Iván Argote

For his second exhibition at Albarrán Bourdais, the Colombian artist based in Paris, Iván Argote, presents a new series of works through which he continues to question notions of monument, public space, and collective identity with tenderness and humor.

The exhibition centers on a new video work that documents actions carried out outside the gallery, in which Argote performs a modest yet symbolic act of repair: filling the cracks in the pavement with pigmented cement, into which he inscribes words such as “Dignity and respect,” “A struggle of landscapes,” or “Feel your weight.”

The video enters into dialogue with other bodies of work that, drawing inspiration from urban language and materials, create an immersive public space within the gallery that encourages more horizontal ways of relating to one another and to heritage. Through the use of text, the pieces invite viewers to reflect on the power of language and to question structures of authority and power that are often taken for granted.

Argote’s long trajectory in the field of public interventions ranges from small-scale actions to recent monumental works, such as the Plinth Commission “Dinosaur” at New York’s High Line (on view until 2026), the installation “Descanso” at the 2024 Venice Biennale, and a series of public interventions as part of his 2022 exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, related to his nomination for the Prix Marcel Duchamp.