Mario Navarro

Born 1970.

Lives and works in Santiago, Chile

Following the end of the military dictatorship in the early 1990s, Chile’s leaders enthusiastically embraced the pursuit of high-tech modernity as the means of overcoming all the country’s problems. Against this, Chilean artist Mario Navarro stakes a claim for the low-tech, the everyday – the human. He uses cheap, ready-to-hand materials; although he works in many different formats, Navarro sees all his work as linked, creating an ongoing, inventive critique of Chile’s history and of the fantasy of a technological utopia. His new work for International 06 refers to the 1970s’ drive, in Chile, towards the use of cybernetics to create a hyper-efficient society. Navarro, refusing this vision of the future, poignantly sets the flawed, vulnerable human being at the heart of his work.

Solo Exhibitions

2006 Así no, así sí, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt, Austria

2005 Dignidad, Die Ecke Gallery, Santiago, Chile

2003 30 Days with Nothing, Canal Saint Martin, Paris, France
Radio Ideal, Metropolitana Gallery, Santiago, Chile

2002 The New Ideal Line (Opala), Gabriela Mistral Gallery, Santiago, Chile

1998 The New Ideal Line (Stereo), Galería Chilena, Santiago, Chile

1994 The New Ideal Line (LA CITÉ DU CHARBON), Bernanos Gallery, Paris, France

1993 A Messenger from the Stone Edge, Catholic University, Santiago, Chile
 
1991 Die Honigpumpe am Arbeitplatz, Goethe Institut, Santiago, Chile

Group Exhibitions

2006 XXVII Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Busan Biennial, Busan, South Korea
Pontevedra Biennial, Pontevedra, Spain
Downey’s Effect, Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires, Argentina
ARCO 06, Cityscapes, Madrid, Spain
Buenos días Santiago: An Exhibition like Expedition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile, in collaboration with Attitudes, Geneva, Switzerland

2005 Circuits/Circuitos, Matucana 100 Cultural Center, Santiago, Chile
Transformer, Matucana 100 Cultural Center, Santiago, Chile

2004 Dibujos, Gasco Gallery, Santiago, Chile
Condoro, Metropolitana Gallery, Santiago, Chile
R2, Rothenbaum, Hamburg, Germany
 
2003 Platzer, Nacka Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
Free Waves Biennial: Video & Multimedia, Americas Society, New York, USA

2002–2003 Bienal Ceará América de Ponta Cabeça, Fortaleza, Brazil

2002 Open Studios, Triangle Artists’ Workshop, New York, USA
Casa Grande Project, Santiago subway, Santiago, Chile
Free Waves Biennial: Video & Multimedia, MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Los Angeles, USA

2001 From Coya to Cerrillos, Metropolitana Gallery, Santiago, Chile
Arquetipos, Museum of Contemporary Art, San José, Costa Rica
The Place Without Limits (Art from Chile), Guadalajara Museum, Mexico; National Museum of Art, Lima, Peru
 
2000 Unideal Place, Muro Sur Gallery, Santiago, Chile
100 Years: Chilean Visual Arts, Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile

Curated Exhibitions

2004–2005 Transformer, Matucana 100 Cutural Center, Santiago, Chile

1999 Doméstico, Museum of Contemporary Art ,Valdivia, Chile

Further Reading

Justo Mellado and Mario Navarro (eds.), The New Ideal Line (Opala), exh. cat., Santiago: Gabriela Mistral Gallery, 2002

Justo Mellado and Mario Navarro (eds.), Radio Ideal, exh. cat., Santiago: Galería Metropolitana, 2003