Mariana Castillo Deball takes a kaleidoscopic approach to her practice, mediating between science, archaeology, and the visual arts and exploring the way in which these disciplines describe the world. Her installations, performances, sculptures, and editorial projects arise from the recombination of different languages that seek to understand the role objects play in our identity and history. Her works result from a long research process, allowing her to study the different ways in which a historical object can be read as it presents a version of reality that informs and blends into a polyphonic panorama. Seeking to initiate a dialogue with institutions and museums beyond contemporary art, she collaborates with ethnographic collections, libraries, and historical archives. She often produces multiples —books or objects with different uses and formats— to explore how they might generate new territories. Weaving her way through the fields of anthropology, philosophy, and literature, Castillo Deball draws inspiration from a wide range of sources as she engages in the exchange of knowledge as a transforming process for everyone involved.
She has been teaching as a professor of Sculpture at Münster Academy of Art since 2015.

Contact

studiocastillodeball@gmail.com

kurimanzutto
Gob. Rafael Rebollar 94
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec 11850
Mexico City, Mexico
+52 55 52 56 24 08
info@kurimanzutto.com

Mendes Wood DM
Brussels, Paris, New York,
São Paulo
Rua da Consolação 3368
01416 – 000 São Paulo, Brazil
+ 55 11 3081 1735
info@mendeswooddm.com

Barbara Wien
gallery & art bookshop
Schöneberger Ufer 65,
3rd floor 10785 Berlin, Germany
+49 30 28 38 53 52
bw@barbarawien.de

Pinksummer
Palazzo Ducale
Cortile Maggiore 28R
Piazza Matteotti 9
16123 Genova, Italy
+39 010 254 3762
info@pinksummer.com

Education

1993-1997  MA in Visual Arts at Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (ENAP), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City.
2002-2003  Postgraduate program at Jan Van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, Netherlands.
2008  Artist Residency at the 22e Ateliers Internationaux of Frac des Pays de la Loire, France.
2009-2010  Artist Residency at Capacete, Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2011  DAAD Artist in Berlin Program, Berlin.
2012  Artist Residency at Cove Park, Henry Moore Foundation, Scotland, United Kingdom.
2018  Tinker Visiting Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at The University of Chicago.

Awards & Prizes

2013  Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, First Prize, Berlin, Germany.
2012  Zurich Art Prize, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland.
2009  Ars-viva award, History, Germany.
2004  Prix de Rome, First prize. Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2002  Grant for postgraduate studies CONACULTA (National Council for the Culture and Arts), México.
2001 Young artists Grant, CONACULTA (National Council for the Culture and Arts), México.

Solo Shows

2023

Cada cosa es Babel, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium

 

A Noite, Pivô, São Paulo, Brazil

 

Luce Dietro Tracce Incompiute, MUDEC, Milan, Italy

2022

Roman Rubish, London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK

 

In a Convex Mirror, Pinksummer Gallery, Genova, Italy

2021

Remedio Milenario, Códice de la Cruz – Badiano p. 61, Casa de México, Madrid, Spain

 

Amarantus, ARTIUM, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

 

Amarantus, MUAC-UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico.

 

Amarantus, MGK Siegen, Germany.

 

Walking through the town I followed a pattern on the pavement that became the magnified silhouette of a woman’s profile, England’s Creative Coast, Towner Eastbourne, United Kingdom.

2020

Replaying Life’s Tape, ACE Open, Adelaide, AU
Between making and knowing something, Modern Art Oxford, UK

2019

Replaying Life’s Tape, Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Caulfield, AU
A solo exhibition, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL
Finding Oneself Outside, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, US
Point. kurimanzutto New York, New York, US

2018

Petlacoatl, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, US
In Tlilli in Tlapalli, Museo Amparo, Puebla, MX
das Haut-Ich, Barbara Wien Gallery, Berlin, DE
To-Day, February 20th, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah Georgia, US

2017

Them inside the skin, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, BE
Pleasures of association, & poissons, such as love —, Galerie Wedding, Berlin, DE
The tortoise and other footraces between unequal contestants, Pinksummer, Rome, IT

2016

Feathered Changes, Serpent Disappearances, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, USA

2015

Reliefpfeiler, Barbara Wien Gallery, Berlin, DE
Cronotopo, Musée Régional d’art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sérignan, FR
¿Quién medirá el espacio, quién me dirá el momento?, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca MACO, Oaxaca, MX

2014

Parergon. Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, DE
Vista de Ojos. kurimanzutto, Mexico City, MX
Moi-Peau. Kunsthalle Lissabon, PT

2013

Tamoanchan. Pinksummer, Genova, IT
Palavra e pedra solta não têm volta. Mendes Wood, São Paulo, BRA
What we caught we threw away, what we didn’t catch we kept. CCA Glasgow, Scotland, UK
What we caught we threw away, what we didn’t catch we kept. Chisenhale Gallery London, UK
TEOR/éTica, San José, Costa Rica

