Pilar del Puerto is an artist and researcher. Her art practice and her academic research run in parallel and take on questions of social concern, from ecology to politics, always from a gender perspective. Her work sits close to conceptual art and treats each form a project takes as part of its conceptual material. At present she works on the changes technology brings to everyday doings, and on the effects it can have on the construction of gender.
Plasencia, Spain, 1997. Lives in Madrid. Fine Arts graduate and PhD candidate at the Complutense University of Madrid, with a thesis on artificial intelligence and gender. Co-founder of the collective XenoVisual Studies. Lecturer at Universidad Europea de Madrid and UOC. Her work has been shown in Spain, Canada, Croatia, Italy and Japan. Represented by Galería Beatriz Pereira.
Solo exhibitions4
- 2024No tan lejos, curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, Sala Santa Clara, Mérida
- 2024Tiempo de espera, curated by Beatriz Pereira, Centro Cultural Las Claras, Plasencia
- 2023AY AI AI AI AI AY, curated by Joel Blanco, Navel Art, Madrid
- 2023Lectura de género, curated by Javier Cuervo Moreno, UAM Exhibition Hall, Madrid
Group exhibitions (selection)21
- 2026Istanbul Digital Art Festival, Reworld section, Atatürk Cultural Center, Istanbul
- 2025CRUCE 2054, Cruce Arte y Pensamiento Contemporáneo, Madrid
- 2024Caja de resonancia. Circuitos de Artes Plásticas, Sala de Arte Joven, Madrid
- 2024Afectos Dixitais, Colegio de Fonseca, Santiago de Compostela
- 2024Subiendo entre las sombras. Artistas y creadoras extremeñas, curated by Semíramis González, Badajoz
- 2024El futur ja és aquí, Centre Cívic El Coll-La Bruguera, Barcelona
- 2024Arte y diseño agitados por la IA, Faculty of Fine Arts, Complutense University, Madrid
- 2024Monumentos de bolsillo, Centro de Arte Complutense, Madrid
- 2024Vivos como especies en los nuevos ecosistemas digitales, Navel Art, Madrid
- 2024Desafío(s), Galería Nueva, Madrid
- 2024Inocencia Ininterrumpida, Galería Beatriz Pereira, Hybrid Art Fair, Madrid
- 2023L’Ànima de les Màquines, Centre Cívic El Coll-La Bruguera, Barcelona
- 2023Encuentros de Arte Contemporáneo (EAC), Instituto Juan Gil-Albert, Alicante
- 2023JustMAD, Galería Beatriz Pereira, Madrid
- 2023FIDEM Art Medal, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence
- 2022Donde abrasa la frescura, curated by Eugenio Ampudia and Semíramis González, Museo Vostell Malpartida, Cáceres
- 2022XXV El Brocense Visual Arts Prize, Cáceres
- 2022Perspectivas e Identidades, Galería Nueva, Madrid
- 2022Arte Apartex XIV, Centro Cultural de La Carolina, Jaén
- 2021XXXVI FIDEM World Art Medal Exhibition, Hotel Gajoen, Tokyo
- 2018XXXV FIDEM World Art Medal Exhibition, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa
With XenoVisual Studies5
- 2026Wait – How did we get here?, curators, MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts, Thessaloniki
- 2026Photosynthesis, Biophest Festival, Intermediae Matadero, Madrid
- 2024Susurros conectivos, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid
- 2024Xgnosis, No Tags Festival, Poble Espanyol, Barcelona
- 2024Cuerpos alien como materia imaginal, Interspecies Library, New York
Awards and grants8
- 2026Visual Artists Grant, Junta de Extremadura
- 2025First prize, Tolerance category, Talento Joven Carné Joven Awards, Comunidad de Madrid
- 2024Circuitos de Artes Plásticas, Comunidad de Madrid
- 2024Contemporary Creation Grants, Madrid City Council (with XenoVisual Studies)
- 2023Grant for gender equality in artistic production, Instituto de las Mujeres
- 2022Visual Artists Grant, Junta de Extremadura
- 2019National Graduation Award, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
- 2018Medallic Sculpture Studio Prize “One Talent”, FIDEM, Canada
Residencies6
- 2024–2025Situated Research Residency, Medialab Matadero, Madrid (with XenoVisual Studies)
- 2023Encontro de Artistas Novos EAN13, Cidade da Cultura de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela
- 2023Colegio de España, Paris
- 2023Ras de Terra x JustMAD, Madrid
- 2022–2023Artistas en el Campus, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
- 2020Artists in Residence, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid
Collections4
- Contemporary Art Collection, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
- Nebrija Contemporary Art Collection, Madrid
- Medal Cabinet, Faculty of Fine Arts, Complutense University of Madrid
- Private collections
Education5
- PhD in Fine Arts, Complutense University of Madrid (in progress)
- 2022MA in Contemporary Art History and Visual Culture, UAM, UCM and Museo Reina Sofía
- 2020MA in Art Research and Creation, Complutense University of Madrid
- 2019Postgraduate in Gender Perspective in the Cultural Industries, Complutense University of Madrid
- 2019BA in Fine Arts, Complutense University of Madrid. Outstanding Graduate Award
writing on her work
«The work asks us to think of connection as something that is never neutral, that always involves a commitment, a negotiation and an act of care.»
«Works that propose a technology able to feel, cry or remember. Here devices become affective interlocutors that embody emotion from the non-human.»
«In the case of Llorón, by Pilar del Puerto, what matters is again the material itself, made of long blue fur, which recalls the fabric of stuffed toys.»