Santiago Sierra studied at the Fine Arts Faculty of the Complutense University of Madrid in the 1980s. In the early 1990s he produced pieces with conceptual and minimalist influences, such as Cubic Container Measuring 300 x 300 cm (1990), Cement Wall Measuring 300 x 300 cm and Facing Upwards (1992) and 30 Loaves of Bread Lined Up (1996), while furthering his studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (1990 and 1991). His walks through Hamburg were reminiscent of those of Robert Smithson in Passaic. He was already building what would become a general trait in his output: purely descriptive titles and the parallel use of documentation, in the form of a video or photograph, to record the event. In 1996 he moved to Mexico City and took part in the Havana Biennial two years later with a piece that pointed the way to his future path: Person Paid to Have 30 cm Line Tattooed on Them. At that event he began to highlight the structures of power underpinning economic and social exchanges. Sierra criticises the exploitation of economically disadvantaged people who are forced into accepting humiliating, hazardous or apparently pointless jobs. He coldly brings their situations to light physically: he engraves their exploitation on the bodies of the workers, often leaving marks as a result of having rented space on their bodies. One of his best works was his intervention in the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2003), where he denied access to the complex – which by the way was empty – to anybody who could not produce an official document to prove they held Spanish citizenship. He thus highlighted the lability of the concept of frontiers and discredited the privileges of nationality. In that case, the members of the public, both those left outside and those who managed to enter, were the art piece.
He has held solo shows at various museums and art centres including at the Carrillo Gil Museum (Mexico City, 1996); the Malaga Contemporary Art Centre (2006); the Tate Modern (London, 2008); the Contemporary Art Museum (Vigo, 2009); the Reykjavik Art Museum (Reykjavik, 2012); and the Kunsthalle Tübingen (Tübingen, Germany, 2013). He has taken part in the Havana Biennial (1998) and the Istanbul Biennial (2013). In 2010 he refused the National Award for Plastic Arts.
Santiago Sierra studied at the Fine Arts Faculty of the Complutense University of Madrid in the 1980s. In the early 1990s he produced pieces with conceptual and minimalist influences, such as Cubic Container Measuring 300 x 300 cm (1990), Cement Wall Measuring 300 x 300 cm and Facing Upwards (1992) and 30 Loaves of Bread Lined Up (1996), while furthering his studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (1990 and 1991). His walks through Hamburg were reminiscent of those of Robert Smithson in Passaic. He was already building what would become a general trait in his output: purely descriptive titles and the parallel use of documentation, in the form of a video or photograph, to record the event. In 1996 he moved to Mexico City and took part in the Havana Biennial two years later with a piece that pointed the way to his future path: Person Paid to Have 30 cm Line Tattooed on Them. At that event he began to highlight the structures of power underpinning economic and social exchanges. Sierra criticises the exploitation of economically disadvantaged people who are forced into accepting humiliating, hazardous or apparently pointless jobs. He coldly brings their situations to light physically: he engraves their exploitation on the bodies of the workers, often leaving marks as a result of having rented space on their bodies. One of his best works was his intervention in the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2003), where he denied access to the complex – which by the way was empty – to anybody who could not produce an official document to prove they held Spanish citizenship. He thus highlighted the lability of the concept of frontiers and discredited the privileges of nationality. In that case, the members of the public, both those left outside and those who managed to enter, were the art piece.
He has held solo shows at various museums and art centres including at the Carrillo Gil Museum (Mexico City, 1996); the Malaga Contemporary Art Centre (2006); the Tate Modern (London, 2008); the Contemporary Art Museum (Vigo, 2009); the Reykjavik Art Museum (Reykjavik, 2012); and the Kunsthalle Tübingen (Tübingen, Germany, 2013). He has taken part in the Havana Biennial (1998) and the Istanbul Biennial (2013). In 2010 he refused the National Award for Plastic Arts.