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Álvaro Urbano
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2024. Photo by Dani Pujalte.
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2024. Photo by Dani Pujalte.
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2024. Photo by Dani Pujalte.
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2024. Photo by Dani Pujalte.
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2024. Photo by Dani Pujalte.
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2024. Photo by Dani Pujalte.
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2024. Photo by Dani Pujalte.
Sculpture Center, Nueva York, EE.UU, 2024.
Sculpture Center, Nueva York, EE.UU, 2024.
Sculpture Center, Nueva York, EE.UU, 2024.
Sculpture Center, Nueva York, EE.UU, 2024.
Sculpture Center, Nueva York, EE.UU, 2024.
Sculpture Center, Nueva York, EE.UU, 2024.
Sculpture Center, Nueva York, EE.UU, 2024.
24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, White Bay Power Station.
Photograph: Document Photography
24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, White Bay Power Station.
Photograph: Document Photography
24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, White Bay Power Station.
Photograph: Document Photography
24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, White Bay Power Station.
Photograph: Document Photography
24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, 2024, White Bay Power Station.
Photograph: Document Photography
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Islas Canarias, Spain, 2023.
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Islas Canarias, Spain, 2023.
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Islas Canarias, Spain, 2023.
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Islas Canarias, Spain, 2023.
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Islas Canarias, Spain, 2023.
TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Islas Canarias, Spain, 2023.
As part of “Thus Waves Come in Pairs” at Ocean Space, San Lorenzo Church, Venice, Italy, 2023.
As part of “Thus Waves Come in Pairs” at Ocean Space, San Lorenzo Church, Venice, Italy, 2023.
As part of “Thus Waves Come in Pairs” at Ocean Space, San Lorenzo Church, Venice, Italy, 2023.
As part of “Thus Waves Come in Pairs” at Ocean Space, San Lorenzo Church, Venice, Italy, 2023.
As part of “Thus Waves Come in Pairs” at Ocean Space, San Lorenzo Church, Venice, Italy, 2023.
As part of “Thus Waves Come in Pairs” at Ocean Space, San Lorenzo Church, Venice, Italy, 2023.
Travesía Cuatro Guadalajara, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro Guadalajara, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro Guadalajara, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro Guadalajara, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro Guadalajara, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro Guadalajara, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico. 2023.
Travesía Cuatro CDMX, Mexico. 2023.
Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, United States. Dec 4, 2021 – Feb 26, 2022.
Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, United States. Dec 4, 2021 – Feb 26, 2022.
Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, United States. Dec 4, 2021 – Feb 26, 2022.
Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, United States. Dec 4, 2021 – Feb 26, 2022.
Travesía Cuatro Madrid, 09 Sep – 20 Nov 2021.
Travesía Cuatro Madrid, 09 Sep – 20 Nov 2021.
Travesía Cuatro Madrid, 09 Sep – 20 Nov 2021.
Travesía Cuatro Madrid, 09 Sep – 20 Nov 2021.
TEA Tenerife Space of Arts, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, July 2, 2021 – September 26, 2021.
Autostrada Biennale, The National Library of Kosovo “Pjetër Bogdani”, Prishtina, Kosovo, 2021.
Autostrada Biennale, The National Library of Kosovo “Pjetër Bogdani”, Prishtina, Kosovo, 2021.
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy, October 30, 2020 – July 18, 2021.
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy, October 30, 2020 – July 18, 2021.
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy, October 30, 2020 – July 18, 2021.
Curated by Adam Budak, Ortisei, South Tyrol, Italy, 2020
Curated by Adam Budak, Ortisei, South Tyrol, Italy, 2020
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy.
28 February 2020 – 10 January 2021
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy.
28 February 2020 – 10 January 2021
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy.
28 February 2020 – 10 January 2021
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy.
28 February 2020 – 10 January 2021
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy.
