Angyvir
Padilla
Angyvir (b. Caracas, Venezuela, 1987) is a Brussels-based visual and performance artist. She studied Visual Communication at Prodiseño in Caracas (2004-2009, MA), Art in the public space at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (2011-13, BA), sculpture at ENSAV La Cambre (2012-15, MA), and Fine Arts at LUCA School of Arts of Brussels (2016-18, MA).
Angyvir Padilla's artistic practice spans a variety of disciplines and media, including sculpture, performance, photography, video and sound. These expressions can stand alone or fuse freely, in search of new vocabulary to emerge. Inspired by the experience of displacement, Padilla's works go beyond mere objects; they are narratives in constant motion, crossing the boundaries between past and present, imagined and real, ephemeral and tangible. The notion of "home" recurs in her installations - a space both familiar and uncanny, impossible to capture in a single image or phrase.
Central to Padilla's work is a persistent desire to inhabit what may no longer exist. This longing for familiarity, or perhaps domesticity, imbued with an inherent inability to achieve it, serves as an impetus for experimentation. Interested in physical manifestations of the past, Padilla works along raw qualities of materials, while challenging the non-linear properties of time, or even the gravity of the Earth; collaborations, quiet and intimate, often based on friendship and family bonds, counteract the physical distance and solitary nature of the artistic journey. The result is an immersive, bodily experience that leaves the viewer suspended in a sense of dissonance and bewilderment between what is seen, touched, heard, and remembered.
Her work has been recently exhibited in numerous venues, including JAP vitrine, Brussels (2023), IKOB Museum, Eupen (2023), Antwerp Art Weekend (2023), CIAP, Genk (2022), Centrale Vitrine, Brussels (2021), Frac Grand Large — Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque (2021-22), and S.M.A.K Museum, Ghent (2021). She has also gained international recognition through exhibitions in Paris, Germany, The Netherlands, Greece and other European countries.
In recent years, Padilla has been awarded numerous residencies and prizes, including the Fiminco Foundation residency in Paris (2022–23) and a long-term residency at Moussem Nomadic Art Centre in Brussels (2023–). She received the Watch This Space biennial prize in Lille in 2022, was one of the laureates of the Friends of S.M.A.K Prize in Ghent in 2021 and was awarded the SOFAM Grant in 2024.
In 2024, her work has been exhibited at The Kunstverein Friedrichshafen in Germany, FOMU Museum in Antwerp, the Brakke Grond in Amsterdam, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and the MLeuven Museum (Oct 2024 – Jan 2025). That same year, Padilla was selected for the MINO Female Artist Mentorship program with mentors Otobong Nkanga and Léonard Pongo, as well as for the TIFF 2024 and FUTURE programs, hosted by FOMU Museum in Antwerp. She took part in the MLeuven residency program at Cas-co in Leuven and Morpho Residency in Antwerp.
Impressions of "Casas Muertas" at M Leuven Museum in Belgium. Photography by Useful Art Services.
Deatail of "Casas Muertas" at M Leuven Museum in Belgium. Photography by Useful Art Services.
Impressions of "Casas Muertas" at M Leuven Museum in Belgium. Photography by Useful Art Services.
Impressions of "Casas Muertas" performance at the opening night at M Leuven Museum in Belgium.
Impressions of "La Ola Que Vino de Lejos" FRAC-Grand Large, 2022
Impressions of "Casas Muertas" performance at the opening night at M Leuven Museum in Belgium.
