Adrián Villar Rojas Transforms Aspen Art Museum with Prehistoric-Inspired Installation
Adrián Villar Rojas has unveiled a major environmental artwork at the Aspen Art Museum, part of the "First Gods, Lost Animals" exhibit, which will run through April 2026. This Argentine artist created a site-specific installation using cave materials inspired by ancient sites and features a life-sized sculpture of a Triceratops skull, co-commissioned by the museum and Audemars Piguet Contemporary. The exhibit explores themes of evolution and extinction, proposing that the origins of art might extend beyond Homo sapiens to include Neanderthals. In a dialogue with curator Claude Adjil, Villar Rojas expresses his intrigue with caves as early meaningful spaces, and discusses how his art merges craftsmanship, technology, and collaborative efforts.
Key facts
- Adrián Villar Rojas unveiled an environmental installation at the Aspen Art Museum.
- The exhibition is titled 'First Gods, Lost Animals' and runs through April 2026.
- The installation includes cave materializations derived from prehistoric sites.
- A life-size Triceratops skull sculpture was co-commissioned by Aspen Art Museum and Audemars Piguet Contemporary.
- Villar Rojas proposes that art may be a gift from Neanderthals, not an invention of Homo sapiens.
- The exhibition fills two floors of the museum.
- Curator Claude Adjil conducted the interview with Villar Rojas.
- Villar Rojas describes his practice as similar to a von Neumann probe, absorbing local conditions to create new iterations.
Entities
Artists
- Adrián Villar Rojas
- Claude Adjil
- Marcel Duchamp
Institutions
- Aspen Art Museum
- Audemars Piguet Contemporary
- Serpentine
- Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte
- Kurimanzutto
- Marian Goodman Gallery
- Art Sonje Center
- The Bass
- Venice Biennale
- kurimanzutto
- Galería Marian Goodman
- Artishock Revista
Locations
- Aspen
- United States
- London
- United Kingdom
- Seoul
- South Korea
- Miami
- Venice
- Italy
- Seto
- Japan
- Colorado
- Argentina
- Lascaux
- Chauvet