Iván Argote: Radical Tenderness

“Radical Tenderness is an open conversation that starts with a question: how can we imagine a different public space? It is an invitation to unlearn inherited structures of power and representation, and to dream otherwise. To open ourselves – bravely and tenderly – and imagine new horizons. A place not built on hierarchy, but held in openness, in care and resistance. A space where we might meet one another differently, remember our diverse histories, and, together, shape with joy and criticality the contours of a future yet to come.”

–⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Iván Argote

Through his sculptures, installations, films, and interventions, Iván Argote, a Colombian artist based in Paris, explores our relationships with others, power structures, and belief systems. He develops strategies rooted in tenderness, affection, and humour, creating critical perspectives on dominant historical narratives. His interventions on monuments and large-scale ephemeral and permanent public artworks propose new symbolic and political uses of public space. 

“I’ve been in dialogue with Iván Argote for over a decade and I believe that he is one of the most talented artists of his generation. Through humor and tenderness, his work forces us to rethink our relationship with the public space and the troubling histories and social tensions that are often embedded in its monuments and architecture. By deconstructing the symbols of past ideologies and colonial power, Argote’s works offer a new possible vision, one that responds to urgent calls for social justice and environmental concern. And by reconceiving the public space and art institutions not as places of hierarchy, but as sites of openness, resistance, and connection, Argote offers us more diverse ways to memorialize our shared past and build a more caring, compassionate future,” says Leonardo Bigazzi, curator of the exhibition.

In 2024, Iván Argote was awarded the prestigious Plinth Commission by the High Line in New York where he presented his work Dinosaur (2024). That same year, he participated in the 60th Venice Biennale with a large outdoor installation in the Giardini and a film in the Arsenale. He also took part in the Bruges Triennale and Lagos Biennale.

Argote studied Graphic Design, Photography, and New Media at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá and holds an MFA from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA) in Paris. Iván Argote has been represented by Perrotin Gallery globally since 2011, by Galería Vermelho in São Paulo since 2012, and by Galería Albarrán Bourdais in Madrid and Menorca since 2019.

Argote has received several notable awards, including the Audi Talent Award (2011), SAM Prize for Contemporary Art (2013), the Grand Prize at the LOOP Barcelona Video Art Festival (2015) and was nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp 2022. He has held solo exhibitions at major institutions, such as the Centre Pompidou, MALBA Museum, KØS Museum, SCAD Museum of Art, Berlinische Galerie, and Palais de Tokyo. His work has also been featured in the Cuenca, Mercosur, Thessaloniki, and São Paulo Biennales, among others. Argote’s artworks are part of prestigious collections, including the Guggenheim Museum (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), MACBA (Barcelona), and Colección de Arte del Banco de la República (Bogotá).

Curator: Leonardo Bigazzi