Santiago Tavera

Santiago Tavera is a Colombian-Canadian artist, researcher and curator based in Montréal. Tavera’s practice revolves around constructing immersive and interactive projects that expand the body and perception through digital media, to evoke virtual simulations of migrant and queer narratives of dislocation. In Tavera’s work, mixed media compositions of videos, 3D graphic animations, text, sound, archival material and architectural elements create blurred experiences of physical and virtual spatial embodiments of the “other”. Tavera’s projects have been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Le Conseil des art de Montreal and the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, and presented in Canada at Optica, une centre d’art contemporain, MAI-Montréal, arts interculturels, Projet Casa, Articule, SUR Gallery, Agence TOPO, Montréal’s 3rd International Digital Art Biennial, Interaccess, Forest City Gallery, as well as Internationally at the International Art Fair of Bogota-ARTBO, the Images Festival of Manizales, the International Symposium on Electronic Art-ISEA, (Colombia) the Changwon Sculpture Biennial (South Korea), La Galeria de Arte e Pesquisa–UFES (Brazil), Solange Guez Arte Contemporaneo (Argentina), Laboratório de Arte Alameda (México). Tavera holds a Master of Fine Arts in Intermedia from Concordia University, and a Bachelor of Arts with an Honor Specialization in Visual Arts and a Major in Psychology from Western University. 

Intermedia (Video, Performance and Electronic Arts)

2023 (fall semester)

• IMCA 610/612 MFA Studio - Intermedia (Video, Performance and Electronic Arts)

2023 - 2024 (FALL AND WINTER)

• IMCA 310 Intermedia Video Production

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2021        Camouflaged Screams [The Novels of Elsgüer -Episode 4] (collaboration with Laura Acosta), OPTICA- un centre d'art contemporain, Montréal, QC.

2020        If I saw you, I don’t remember [The Novels of Elsgüer - Episode 5] (collaboration with Laura Acosta),  MAI - Montréal arts interculturels, Montréal, QC.

2018      Reverberations of a Topological Daydream, Forest City Gallery, London, ON. 

2016      Stereo Linear Balance, Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay, The 3rd International Digital Art Biennial of Montréal (BIAN), Montréal, QC. 

2016      Translational Spaces, Agence TOPO, Montréal, QC.

Group Exhibitions

2023        En el filo del caos, Suratomica Mutante, Bogota's Cinemateques, Colombia. 

2022        A Flower and a Thousand Paths, Céline Bureau, Montréal, QC.

2022        Across Space – Sympathetic Vibration, exhibition part of the Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2022  - Channel: Wave-Particle Duality, Changwon, South Korea. 

2022        At a distance - from within, Project Casa, ArtPop Festival, Montréal, QC.

2022        If I saw you, I don’t remember (outdoor screening), Géoparc Mondial UNESCO de Percé, La Grande rencontre des arts médiatiques en Gaspésie, Percé, QC.

2021        Video/Play (screenings), Montréal Connect part of Printemp Numérique, Montréal and Brussels. 

2021        Résonances du Réel, [collaboration with Laura Acosta], Maison de la Culture Claude-Léveillée, Montréal, QC.

2021        Entre Rios (screening), Grande rencontre des arts médiatiques en Gaspésie, Galerie d’Art, Percé,QC.

2021        Latin@america: Embedding Bodies and Localities [collaboration with Laura Acosta], Sur Gallery, Toronto, Canada.

2020         Antes de que todo sea polvo, Artecámara, [collaboration with Milton Riaño] ARTBO | International Art Fair of Bogota, Colombia.

2020        Passages Convergents, Maison de la culture Notre-Dame-de-Grâce,Montréal, QC.

2018        Code-Corps, The HTMlles Feminist Festival of Media Arts Digital Culture, Articule, Montréal, QC.

2018         Passages Convergentes, Maison de la culture Villeray-St-Michel-Parc Extension, Montréal, QC.

2018     Design and Media Art Exhibition, Centro Cultural Rogelio Salmona, The International Image Festival of Manizales, Manizales, Colombia. 

2018         Live Despecho [online exhibition], The Wrong- A New Digital Biennial: Homeostasis Lab Pavilion.

2017        La Obra en el Espacio (The Work in Space), Aproximaciones a la Museografía Actual, Laboratório de Arte Alameda, Mexico City. 

