad Juarez, 2010 - Exhibition view, Venice Biennale, 2019
Viento Negro, 2018-2019 - Exhibition view, MAMBO, Bogota, 2019
Viento Negro, 2018-2019 - Installation of 3000 handmade clay tiles, detail
La Gran América, 2017 - Exhibition view, PAC Milan, 2018
La Promesa, 2012-2017 (Exhibition view, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, 2017)
Tu t'alignes ou on t'aligne - Exhibition view, BPS22, Charleroi, Belgium, 2019
1 Tonne. Forges de la Providence (Charleroi), 2019 - Exhibition view, BPS22, Charleroi, Belgium, 2019
La búsqueda, 2014 - Exhibition view, Migros Museum, Zurich, 2014
Yeso sobre piel, 2019 (Installation view, BPS22, Charleroi, 2019)
Yeso sobre piel, 2019 - Series of plaster casts of human faces, detail
Carretilleras sobre el puente internacional Simón Bolivar, 2018 - Exhibition view, Es Baluard, Palma de Mallorca, 2020
Carretilleras sobre el puente internacional Simón Bolivar, 2018 - Digital print
Trocheras con pretal, 2019 - Digital print
Trocheras cargando piedra de 50kg, 2019 (Exhibition view, BPS22, Charleroi, 2019)
La Sombra de Venezuela, 2017 - Installation of cloth over metallic structure
Trayecto: La entrega, 2017-2019 - Photographic mural, exhibition view, MAMBO, Bogota, 2019
Trayecto: La entrega, 2017-2019 - Street intervention, Bogota, 2019
El agua de la ciudad, 2017 - Single channel video
Sobre la sangre, 2020 - Live performance, Es Baluard, Palma de Mallorca, 2020
Sobre la sangre, 2020 - Live performance, Es Baluard, Palma de Mallorca, 2020
La Toma I & II, 2019 - Exhibition view, MSSA, Santiago de Chile, 2019
La Toma I, 2019 - Fabric from performance, couch and video, detail
La carne muerta nunca se abriga - Exhibition view, MSSA, Santiago de Chile, 2019
El Capital te culea, Avenida de la República, 2019 - Digital print
El capital te culea, Teatro Chile, 2019 - Digital print
Esta Finca no sera demolida, 2011-2014 - Exhibition view, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, 2014
La Esperanza, 2014 - Digital print
La Esperanza (blanco), 2015 - Digital print
Pesquisas, 2016 - Installation of 30 digital prints on paper
Pesquisas, 2016 - Installation, Exhibition view - Bienal de Lanzarote, 2022
Karla, Hilario Reyes Gallegos, 2016 - Exhibition view, Manifesta, Zürich, 2016
Mundos, 2016 - Installation, neon sign, exhibition view, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, 2017
Ya basta hijos de puta - Exhibition view, PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, 2018
Pista de Baile, 2016 (Exhibition view, PhotoEspaña, Centro Centro, Madrid, 2017)
Vivianne, Pista de Baile del Club El Extranjero, 2016 - Digital print
Berenice, Pista de Baile del Bar Tlaquepaque, 2016 - Digital print
PM 2010 - Exhibition view, Berlin Biennale, 2012
Mensaje, 2006 - Digital print
Mesa y dos bancos, 2013 - Exhibition view, PAC Milan, 2018
La sombra (Water Bottles), 2016 - Digital print
La Sombra, 2016 - Installation view, Public Art Biennial, Los Angeles, 2016
Ajuste de cuentas, 2009 - Exhibition view, PAC Milan, 2018
Ajuste de cuentas, 2009 - Jewellery with glass fragments from crime scene
Dylegued (Entierro), 2013 - Exhibition view, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, 2015
Tela Bolivia, 2019 - Exhibition view, BPS22, Charleroi, 2019
Tela Bordada Sao Paulo, 2019 - Exhibition view, Videobrasil, Sao Paulo, 2019
Periferia dell’agonia, 2022 - Installation view, Mattatoio Roma, 2022
Azione in tre fasi: sollevare, sostenere e posare il telo che ha coperto i corpi di persone uccise in Messico. 2003 - 2020 - Performance at Mattatoio Roma, 2022
Periferia de la agonía, 2003 - Exhibition view, Museum für Gegenwartskunst MGKSiegen
Sutura (Fabric from Guadalajara), 2011-2018 - Exhibition view, Daadgalerie, Berlin, 2018
Sutura, 2018 - Digital print
Frontera, 2010 - Installation view, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, 2010
Embassy, 2009 - Installation view, United States Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 2009
A través, 2011 - Installation view, Visual Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland, 2012
En el aire, 2013 - Installation view, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, 2017
Irrigación, 2010 - Single channel video
Vaporización, 2001-2018 - Installation view, PAC Milan, 2018
36 cuerpos, 2010 -exhibition view, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, 2017
Semefo, 1999 - Poster and digital print