CV
Alejandro Chellet / Mexico City 1990
EXHIBITIONS / PERFORMANCE ART / INTERVENTIONS / RESIDENCIES
2017
November - Collective exhibition curated by Mathias Reis, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Performance at Neo Domesticity Performance Festival, curated by Alex Romania & Lital Dotan. Glasshouse Artlifelab Gallery in Bushwhick, Brooklyn, NYC, USA.
Performance at Rosekill, curated by Valerie Sharp, Rosedale, New York, USA.
Performance at Anarchist Art Festival, curated by Adriana Varella, Judson Memorial Church, NYC, USA.
Performance at Itinerant, annual Performance Art Festival curated by Hector Canonge, Socrates Sculpture Park, NYC, USA.
Performance at Festival International D'Art Performance, curated by Annabel Gueredrat, Henri Tauliaut & Maria Elena Ortiz, Martinique, France.
Performance at Broadway Arts Gallery, curated by Ming Lui in Kingston, New York. USA.
Performance at The Umbrella Factory, curated by Pulsar and Wild Embedding. Brooklyn, NYC, USA.
Performance at Casa Del Lago, curated by Felipe Zuñiga and Tania Ragasol, UNAM, Mexico City.
2016
Collective exhibition. Casa del Lago, UNAM, curated by Felipe Zuñiga and Tania Ragasol, Mexico City.
Performance for LiVEART.US, bi-monthly platform curated by Hector Canonge, Queens Museum, NYC, USA.
Residency program and exhibition organised by: L’Olivar Foundation and the Perramon de Ventalló Foundation. Sponsored by: Sabadell Banc Foundation, Perramón Foundation, Private Museum Singapore and l’Olivar Foundation. Curated by Pilar Parcerisas & Enric Pladevall. Girona, Spain.
Residency program and performance at Hotel Radisson Blue, with Gallery 12 Performance HUB, curated by Marta Jovanovic, Belgrade, Serbia.
Performance at Mikser Festival Sensitive Society, curated by Ana Dragic, Belgrade, Serbia.
Performance on The Food Show at Local Project, curated by Leili Huizabah, Queens, Long Island, NYC, USA.
Artwork presentation for Animamus Art Salon at Chinatown Soup Gallery, Manhattan curated by Ventiko, NYC. USA.
Performance at Pulsar Performance Space, Bushwick, curated by Ian Deleon and Tiff Robinete, Brooklyn, NYC, USA.
Performance at Linda Montano Art/Life Institute Gallery, curated by Jill McDermid, Kingston, NY, USA.
2015
- Exhibition ACTUALIZA ARTE, (installation, urban interventions and video) curated by Willy Kautz. Supported by Centro Cultural Border and funded by Adidas Originals.
Museo Universitario del Chopo. Mexico City, Mexico.
- Exhibition Tudo que eu não sei, project in partnership with Brazilian Artist Matthias Reis, curators: Giovanna Brasil e Victor Tosi, Museum Memorial do imigrante, Vinhedo-SP, Brazil.
- “piñata guts” performance at Jelly Suite during Art Basel week, Wynwood art district, Miami USA.
- “who is praying?” performance at Academia de San Carlos, Facultad de Arte y Diseño, UNAM, México DF.
-Residency curated by Poppy Jackson at Rosekill, Outdoor performance venue in Rosendale, Upstate NY. USA.
-Performance in collaboration with artist Sophie Merrison-Thieme , Linda Montano Art/Life Institute Gallery, curated by Jill McDermid, Kingston, NY, USA.
-Performance in collaboration with artist Margeaux Walter, Au gust arr Festival at Womens Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY, USA.
2014
- “ Pajelanca” 12 hours durational performance , curated by Lucio Agra and Rogeiro Nagaoka, SESC. Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- “One must have a bone and not be afraid to loose the meat and show the bone” performance for Perfo 5, Festival organized by Brazilian Performance Association, Paco Das Artes, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
-”Freegans and permaculturists”, performance at Grace Exhibition Space, curated by Pancho Lopez, Brooklyn, NYC, USA.
- “Chopping chances”, performance made at Grey Zone, Kingston, NY, USA.
