Pedro Wirz works in sculpture, mixed media and installation. To better understand the mysteries of the world, Wirz draws on traditional folklore of the Paraíba Valley region in Brazil, where he grew up. He often discusses his influences from the region’s massively changing ecologies, demographics, mythologies, and superstitions.
Raised by an agronomist and a biologist who conducted research on the influence of polluted water on DNA alteration within the region, the artist attributes this upbringing in which, in his own words, “traverses these territories and seeks to merge the supernatural with scientific realities”. Similarly, his work embodies the Gaia principle; proposing that organisms collectively interact, adapt and perpetually evolve, depending on one another. The cocoons and eggs, born from this antagonistic cycle, present themselves as ‘interbeings’, rising from the Earth’s essence to fully embrace the unpredicted. The process of collaboration is also an important aspect of his process, where he draws on networks of communities and various types of popular and folkloric knowledge to inspire and influence his work.
Recent solo exhibitions include Termite Terminator (Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, 2020); Sour Ground (Kai Matsumiya Gallery, New York, 2020); Grown Together (Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin, 2019); A Curbing Wall of Debrislandfilling (Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal, 2019); Terra Quente (LongTang, Zurich, 2019); A Curbing Wall of DebrisNesting (Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, 2019); and Fábula, Frisson, Melancolia (Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, 2017).
His work has also been presented on group exhibitions at the Aargauer Kunsthaus (2019), Pasquart Kunsthaus (2018), Kunst Raum Riehen (2018), Sculpture Park Cologne (2017), Tinguely Museum (2016), CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art (2015), Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2013), Dortmunder Kunstverein (2013), Palais de Tokyo (2013), and Kunsthalle Basel (2011).
Parallel to his artistic production, Wirz has participated in several collaborative curatorial projects, including Panorama Boa Vista in 2016 (in collaboration with Raphael Linsi) and the forever ending story begun in 2009 (in collaboration with Raphael Linsi, Tilman Schlevogt and Claudio Vogt). He has had several artist residencies and was a fellow of the Junge Akademie - Akademie der Künste in Berlin in 2017, and the Swiss Institute in Rome in 2016. In 2018 he was awarded the ProHelvetia Cahier d’Artistes Prize and in 2020 he received the Gramercy International Prize Exhibition at the Armory Show in New York.
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curriculum vitae
1981 Born São Paulo, Brazil
education
2011 Bachelor’s degree at Institute of Arts, FHNW Basel
2003 Bachelors’ degree at Institut of Communication, University of Taubaté, São Paulo
selected solo and two-person exhibitions
2020 Termite Terminator, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles
2020 Sour Ground, Kai Matsumiya Gallery, New York
2019 Grown Together, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin
2019 A Curbing Wall of Debrislandfilling, Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal
2019 Wiþ Ymbe, PhilippZollinger, Madulain
2019 Terra Quente, LongTang, Zurich
2019 A Curbing Wall of DebrisNesting, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
2018 Breastfed Tadpole, Kai Matsumiya Gallery, New York
2018 Jan Kiefer, Pedro Wirz, 2018, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne
2017 Fábula, Frisson, Melancolia at Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo
2017 Dobrar de Espinho, Anzol, Murias Centeno Gallery, Porto
2016 Irmão dos Homens Todos at David Dale Gallery, Glasgow (in collaboration with Mauro Cerqueira)
2016 The Horse Who Drunk Beer, Kai Matsumiya Gallery, New York
2013 Novos Amigos, CCSP, São Paulo
2013 Gringo, Mendes & Wood DM, São Paulo
2013 Tropical, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund
2012 Not the New, Not the Old, But the Necessary, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart
2012 Hotel Palenque at Gasconade, Milan