2012

Uncomfortable Objects. Zurich art prize, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, CH

2011

We are silently illiterate. Barbara Wien Gallery, Berlin, DE
Este desorden construido, autoriza geológicas sorpresas a la memoria mas abandonada.
Museo experimental, El Eco, Mexico City, MX
Figures don‘t lie but liars can figure. Pink Summer, Genova, IT

2010

Between you and the image of you that reaches me. Museum of Latin American Art (MOLA), Long Beach California, US
Mariana Castillo Deball & Simone Schardt. Schau Ort, Büntgen, Zurich, CH

2009

Kaleidoscopic Eye. Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen, CH

2008

DO UT DES. Objectif_exhibitions, Antwerp, BE
Nobody was tomorrow. Galerie Wien Lukatsch, Berlin, DE

2006

Estas Ruinas que ves. Museum of contemporary Art Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, MX

2005

Time takes no time in a story. Adamski gallery, Aachen, DE

2004

Institute of Chance. Prix de Rome. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Never odd or Even. Marres, Center for contemporary art, Maastricht, NL

2003

Interlude: The reader’s traces. Intervention in the National library in Paris, Public library in New York and the National library in Berlin. Contributions by: Paul Elliman, Hubert Czerepok, Dario Gamboni, Raimundas Malasauskas, Harry Mathews, Peter Piller, Manuel Raeder, Steve Rushton, Enrique Vila-Matas
To look for a needle in a haystack. Stephan Adamsky gallery, Aachen, DE
Nine chains to the moon. Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL

2002

The wall and the books: 987 words stolen from a library. Library and gallery space Jan van Eyck Academy. Maastricht, NL
Stochastic Archives. Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros. Mexico City, MX

Group Shows

2024

Tangente, Festival for Contemporary Culture, St. Pölten, Austria (Upcoming)
Spaces of Possibility, Bruges Triennial, Belgium (Upcoming)
Ten Thousand Suns, The 24th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (Upcoming)
Rituals of Daily Life, Collegium, Arevalo, Spain (Upcoming)

2023

Imaginar el fin de los tiempos: historias de aniquilación, apocalipsis y extinción, Museo de Antropología, Mexico City
lnto Nature: Time Horizons, Borger-Odoorn, The Netherlands
Linhas Tortas, Mendes Wood DM Sao Paulo, Brasil
Imaginario Coyolxauhqui, Museo del banco de Mexico, Mexico city 

2022

As Hardly Found in the Art of Tropical Architecture, Architectural Association, London, UK
Ceremony (Burial of an Undead World), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Hasta que los cantos broten (Until The Songs Spring) Mexican Pavillion at the 59th international Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Italy. Curated by Catalina Lozano and Mauricio Marcín
Publishing practices, Archive books, SAAVY, Berlin, Germany
mixed up with others before we even begin, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria. Curated by Franz Thalmair

2020

Who is gazing?. Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris, France

2019

This is Tomorrow. Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Negativer Raum. ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe.
Time for Fragments. Works from the Marx Collection and the Collection of the Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, DE

2018

Writing the Mountains. Biennale Gherdëina, Ortisei, in South Tyrol, IT.
Rogerio Duarte Marginalia 1. Museo Jumex, Mexico City, MX
Magical fatalism-Opera about desire and nostalgia. Alumnos 47, Mexico City, MX
Statues Also die. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo,Turin, IT

2017

A Universal History of Infamy. LACMA, Los Angeles, US
Neither. Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, BE
Recouvrir, ensambler, copier, traduire, restituer. Kadist Foundation, Paris, FR
Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs. Parasite, Hong Kong
Sharjah Biennial 13. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Proyecto líquido. Deseo. Alumnos 47, Mexico city, MX

2016

¿Cómo vivir mejor con menos? Bienal FEMSA, Monterrey, MX
Incerteza Viva. 32nd São Paolo Biennial, BRA
rainbow caravan. Aichi Triennale, Nagoya City Art Museum, JP
SITElines2016. Much wider than a line. SITE Santa Fe, US
In The Belly of the Whale. Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL
Liverpool Biennale, UK
30th Anniversary Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, AT
Under the Same Sun. The South London Gallery, UK
Unresolved. De Appel Art Centre, Amsterdam, NL
Another Reality. After Lina Bo Bardi, Stroom Den Haag, NL
El orden Natural de las Cosas. Museo Jumex, Mexico City, MX

2015

Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today. Museo Jumex, Mexico City, MX
Objetos Frontera. CA2M, Madrid, ESP
Riddle of the Burial Ground. Project Arts Centre, Dublin, IE
Ce qui ne sert pas s’oublie. CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, FR
Sebald Variations. CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, ES
The Parliament of Things. Firstsite, Colchester, UK
Beyond Borders. Fifth edition of Beaufort, Triennial of Contemporary Art by the Sea, BE
Biennial of the Americas. Denver, Colorado, USA
Panorama. The High Line, New York, US

2014

Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY, US
Der Leone Have Sept Cabeças. CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, FR
8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. Berlin, DE
Playgrounds Reinventar la plaza. Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, ES
Post / Postminimal. Kunstmuseum St.Gallen, St. Gallen, CH
Future Perfect.Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw.