2013
- Urban intervention "Punto Social Temporal" as part of the Encounter of Performance Art in the Americas. Hemispheric Institute of Performance Art & Politics of New York University. Event hosted by SESC and Sao Paulo University, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
-“Humus” Performance at Int. Festival EXTRA, Universidad de la Comunicacion, Mexico city.
2012 - “I'll huff and puff” presented in collaboration with Hannah Gardiner at Occupy Low lifes platform in Cancun City, Mexico. Hosted by Occupy With Art from NYC.
2011 -“0.50 pence per hour.” presented at 85 Presents poetry and performance hosted by Catherine Brogan, London, United Kingdom.
2010 - Platform Young Performance Artists, Flutgraben, Berlin, Germany.
- “Standing as...” performance at Indirect Communication event in Art Hall Arsenals, Riga, Latvia.
2007-2008 - Solo and collective improvised street actions, theater and poetry. Mexico City.
2006 Festival “Subcutaneo”, actions on the underground transportation system of Mexico City. .
2003, 2005 and 2006 Projects selected for the editions at the International Performance Art Encounter “Performagia” Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City.
VIDEO-PERFORMANCE
2006 Father’s day performances, Casa De La Niña Performance art gallery, Mexico City.
2009 “Eternity” presented at the International Performance Art Encounter Performar, Dominican Republic.
THE FAT MARIACHI ART COLLECTIVE
2010 Festival de México en el Centro Histórico, Mexico City.
2009 Art Festival, Open Art Realization. Beijing, China
- Performance at Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica. Mexico City.
- Performance and installation on the collective exhibition “CHPPDNSCRWD” at Yautepec Gallery. Mexico City.
- Performance at the Performance Art Festival “Performagia” Chopo, Museo de Arte de Tlaxcala. Tlaxcala, México.
- Performance on the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, UNAM. Mexico City.
- Performance on the “Corredor Cultural Roma Condesa” Centro Cultural Border. Mexico City.
- Street performance at “Radiaciones” Intervenciones en la Ruta de la Amistad, Torre de los vientos, Mexico City.
- Performance at “Torneo Escuderías” Centro Cultural de España, Centro Cultural Tlatelolco, UNAM. Mexico City.
- Performance on the exhibition “Recinto Mundano + acciones sonoras” at 1/4 Espacio Emergente de Arte. Mexico City.
2008 First live performance on the international art event “Dorkbot 15” Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City. (December)
PRIZES / AWARDS / SUPPORT
2016 Awarded residency and production grant for site specific intervention in L’Olivar Foundation. Girona, Spain.
2014 -2015 Beca ADIDAS BORDER by Centro Cultural BORDER and ADIDAS ORIGINALS to develop EXHIBITION project ACTUALIZA ARTE, April-June 2015. Mexico City.
2013 Awarded British Arts Council grant for urban interventions in collaboration with UK artist Hannah Gardiner, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2010 Winner of the 3rd prize in the video category with “Despertar” (awakening) in the National Contest About Environmental Problematic and Climate Change, PRI. Mexico City.
2010 Winner of the Honorary Mention with the video “Despertar” in the First Video and Photography Festival “El Arte es Un Viaje”, Mexico City
LABORAL ACTIVITIES
2015 - TODAY Direction of CASA VIVA LiVE ART MEXICO gallery in Mexico City.
2015 - 2016 Direction of educational program: sustainability, bio architecture and bamboo design, Centro Cultural Border, Mexico City.
2009 - 2017 Co-founder of Cualti Mexico urban agriculture and social change project based in Mexico City.
2012 -2017 Official member of Vivarium S.C charity in charge of a permaculture and agroforestry, reforestation project based in Xochimilco, Natural Reserve, Mexico City, UNESCO World Heritage Site. (collaboration started since 2005)
2014 - 2015 Coordinator at the Permaculture Centre of Education organic cattle ranch, Chiapas. Mexico
2012 - 2013 Project coordinator of Nahui Ollin community vegetable garden. Instruction of organic urban agriculture course supported by Mexican government, Secretaría de Desarrollo Social, Gobierno del Distrito Federal. Tlahuac, Mexico City.
2009 - 2010 Working with Chapulin Films production company. fund-raising for full length commercial Mexican fictional films.
