Miguel Calderón

Artist Miguel Calderón will deliver a remote lecture, organized as part of the Fall 2022 Architecture Advanced V Studio “Accessibility” led by Laura González Fierro. The lecture will be broadcast in Avery Rm 114, and is open to Columbia affiliates.

Miguel Calderón is regarded as a seminal figure in Mexico’s independent art scene. His pieces often combine a dark sense of humor that is reconfigured into works that explore deep social and personal territories taking advantage of what is at hand to create low budget films and videos. His multidisciplinary practice focuses on exploring power relations, in interpersonal (often family) relationships as well as between different groups in society. He draws satirical portraits—always with a respectful regard for marginalized figures—depicting Mexico’s class society, defined by rigid hierarchies. His work often is unified by an ever-present sense of theatricality, questioning the fine line between reality and fiction. Frequently cast from the perspective of an outsider, he highlights the macabre complexity of our position as humans in the universe deftly weaving together mockery, social critique and straightforward emotions. He creates works from a mashup of vernacular references, employing a variety of media, including video, photography, sculpture, and painting. He will discuss some key projects in the realm of accessibility, like Taximetro and Employee of the Month where culture, art, society and institutions interact, opening new avenues for intimacy and connection. Calderón received his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1994. He has been the recipient of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation Grant & Commissions program (2013), The MacArthur Fellowship for Film and New Media (2000), and the Bancomer/Rockefeller Fellowship (1995). Calderón currently lives and works in Mexico City where the exhibition Materia Estética Disponible (Available Aesthetic Material) just opened at the Tamayo Museum offering a reading of the last three decades of production by the Mexican artist.