2017        Virtual Narratives of Dislocation (Live Broadcast VR Session), Bath Spa University, Bath, UK.

2017        Virtual Narratives (VJ projections), The Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ottawa, ON.

2017        Narratives of Being & Belonging, Galeria de Arte e Pesquisa,Vitória, Brazil. 

2016        DSSOTS, Chromatic Festival- MTL x TO, Hangar 16, Montréal, QC. 

2015        DSSOTS (Screening) Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto, ON.

Curatorial Projects

2023        VCR Image Curator-in-Residence, The Visual Collections Repository, Concordia University.        

2022        A Flower and a Thousand Paths, Céline Bureau Gallery | Residency, Montréal, Canada. 

2023        Acosta, Laura and Tavera, Santiago, The Novels of Elsgüer: Counter Narratives and Ecosystems of  Corporeal and Virtual Displacement. Ecocene: Cappadocia Journal of Environmental Humanities. <https://ecocene.kapadokya.edu.tr/index.php/ecocene/article/view/166/137> 

2017        Tavera, Santiago, Translational Spaces: Virtual Narratives Of Being & Belonging, in Journal of Virtual Creativity, Intellect Books, U.K: p.133-146. < https://doi.org/10.1386/vcr.7.2.133_1>

2016        Digital Architectural Environments: Experiencing the Translation Between the Physical and Virtual in AC2 (Architecture | Concordia’s second publication): 80-83.

2015        Digital Architectural Environments: Experiencing the Translation Between the Physical and Virtual  in Architecture Rendez vous Art – Episode 2: 165-172.

2023        Borquez, Marcela, [Exhibition review],  Willful ambivalence in A Flower and a Thousand Paths. Vie des arts magazine. March 20, 2023. <https://viedesarts.com/en/reviews-en/willful-ambivalence-in-a-flower-and-a-thousand-paths/> 

2021        Bracmort, Cecilia, [Exhibition Review], Immersion dans un monde de paradoxes à OPTICA. Vie des Arts. <https://viedesarts.com/visites/immersion-dans-un-monde-de-paradoxes-a-optica/>. 

2021        Du Ruisseau, Olivier, [Article], Concordia University, Faculty of Fine Arts. 

<https://www.concordia.ca/cunews/finearts/2021/06/04/interactive-video-installation-by-two-concordia-artists-shown-at-optica.html?c=/finearts/news>

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2021        Janssen, Shauna. Camouflaged Screams - Immersive and Scenographic Constructions of Wilding [Exhibition text], Optica, centre d’art contemporain, Montréal: <http://www.optica.ca/programmation/index.php#1002>.

2021        Arana, Claudia. Latin@merica: Embedding Bodies and Localities [Exhibition text], Sur Gallery, Toronto, Canada. <https://www.surgalleryvirtual.ca/>.

2020         Valdés, Emiliano, Antes de que todo sea polvo, ARTBO, Artecámara [Exhibition text], Temporada, Bogotá, Colombia, 2020. <https://www.artbo.co/temporada/Artecamara/Antes-de-que-todo-sea-polvo>.

2020        Redgrave, Veronica, Shape-shifting Compositions: The exhibition “Passages Convergents” [Exhibition Review],  in Vie des Arts, N°260 – Sep. 29, Fall 2020 Edition, Montréal, Canada. 

2018     Rosales Argonza, Mariza. «Angles morts, visions transfrontalières latino-québécoises» [Book chapter], Vues transversales. Panorama de la scène artistique latino-québécoise, Mariza Rosales Argonza (ed.), Montréal : Les Éditions du CIDIHCA / La fondation LatinArte, 2018: p. 127-172.

2018        Sophie, Chartier. La technologie comme prise de parole, in Le Devoir, Montréal, QC. 

2018        Lam, Tina. Virtual Gaze [Exhibition text], Articule, Montréal.

2017        Mackrous, P. Translational Spaces [Exhibition Text - E-Book] in Inhabiting the Uncertainty of the Showcase: p. 69-73. 

2016        Mackrous, P. Santiago Tavera, Translational Spaces – mars 2016 – avril 2016 [Exhibition Text] at AgenceTOPO, Montréal, Canada: https://www.agencetopo.qc.ca/wp/en/santiago-tavera-translational-spaces-mars-2016-avril-2016/

2023-2026        Composite grant (with Laura Acosta), The Canada Council for the Arts. 

2023                Longlist finalist - Quebec Region, Canada’s Sobey Art Award, National Gallery of Canada.

2022                Concept to Realization Grant (with Céline Bureau), The Canada Council for the Arts.

2022                Residency Grant (Arts Abroad), (with Laura Acosta), The Canada Council for the Arts [Italy]. 

2021                Public Presentation (with Laura Acosta), Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

2021                Research and Creation Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.

2021                Finalists of the Bourse Plein Sud, Plein sud, centre d'exposition en art actuel à Longueuil.

2021                Digital Now Grant (with Optica and Laura Acosta), The Canada Council for the Arts.

2020-2021        Concept to Realization Grant (with Laura Acosta), The Canada Council for the Arts.

2020                Digital Originals Grant (with Milton Riaño), The Canada Council for the Arts. 

2019-2020        Vivacité Grant (with Laura Acosta), Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. 

2019                Research and Creation Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.

2019                Concept to Realization Grant (with Laura Acosta), The Canada Council for the Arts.

2019                Travel Grant (Arts Abroad), The Canada Council for the Arts [Colombia]. 

2018                Concept to Realization Grant, The Canada Council for the Arts.

2018                Travel Grant (Arts Abroad), The Canada Council for the Arts [Colombia], 

2017                Travel Grant (Arts Abroad), The Canada Council for the Arts [England].