2008 - 2010 General management and conceptual advisor for Fat Mariachi Performance Art Collective.
2008 - 2009 Programmer of the Cancun International Film Festival Mayan Riviera.
INTERNSHIPS / RESIDENCIES
2016 Residency at Hotel Radisson BLue with Gallery 12 HUB, Belgrade Serbia.
Residency in L’Olivar Foundation. Girona, Spain.
2017 / 2016 / 2015 / 2014 summer residency and at Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn, NYC and Rosekill Farm Upstate New York.
2014 Proyecto Universidad de la Creatividad, elaboración de un domo geodesico de bambu. Tlamaya, Puebla, México.
2013 TIBA, Bio-Arquitectura Intuitiva. Arraial Do Cabo, Brazil.
- EcoeTrix Parque Escola, Valle Cantagallo, Minas Gerais. Brazil.
- Amoreza Permaculture and organic farming site, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
- Ecovillage Spiral of Light, Permaculture site, Amboro Park, Bolivia.
2012 Tierra Del Sol, Permaculture and Eco Tourism site, Oaxaca, México.
2011 Karlshof; Non Agricultural Farm. Templin, Brandenburg, Germany.
- Climate Camp, Lausitz, Brandenburg, Germany.
- Steward Low Impact Permaculture Community, England, UK.
2010 Educational Ecovillage Altmark, Riebau, Saxony Anhalt, Germany.
- Woodhead Community, Permaculture and organic farming and gardening site, Findhorn bay, Scotland, UK.
- Monimail Tower, Permaculture and organic farming site, Fife, Scotland, UK.
- Alternative group of social and political action, FREEGANS, New York City, US
STUDIES / DIPLOMAS / CERTIFICATES /
2013 Bio Architecture and Bamboo Building Techniques Diploma instructed by Marcelo Fonseca, Gonzalo Torres Zules, Francisco Diaz. Universidad de Puebla, Puebla City, Mexico.
2012 Permaculture, Keyline, Microbiology and Organic Agriculture Diploma instructed by Eugenio Graz, Ignacio Zamora and Jairo Restrepo. Universidad del Estado de Pachuca, Hidalgo. Mexico.
2011 Permaculture Design Certified Course, instructed by Graham Burnett & Rakesh Bhambri, British Permaculture Association, London, United Kingdom.
- First semester of Bachelor in Visual and Plastic Arts in The Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda”, INBA. Mexico City. (currently suspended)
- High school at Centro de Eduación Artística, focused in music composition, INBA, Mexico City.
WORKSHOPS / COURSES / SEMINARS / ENCOUNTERS
2014- Performance workshop led by Marcos Bulhoes from Brazilian group DESVIO COLETIVO, organized by Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics NYU, New York. USA.
2013 - Performance workshop led by Guillermo Gomez Peña and la Pocha Nostra. SESC. Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- Encounter of Arts and Politics in the Americas, Hemispheric Institute of NYU, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo. Brazil.
- Participated at round table called "urban interventions as a political instrument" in the Regional Encounter of Architecture Students, University of Rio de Janeiro, Niterói. Brazil.
- 2 Encounter of Sustainable Management, organized by Marcos Ninguém, Gaia University and facilitated by many permaculture practitioners among David Holgrem, Peter Weeb and Alberto Ruz.
- Performance workshop by ERRO Grupo from Brazil.
2012 International Encounter of Art and Sustainability, HUB CONARTE, Mexico City.
2011 “Dirty Electronics: Solder and Score”, electronic instruments building and sound art workshop instructed by John Richards. Institute of Contemporary Art, London, United Kingdom.
- Transition Training by Nick Osborne and Inez Aponte, Transition Network. Totnes, UK.
- Techniques in natural building, Mexico City.
2010 Performance workshop, guided by Jürgen Fritz. IPHA, Schloss Bröllin, Germany.
- “Emotional Landscapes” photography workshop, guided by Megan Cump, International Center of Photography, New York City, USA.
2008 -Photography and experimental supports, workshop by Jeannette Betancourt and Zony Maya, 100m3 Gallery, Mexico City.