Impressions of "The Moving Stone of Tandil" 2017
Impressions of "Lo Que No Parece Importante Pero Que Siempre Esta Ahi" IKOB museum, 2023
Impressions of "From There, To Here and Elsewhere" 2021
Impressions of "Lo Que No Parece Importante Pero Que Siempre Esta Ahi" IKOB museum, 2023
Impressions of "La Ola Que Vino de Lejos" FRAC-Grand Large, 2022
Impressions of "Lo Que No Parece Importante Pero Que Siempre Esta Ahi" IKOB museum, 2023
AWARDS
2022 Watch this space, organized by 50 degrés Nord, 1st laureate, Lille (FR)
2021 Friends of S.M.A.K, Laureate, Ghent (BE)
2020 Edition grant, SOFAM, Brussels (BE)
2020 ArtContest, 3rd Laureate and SOFAM prize, Brussels
PUBLICATIONS
2021 Edition 2, The Habit of Knowledge, published by the Archive Hotel (BE)
2020 Edition 4, Archive Hotel, published by the Archive Hotel (BE)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Casas Muertas », end of residency presentation, M Leuven Museum, Leuven (BE)
2024 Whispering Floors, Trembling Breaths », Kunstverein Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen (DE)
2023 Virgy’s Boutique », JAP vitrine, Brussels (BE)
2022 La ola que vino de lejos », Frac Grand-Large, Dunkerque (FR)
2021 From there, to here and elsewhere », Krasj festival, curated by Ante Timmermans, Ninove (BE)
2021 Home contains us and is within us », Centrale Vitrine, Brussels (BE)
2019 Tonada de luna llena », Ithaka festival, Leuven (BE)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Ties That Bind, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (HR)
2024 .tiff, Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL)
2024 .tiff, Fomu Museum, Antwerp (BE)
2024 Zomer Expo, Groot Begijnhof Sint-Amandsberg, Ghent (BE)
2023 Group show, Ontsteking, Ghent (BE)
2023 All our yesterday’s, with Lili Dujourie & Sophie Nys, curated by Brenda Guesnet, IKOB museum, Eupen (BE)
2023 Lavender Snows, curated by Maud Salembier, La Traverse, Marseille (FR)
2023 I think I’ve been there before, curated by Natalia Barczynska, Kruppa gallery, Wroclaw (PL) & KKKC, Klaipeda (LT)
2023 Flowers at room temperature, Antwerp Art Weekend, curated by Anna LaganovskaDe Studio, Antwerp (BE)
2023 Urban Odysseys, Fiminco Foundation, Paris (FR)
2023 Symbiosium, Fiminco Foundation, at the invitation of CWB|Paris, Paris (FR)
2022 Pure morning, Marranosco gallery, Brussels (BE)
2022 Les Heures Sauvages », curated by Stéphanie Pécourt, CWB|Paris, Paris (FR)
2022 Three tropes of Entropy, Mountaincutters & Daniel Steegmann, curated by Laila Melchior & Koi Persyn, CIAP, Genk (BE)
2021 (((Interférence_s))), CWB|Paris, Paris (FR)
2021 Sand used to be big rocks » duo exhibition with Yoel Pytowski, Sismografo, Porto (PT)
2021 Coming people 2020, Friends of S.M.A.K prize, S.M.A.K museum, Ghent (BE)
2021 Radiations, Sagacity, Brussels (BE)
2021 Moonhugs ,performance in duo with Leen Van Dommelen, Zsenne Lab, Brussels (BE)
2020 Mangelos Prize, with Sandra Lakicevic, Belgrade (SRB)
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2024 Morpho, Antwerp (BE) – Current.
2024 FUTURES emerging photography program – Current.
2024 .tiff program, Fomu Museum, Antwerp (BE)
2024 M Leuven residency at Cas-co, Leuven (BE)
2023-2024 FAM mentorship program with Otobong Nkga and Léonard Pongo Mino, Antwerp (BE)
2023-2027 Moussem Nomadic arts center, Brussels (BE) – Current.
2022-2023 Fondation Fiminco, Paris (FR)
2022 Moly Sabata, with Yoel Pytowski, Sablons (FR)
2022 Aramauca, Chiapas (MX)
2021-2022 Château Coquelle & FRAC Grand-Large, Dunkerque (FR)
EDUCATION
2016-2018 Master with distinction, Fine Arts department, Luca School of Arts, Brussels (BE)
2012-2015 Master with distinction, Sculpture department, ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels (BE)
2011-2012 Bachelor, Art in the public space, ARBA, Brussels (BE)
2004-2009 Master with distinction, Visual Communication department, PROdiseño Graphic Design School, Caracas (VE)