C Ø P P E R F I E L D
  • Artists
  • Exhibitions
  • Contact
Oscar Santillán
 
b. 1980, Ecuador.
Lives and works between Ecuador and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
 
 
IMAGES   CV
Oscar Santillán is interested in connecting distant points: the sweat of a person with the beat of drums, paper made out of a medicinal tree with Nietzsche’s typewriter, or bringing together the breeze displaced by a running jaguar and a marble container.

Santillán began as a self-taught artist within the environment of Lalimpia, a collective he co-founded with other artists of his generation. After following different studies in Ecuador, a fellowship allowed him to pursue and obtain an MFA in Sculpture at VCU—Virginia Commonwealth University, US. He teaches at  AKV|St.Joost, and he is a guest tutor at Sandberg Institute, both in The Netherlands.
​
Recent and upcoming projects include: Earth Arts, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (upcoming); In Anderen Handen, Sammlung Philara x Miettinen Collection, Berlin, Germany (current); ​Monumental Shadows, Nadine Nunca Nada No, Madrid (Spain, 2025); Ghosts of Futures Past, Garage Rotterdam (Netherlands, 2025); Tiempo de Siembra, BPA/Raum, Berlin (Germany, 2024); A Heavy Halo, solo exhibition at RADIUS, Delft (Netherlands, 2023); Elemental Constellations at the Macalline Art Centre, Beijing (China, 2023); his inclusion in the Phaidon publication Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now (2023); and the HoltSmithson Foundation’s The Island Project: Point of Departure, alongside Tacita Dean, Renée Green, Sky Hopinka, Joan Jonas (between 2021 and 2026). He has also been commissioned for projects by the Yokohama Triennial (Japan), Ballroom Marfa (USA), Bienal de Arte Paiz (Guatemala), Laboratorio de Arte Alameda (Mexico), and the Eli and Edithe Broad Museum (USA). 

His work is part of international public collections, includng: Jumex (Mexico City), LACMA (Los Angeles, CA. US), CIFO (Miami, FL. US), Centraal Museum (Utrecht, NL), FRAC Ile-de-France (Paris, FR), Adrastus (SP/MX), Museum Voorlinden (Wassenaar, NL), Fries Museum (Leeuwarden, NL), Otazu (Pamplona, SP), Museo Carrillo Gil (Mexico City, MX).

​
For his most recent solo exhibition with the gallery please click here.

For his most recent group exhibition with the gallery please click here.

Picture
Oscar Santillán, A Heavy Halo, installation view, 2023
Picture
Oscar Santillán, Antimundo 00H, 2022, Oil on canvas, 190 x 126 cm
Picture
Oscar Santillán, Astronaut Cut, 2018, Performance recorded on video. Video (8’34”, 4K, color, audio stereo)
Picture
• Oscar Santillán, Spacecraft (Venus), Ceramic made with the same chemical composition as Venus, 130 x 40 x 55 cm
Picture
Oscar Santillán, After Afterlife, 2019, Bread and Meteorites, Dimensions variable
Picture
Oscar Santillán, BURNT ENCYCLOPÆDIA, 12 tablets made of fired clay, 26 x 17 x 3cm each. Installation view at MUAC, Mexico, 2016-2017
Picture
Oscar Santillán, Forecast, 2021, Device with colonial plants and apocalyptic movies, 118 x 76 x 81 cm
Picture
Oscar Santillán, Chewing Gum Codex, installation view at the Yokohama Triennial 2020, curated by Raqs Media Collective
Picture
Oscar Santillán, La noche, 2018, The moonlight’s weight, Lunar stone, customized metal box,

Solo Exhibitions
2025

Non (NuevosÓrganos Naturales), Livia Benavides, Lima 
​
2024
The Andean Information Age, Copperfield, London, UK

2023
ZONDA, LLANO, Mexico City, Mexico
A Heavy Halo, RADIUS, Delft, The Netherlands
​
2021
A Breathing Mountain, Galleria Tiziana Di Caro, Napoli, Italy
Shadows Travel at The Speed of Light, La Borie, Paris, France

2020
80m2, Livia Benavides gallery, Lima, Peru

2019
13.0.0.0.0, PARQUE Galería, Ciudad de México, Mexico
 
2018
Oscurana, Château La Borie, Solignac, France

2017
Mácula, MUAC; Mexico City, Mexico
Una Cierta Edad del Mundo, Galerie Mazzoli, Berlin, Germany
Asterism, Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
 