28 February 2020 – 10 January 2021
Two raccoon costumes, various trash objects, fabric Dimensions variable
ARCOmadrid Special Projects with ChertLüdde, 2020 & I DREAMED I WAS A HOUSE, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg. Group exhibition curated by insitu collective, 2019
ARCOmadrid Special Projects with ChertLüdde, 2020 & I DREAMED I WAS A HOUSE, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg. Group exhibition curated by insitu collective, 2019
ARCOmadrid Special Projects with ChertLüdde, 2020 & I DREAMED I WAS A HOUSE, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg. Group exhibition curated by insitu collective, 2019
Art Basel Statements with ChertLüdde, 2019
Art Basel Statements with ChertLüdde, 2019
Art Basel Statements with ChertLüdde, 2019
Presented by Storefront for Art and Architecture, August 2020
The Playground Project – Outdoor Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 2018
The Playground Project – Outdoor Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 2018
Part of “Welcome to the Jungle”, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 2018
Part of “That Time”, Cycle Music and Art Festival. Curated by Eva Wilson Kópavogur, Iceland, 2016
Solo show, ChertLüdde, Berlin, 2017
Solo show, ChertLüdde, Berlin, 2017
Solo show, ChertLüdde, Berlin, 2017
Solo show, ChertLüdde, Berlin, 2017
Solo show, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, 2017
Solo show, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, 2017
Festival of Future Nows – 2nd Edition, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, 2017
Villa Empain, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, 2016
Villa Empain, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, 2016
Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 2016
Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 2016
Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 2016
Festival of Future Nows – 1st Edition, Neue Nationalgalerie, 2014
Festival of Future Nows – 1st Edition, Neue Nationalgalerie, 2014
Mole Antonelliana, National Cinema Museum of Turin, curated by Treti Galaxie, 2016
Mole Antonelliana, National Cinema Museum of Turin, curated by Treti Galaxie, 2016
Art & Nature. Walking with Senses, curated by BAU (Simone Mair, Lisa Mazza, Filipa Ramos), Merano – Dorf Tirol, Italy, 2016
Art & Nature. Walking with Senses, curated by BAU (Simone Mair, Lisa Mazza, Filipa Ramos), Merano – Dorf Tirol, Italy, 2016
Art & Nature. Walking with Senses, curated by BAU (Simone Mair, Lisa Mazza, Filipa Ramos), Merano – Dorf Tirol, Italy, 2016
W.L.G.T.D.W.I (What’s Love Gotta Do With It), Group Exhibition, S.A.L.T.S., Basel, 2015
W.L.G.T.D.W.I (What’s Love Gotta Do With It), Group Exhibition, S.A.L.T.S., Basel, 2015
W.L.G.T.D.W.I (What’s Love Gotta Do With It), Group Exhibition, S.A.L.T.S., Basel, 2015
W.L.G.T.D.W.I (What’s Love Gotta Do With It), Group Exhibition, S.A.L.T.S., Basel, 2015
W.L.G.T.D.W.I (What’s Love Gotta Do With It), Group Exhibition, S.A.L.T.S., Basel, 2015
Villa Romana, Florence, 2013 & Ärger im Paradise (Trouble in Paradise), Group Exhibition curated by Rein Wolfs, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 2015
Villa Romana, Florence, 2013 & Ärger im Paradise (Trouble in Paradise), Group Exhibition curated by Rein Wolfs, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 2015
Villa Romana, Florence, 2013 & Ärger im Paradise (Trouble in Paradise), Group Exhibition curated by Rein Wolfs, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 2015
Pavillon Social Kunstverein in Lucca, 2014/2015
Pavillon Social Kunstverein in Lucca, 2014/2015
Pavillon Social Kunstverein in Lucca, 2014/2015
Garden of Villa Romana, Florence, 2014
Garden of Villa Romana, Florence, 2014
Installation at Chert Gallery, 2015
Glassauge, Berlin.
Installation at Chert Gallery, 2015
Álvaro Urbano’s work involves an archeology of desires and past intentions. By creating atmospheres that replicate specific spaces and architectural gestures, the artist explores the narratives that are embedded in these built bodies. Urbano borrows strategies from theater and filmmaking–such as lighting, sound and costumes–in order to explore new formats of immersiveness, his projects are often structured as scenes or sequenced chapters. The interweaving of different media is used to generate situations that approach liminal and oniric dimensions transforming the exhibition space into a vessel of phantasms and apparitions.
These staged realities are inhabited by vegetal and animal elements, only from a close distance these entities reveal themselves as intricate organic simulations. Functioning as active characters instead of passive props, they interact with the viewers within an established fictional setting, generating parallel stories derived from botanical sensitivities and the common ground of art history. Urbano uses the “what-if” as a narrative trigger for exploring the volitional underground that can be unearthed from these modernist and contemporary ruins, often verging into the hallucinatory realm.
The exercise of re-creating and re-framing architecture becomes an intimate exploration of the subjectivity of other artists and the social context in which these spaces were considered as functional, innovative or condemned to oblivion. Figures such as Federico García Lorca, Luis Barragán, Eileen Gray and Oscar Wilde appear in these stagings as elusive figures enriched with fantasy and speculation. Mimicry is used by Urbano as a platform in which illusion derives in humorous transformation; parody and homage bloom in synchrony.