2013

Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst. Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, DE
The Way of the Shovel. MCA Chicago, USA
Future Perfect. Kunstverein Frankfurt, DE
Arqueológicas. Matadero, Madrid, ES

2012

dOCUMENTA (13). Kassel, DE
Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon, London, UK
Lieber Aby Warburg. Was tun mit Bildern, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, Siegen, DE
Olinka, or Where Movement Is Created. Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, MX
Colección: el crimen fundacional. MUCA Roma, Mexico city, MX
Un ojo, dos ojos, tres ojos. Mariana Castillo Deball/Irene Kopelman (Uqbar), Casa Vecina, Mexico City, MX
Never odd or Even. Museum of contemporary art, Roskilde, DK
Printin’. Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
Resisting the present. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, FR

2011

54th Venice Biennale Illuminations, IT

Never odd or Even. Grimm Museum, Berlin, DE
Section Folklorique / Cabinet de Curiosités. Zeeuws Museum, Zeeland, NL
La Vie Mode d’Emploi (Life A User’s Manual). Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, BE
Resisting the present. Museo Amparo, Puebla, MX
The Eye is a Lonely Hunter – Images of Humankind, 4. Fotofestival Mannheim Heidelberg Ludwigshafen, Inanimate beings. La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES
Magical Consciousness. Arnolfini, Bristol, UK

Amikejo 2 – men-show. Mariana Castillo Deball/Irene Kopelman (Uqbar), MUSAC Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y León, León, ES
Shadowboxing. Royal College of Art: Curating Contemporary Art MA, London, UK
AEther – Une proposition de Christoph Keller. Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR

2010

Ars viva award, History. Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, DE; Migros Museum, Zurich, CH
No Soul For Sale, Festival of independents, presenting with Peep-Hole. Tate Modern, London, UK
The Heart of the Thing Is the Thing We Don’t Know. James Galley, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, US

2009

Ars viva award, History. Museum Wiesbaden, DE
This place you see has no size at all…Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, FR
Athens biennial. Heaven, Athens, GR
The Happy Interval. Tulips & Roses, Vilnius, LT
What are we going to do after we’ve done what we’re doing to do next?. MACBA, Barcelona, ES
Paper exhibition. Artist space, New York, US
The Malady of Writing. MACBA Contemporary Art Museum, Barcelona, ES
A Fantasy for Allan Kaprow. Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo, EG
For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there. Contemporary art museum Saint Louis, US
Performa. Lectures and exhibition at Cabinet Magazine Space, New York, US
Sequelism: Part 3. Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Extranjeros en la cultura y en la tecnología. Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires, AR

2008

Galeria Sentimental. Tensta konsthall, Stockholm, SE
Salon of the revolution. 29th Youth Salon, Zagreb, HR
Manifesta 7. Rovereto, IT. In collaboration with Irene Kopelman, Uqbar
Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai, CN
Blackboxing at artistspace. (screening) New York, USA
Master Humphrey’s Clock. De appel, Amsterdam, NL
Object, The Undeniable Success Of Operations. SMBA, Amsterdam, NL
Seven Times Two or Three. CUBITT, London, UK

2007

A for Alibi. De appel, Amsterdam, NL
Transacciones Filosóficas. Historical Observatory, Córdoba, AR
The Book. Heidelberg Kunstverein, Heidelberg, DE
The last piece of John Fare. GB Agency, Paris, FR
Blackboxing. Project, Dublin, IE
24th Memorial Nadežda Petrovic, Cacak, RS

2006

Just in Time. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
10 Defining Experiments. Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, USA
Concerning knowledge. BAK, Utrecht, NL
Redo/Undo. Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, DE
Mercury in Retrograde. De Appel, Amsterdam, NL

2005

“Today, November 20”, If I can’t dance – I don’t want to be part of your revolution. Production in sequences Leiden, NL
Tropical Abstraction. Stedelijk Bureau, Amsterdam, NL
BMW, 9th Baltic Triennial of Art. Contemporary art center Vilnius, LT
“Blackboxing”, If I can’t dance – I don’t want to be part of your revolution. Production in sequences, Utrecht, NL
5ª Bienal de Artes Visuales del Mercosur, Porto Alegre, BRA