2011 Backwall Projeckt, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
2011 Outsiders, SALTS, Birsfelden
selected group exhibitions
2019 the head the hand, blank projects, Cape Town
2019 Perfume of Thorns, curated by VO Curations, Phillips, Paris
2019 Mask: In the art of the Present, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
2019 Auf dem Weg zum Motiv, Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Berlin
2019 Reset, Kai Matsumiya Gallery, New York
2018 open agenda, blank projects, Cape Town
2018 ZEITSPUREN, Power of Now, Pasquart Kunsthaus, Bienne
2018 20 Jahre Kunst Raum Riehen: Die Jubiläumsausstellung, Kunst Raum Riehen, Riehen
2018 AGORA ARTES: Interplay of the Arts, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
2017 17, blank projects, Cape Town
2017 La Fin de Babylone, Sculpture Park Cologne, Cologne
2017 Ex Situ – Samples of Lifeforms, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen
2017 Proxysm of Union, Kunsthale Freeport, Athens
2017 Camaléonica, CACP Coimbra, Portugal
2016 ROY DA PRINCE, Futura, Prague
2016 Dead Among The Dead!, EllisKing Gallery, Dublin
2016 Prière de Toucher, Tinguely Museum, Basel
2015 Courtesy of SALTS, SALTS, Birsfelden
2015 Tableau, Kai Matsumiya Gallery, New York City
2015 FULL HOUSE, Shanaynay, Paris
2015 Môtiers 2015 – Art en plein air, Môtiers
2015 Jac Leirner, Albert Baronian Gallery, Brussels
2015 Nimm‘s mal easy, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel
2014 Screening (with Sonia Kacem), Deuxpiece, New York City
2014 Union, Union Pacific Gallery, London
2014 Absence of the evil is the evil of absence, Residency Unlimited, New York City
2014 Tell Me What I See, When I Look Into Your Eyes, BolteLang, Zürich
2013 Come, all ye faithful!, Florian Christopher, Zürich
2013 Mitologias por procuração, MAM-SP, São Paulo
2013 Club des Sous l‘Eau, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
2013 THE BODY IS THE MEDIUM, Curatorial Lab SP-Arte, São Paulo
2012 Les Urbaines Art Festival, Lausanne
2012 Platform 12, Kunstwollen, Zurich
2012 If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe, Kunstraum Riehen, Basel
2011 Mitologias I Mythologies, Cité des Arts, Paris
2011 Cantonale Berne Jura, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
2011 Regionale 12, Kunstraum L6, Freiburg
2011 How to Work (more for) Less, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
2011 Floor Wall Piece, Von Bartha Garage, Basel
2011 7, Kunstverein Duisburg, Duisburg
2010 Regionale 11: Village Cry, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
2010 Blokkade, Universal Cube, Leipzig
2010 1. Salão dos Artistas Sem Galeria, São Paulo
2009 Regionale 10, Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg
2008 The line is a lonely hunter, New Jerseyy, Basel
awards / scholarships
2020 Gramercy International Prize Exhibition, Armory Show 2020, New York
2018 ProHelvetia Cahier d’Artistes Prize, Switzerland
2017 Young Academy, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
2016 Artist in Residence, Swiss Institute Rome, Rome
2014 Artist in Residence, IAAB Exchange Program, Paris
2014 Residency Unlimited, New York
2012 Werkbeitrag, Kunstkredit der Stadt Basel, Basel
2012 Artist in Residence, Post Studio Tales, Berlin
2012 Peter Hans Hofschneider Prize, Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart
2011 Artist in Residence, IAAB Exchange Program, Cité des Arts, Paris
2011 GGG Atelierhaus, GGG Basel Foundation, Basel
2010 Prize for publication on contemporary art, Biennial Foundation, São Paulo
2010 Prize for Brazilian artist abroad, Biennial Foundation, São Paulo
2010 Patronage for young swiss artists, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
curatorial projects
2016 PANORAMA BOA VISTA, with Raphael Linsi, Porto
2014 – ongoing Postcodes, with Gabriel Lima, São Paulo
2013 Wet-on-Wet, Gallery Weingrüll, Karlsruhe
2012 the work found me, Gallery Samy Abraham, Paris
2011 If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe, Kunstraum Riehen, Riehen
2009 – 2011 the forever ending story (with Raphael Linsi, Claudio Vogt and Tilmann Schlevogt)
2009 – 2010 Deuxpiece (with Noëmi Denzler)
2008 Wirtshaus im Schalter (with Raphael Linsi)
2007 Wirzhaus (with Raphael Linsi und Luiz Albisser)