He has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions such as Tableau Vivant at SculptureCenter, New York (2024); TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Canary Islands (2023); Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York (2021); La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2020); among others.
He has participated in exhibitions in institutions such as Georg Kolbe Museum Berlin (2025); MACBA, Barcelona (2024); Sydney Biennale (2024); Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2023); Bergen Assembly, Bergen, Norway (2022); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2020); Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2018); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2017); CAB, Brussels (2017); Boghossian Foundation, Brussels (2016); Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2016); Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2016); Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2015); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2014); among others.
Upcoming projects include Pure Intention, Singapore Biennale 2025 and Whispers on the Horizon, Taipei Biennial 2025.
Urbano’s work is part of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (Germany); Artothek Zentral –und Landesbibliothek (Germany); Hamburger Bahnhof Collection (Germany); Collection Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin (France); TEA Tenerife (Spain); TBA21 (Spain); Collegium, Arévalo (Spain); Colección Museo Jumex (Mexico); FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, (France); and Fonds régional d’art contemporain (France).
Together with Petrit Halilaj (b. 1986, Kostërrc, XK), his partner and frequent artistic collaborator, Urbano received in 2014 the Villa Romana Fellowship. They attended The Artists and Architects-in-Residence at MAK, Los Angeles (2016/2017) and hold a joint professorship at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, FR. Urbano and Halilaj have presented their joint work at MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, SP; Sydney Biennial, Sydney, AU; Ocean Space, Venice, IT; Bally Foundation, Lugano, CH; Frankfurter Kunstverein, DE; Palacio de Cristal, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, SP; Autostrada Biennale at the National Library, Prishtina, XK; the 17th Quadriennale di Roma, Rome, IT; the Biennale Gherdëina, in Ortisei, IT and S.A.L.T.S., Basel, CH.
Álvaro Urbano studied Interior Architecture at the ETSAM in Madrid, and Fine Arts at the Institut für Raumexperimente, Universität der Künste in Berlin; he lives and works between Berlin and Paris.
GALERIE MAGAZINE: 8 Standout Works from Art Basel 2025 by Paul Laster
“An architect by training, Álvaro Urbano investigates the stories and surreal atmospheres of mythical spaces in 20th-century architecture. His sculptural installations and environments are crafted with theatrical precision, attending to every detail.” Read more about Álvaro Urbano at our booth in Art Basel in Galerie Magazine.
Art Basel 2025 | Booth S07
Travesía Cuatro is delighted to take part in Art Basel 2025. For this edition, our booth includes works by Álvaro Urbano, Mariela Scafati, Donna Huanca, La Chola Poblete, Joeun Kim Aatchim, Tania Pérez Córdova, Teresa Solar Abboud, Manuel Solano, Willa Wasserman, Ángela de la Cruz, Gonzalo Lebrija, Alexandre Estrela, Jorge Eielson, Jorge Méndez Blake, Miriam Inez da Silva and. Eleonore Koch.
Find us at Booth S07, Messe Basel, Messeplatz 10, Basel, Switzerland.
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts | Álvaro Urbano & Tania Pérez Córdova
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA, presents a group exhibition – including works by Álvaro Urbano and Tania Pérez Córdova – Viaje a la luna (A trip to the moon) inspired by Federico García Lorca. Curated by Diego Villalobos and Rodrigo Ortiz Monasterio, the exhibition will be on view from June 12th and until October 11th will travel Centro Federico García Lorca in October 30, 2025.
Acto I: La Eterna Adolescencia
Canary Islands, Spain 2024
In the garden
Authors: Graciela Silvestri, Luis Felipe Fabre, Santiago Beruete and Magnolia de la Garza
2023
Thus Waves Come in Pairs, Thinking with the Mediterraneans
Artists: Álvaro Urbano & Petrit Halilaj
Collaborators: Jumana Emil Abboud, Omar Berrada, Pietro Consolandi, Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, Zeyn Joukhadar, Ibrahim Nehme, Giovanna Silva, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano.
Design by bruno | Sternberg Press & TBA21-Academy, 2023
English
GRANADA GRANADA Un Romancero
Artist: Álvaro Urbano
Author: Isabel Abascal
Design: Estudio Herrera
Travesía Cuatro
Guadalajara | CDMX | Madrid, 2023
Ever Since Night Falls
Artist: Álvaro Urbano
Authors: Álvaro Urbano and Joan Lee
ChertLüdde
Berlin, 2019