2007 Mediatic archaeology workshop by OVNI, Laboratorio de Arte Alameda, Mexico City.
2006 - Experimental video workshop, guided by Ximena Cuevas. INBA, CENART, Mexico City.
- Electronic music course guided by Nikolas Klau, Mexico City.
2005 Acting workshop guided by María Elva Zermeño, teacher of the ENAT, Mexico City
- Modern harmony workshop guided by Arturo Valadez, Mexico City.
2002 to 2004 Acting workshop guided by Oscar Matínez Agíz, teacher of Dramaturg in the UNAM University, Mexico City.
2003 Performance art workshop, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City
2002 Performance art workshop, Carrillo Gil Museum, by Prof. Pancho López. Mexico City.
PARTICIPATIONS
2015 NON GRATA group performance, Jellysuite, Art Basel MIAMI, USA.
2014 “HELIOPHILIACS” organizado por NON GRATA, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NYC, USA.
“CEGOS” performance organizado por DESVIO COLETIVO. Manhattan, NYC, USA.
- Performed at the Nightingale Theatre as part of the Brighton Fringe through May 2011 in a performance by Hannah Gardiner
2010 - Dirty Electronics with John Richards, group performance at ICA, London.
- Black Friday 2010 by Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping, New York City.
1999 - Performance “Art-Life” by Doris Steinbichler, Mexico City.
- “Quetzalcoatl trash” Visual Poetry Festival, Mexico City.
- Video “Alpura de Fresa” by Guillermo Fadaneli, Mexico City.
- Performance “Petra” by Carlos Jaurena, Mexico City.
- Collective photography exhibition, Gallery 100m3 of Contemporary Art, 2009 Mexico City.
LANGUAGES
Fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and German
Alejandro and I: A paraphrase conversation
By María Elena Ortiz
Associate Curator at Perez Art Museum, Miami, USA.
I am a new supporter of Alejandro Chellet’s work. His performances and installation are an example of how of artists in contemporary society question human symbols to create new metaphors that expand on our human existence. I would like to introduce his work through the artist’s words. I did a short interview with the artist I asked the following: Looking through your works, Alejandro, there are works that capture my attention such as, FOOD: a non-renewable resource (2017). This work addresses the complexities of our distribution, use, and consumption of food. I am referring to the use of pesticides, the conditions of farmer, and its economies (referring to global entities like MONSANTO). In, FOOD: a non-renewable resource, you recuperated vegetables, specifically broccolis, that were in perfect condition, but were trashed by New York City restaurants. With these vegetables, you created a durational work with the interested of generating a critique on value and food as a commodity.
What do you think about the role of performance and contemporary culture? He said: Today, there are many types of performances. Some are closely related to entertainment, others generate a poetic setting or even an abstract moment—all attempting to achieve an aesthetic experience. Definitely, there are performances that are activism, proposing an alternative to a pre-existing reality. I work where I am. I recuperate materials. In 2011, I was living in London, when I had exchanges with the Occupy and Squaters Movements. Certainly, these movements informed my practice. Today, I feel that we live in a complex society, where humans have lost their sense of value and have confused relationship with the planet. In my sense of awareness, performance is a strategy to generate a constructive critique, a new consciousness or sense of awareness. I do think that ecologists need more culture, more body, and artists need more awareness. FOOD: a non-renewable resource consisted of interactions with the public that aim at promoting a different relationship to food—one in which discarded food can be refurbished for meditation and artistic creation. I want to use performance to pose the question, how can we use this artistic strategy to change the way, we as humans; can change the perspective of others on specific problems or situations.
His assertion, reminded me to a certain type of utopia—a concept I feel we must re-interpret today. But Alejandro does not believe in a future utopia, he just believes in ecological sustainability and social regeneration.
I asked Alejandro, in your performances one can appreciate recurrent motifs such as trash and objects related to indigenous cultures, do these objects have a specific meaning to you?: I have used a lot “the arrow” which to me represents the force of change, an energy that transforms something old into something new, independently of the concepts of good or evil. I have worked a lot with “the window,” which I perceive as a frontier, a divisive line. I used the window recently at the Art/Life Institute in Kingston, New York. And I tend to work a lot with “money” with the impetus to questions its sense of value, its fictitious value.