2016
Zaratán, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Codex, Metales Pesados. Santiago de Chile, Chile
 
2015
The Messenger, Spazio Calderara, Milan, Italy
To Break A Silence Into Smaller Silences, Copperfield, London, UK
 
2013
On Hesitation Marks, Kunstraum, Munich, Germany
 
2012
Lucerna, Fundación ODEON, Bogota, Colombia
 


Group Exhibitions
2025
​
Earth Arts, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (upcoming)
In Anderen Handen, Sammlung Philara x Miettinen Collection, Berlin, Germany (current)
Monumental Shadows, Nadine Nunca Nada No, Madrid, Spain
Ghosts of Futures Past, Garage Rotterdam, Netherlands
​
2024
Tiempo de Siembra, BPA//Raum, Berlin, Germany
Taken Apart & Put Back Together Again, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Life of Plants, VU Art Science Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
99 Questions Gathering, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
The Mountain Algorithms, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

2023
Elemental Constellations, Macalline Art Centre, Beijing, China
Liveable Worlds, The Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D, Portland, Maine, USA
KaplanKaplan, Copperfield, London, UK
Material Art Fair, Llano Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
 
2021
Flash Point, Ponce+Robles, Madrid, Spain
 
2020
Burning Glass, Reading Stone, Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
La Metafora Dell'Arciere, Galleria Tiziana Di Caro, Naples, Italy
(This) Precious Stone Set in the Silver Sea, Copperfield, London, UK
 
2019
Körperwende, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Germany
Chronos Cosmos: Deep Time, Open Space, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York, USA
Power Play, Korean Cultural Center UK, London, UK
Power Play, Delfina Foundation, London, UK
 
2018
Stage of Being, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands
The Ground Beneath Your Feet, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK
Delfina in SongEun: Power play, Delfina Foundation, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hyperobjects, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, Texas, USA
Downtime, Nest, The Hague, Netherlands
 
2017
Hôtel du Pavot 2, Frac Ile-de-France, Le Chateau, Bussy-saint-martin, France
A Universal History of Infamy, LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Park La Brea, California, USA
We have the weights, we have the measures, Copperfield, London, UK
The Nude and The Sap, Witte de With Centrum voor Hedendaagse Kunst (Center for Contemporary Art), Rotterdam, Netherlands
Hacia donde Olmedo miraba, Ponce+Robles, Madrid, Spain
 
2016
Miseratione non mercede, Copperfield, London, UK
 
2015
Adam, Eve & the Devil, Marres, House for Contemporary Culture, Maastricht, Netherlands
 
 

Collections
Kadist, San Francisco, USA
Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
LACMA, Los Angeles, Califoria, USA
CIFO, Miami, Florida, USA
Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands
FRAC Ile-de-France, Paris, France
Adrastus, Spain/Mexico
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands
Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Otazu, Pamplona, Spain
Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico

Private collections include:
Servais Family Collection, Belgium
Silvia Fiorucci, Monaco
Carlos Marsano, Peru
Philara Collection, Germany
Bieke and Tanguy van Quickenborne, Belgium
Could Seven Collection, Belgium
Liza Mauer, Canada
 

​
Institutional Exhibitions
Yokohama Triennale, Japan
Delfina Foundation, London, UK
NRW FORUM, Düsseldorf, Germany
SongEun Art Space, SeoulLACMA, Los Angeles, California, USA
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands
Zadkine Museum, Paris, France
FRAC Île-de-france, Paris, France
IMMA—Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland
Rochechouart Musée d’art contemporain, Rochech-ouart, France
Album Arte, Rome, Italy
STUK, Leuven, Belgium
Trienal Poligráfica, San Juan, Peurto Rico
Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK
National Dutch Dance Festival, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands
Oud-Rekem Castle, Rekem, Belgium
CAC, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Quito, Ecuador
Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico
 


Awards
2021-2026
Holt/Smithson Foundation’s The Island Project: Point of Departure
 


Residencies
Jan van Eyck, Netherlands
Delfina Foundation, UK
Fondazione Ratti, Italy
Skowhegan, USA
Seven Below, USA
Leiden Astronomical Observatory, Netherlands