I continued, what can performance become in the future?: Performance is freedom. Like ecology, it is a way of living, a way of expressing what I have learned through my travels, community, through my body. In general, I want to push performance outside of the art stage, integrating it into a physical and spiritual practice. Something that nourishes our creativity and other parts of our lived experience.
Today, we use technology to create, but our bodies remain. They will remain. Which is why I think that performance or the art realized through our pure body expression is the most sustainable art form. It only depends on existence.
I am at almost at the end of my reflection. I would just want to say that, Alejandro’s work explores the connections of art, ecology, and humanism. His choice of materials or motifs reveals his interest in ideas of artist/shaman, art as a spiritual practice. I also think about my own curatorial work and the role of civic institutions or cultural gatherings, such as this one. We are engines that can facilitate the reconfiguration of human thought, and perhaps through this event our consciousness will also regenerate.
By María Elena Ortiz
Associate Curator at Perez Art Museum, Miami, USA.
I am a new supporter of Alejandro Chellet’s work. His performances and installation are an example of how of artists in contemporary society question human symbols to create new metaphors that expand on our human existence. I would like to introduce his work through the artist’s words. I did a short interview with the artist I asked the following: Looking through your works, Alejandro, there are works that capture my attention such as, FOOD: a non-renewable resource (2017). This work addresses the complexities of our distribution, use, and consumption of food. I am referring to the use of pesticides, the conditions of farmer, and its economies (referring to global entities like MONSANTO). In, FOOD: a non-renewable resource, you recuperated vegetables, specifically broccolis, that were in perfect condition, but were trashed by New York City restaurants. With these vegetables, you created a durational work with the interested of generating a critique on value and food as a commodity.
What do you think about the role of performance and contemporary culture? He said: Today, there are many types of performances. Some are closely related to entertainment, others generate a poetic setting or even an abstract moment—all attempting to achieve an aesthetic experience. Definitely, there are performances that are activism, proposing an alternative to a pre-existing reality. I work where I am. I recuperate materials. In 2011, I was living in London, when I had exchanges with the Occupy and Squaters Movements. Certainly, these movements informed my practice. Today, I feel that we live in a complex society, where humans have lost their sense of value and have confused relationship with the planet. In my sense of awareness, performance is a strategy to generate a constructive critique, a new consciousness or sense of awareness. I do think that ecologists need more culture, more body, and artists need more awareness. FOOD: a non-renewable resource consisted of interactions with the public that aim at promoting a different relationship to food—one in which discarded food can be refurbished for meditation and artistic creation. I want to use performance to pose the question, how can we use this artistic strategy to change the way, we as humans; can change the perspective of others on specific problems or situations.
His assertion, reminded me to a certain type of utopia—a concept I feel we must re-interpret today. But Alejandro does not believe in a future utopia, he just believes in ecological sustainability and social regeneration.
I asked Alejandro, in your performances one can appreciate recurrent motifs such as trash and objects related to indigenous cultures, do these objects have a specific meaning to you?: I have used a lot “the arrow” which to me represents the force of change, an energy that transforms something old into something new, independently of the concepts of good or evil. I have worked a lot with “the window,” which I perceive as a frontier, a divisive line. I used the window recently at the Art/Life Institute in Kingston, New York. And I tend to work a lot with “money” with the impetus to questions its sense of value, its fictitious value.
I continued, what can performance become in the future?: Performance is freedom. Like ecology, it is a way of living, a way of expressing what I have learned through my travels, community, through my body. In general, I want to push performance outside of the art stage, integrating it into a physical and spiritual practice. Something that nourishes our creativity and other parts of our lived experience.
Today, we use technology to create, but our bodies remain. They will remain. Which is why I think that performance or the art realized through our pure body expression is the most sustainable art form. It only depends on existence.
I am at almost at the end of my reflection. I would just want to say that, Alejandro’s work explores the connections of art, ecology, and humanism. His choice of materials or motifs reveals his interest in ideas of artist/shaman, art as a spiritual practice. I also think about my own curatorial work and the role of civic institutions or cultural gatherings, such as this one. We are engines that can facilitate the reconfiguration of human thought, and perhaps through this event our consciousness will also regenerate.