Juan Obando

Juan Obando is a Colombian artist who has worked between Colombia and the United States and currently resides in Phoenix, AZ, USA. Juan holds a BA in Design and Architecture from Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) and an MFA in Electronic and Time-Based Media Art from Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN).

As an artist, Obando is interested in an expanded notion of operating systems —the dominant engineering that sustains social units—their cross-cultural adoption and possible interventions. His recent work focuses on the pervasive effects of late capitalism and aggressive globalization. In it, he explores the different levels of participation at which individuals operate under these forces, experimenting with forms such as video performances, post-digital objects, and screen-based installations, and presenting the screen as a site where ideology confronts aesthetics and new worlds are speculated.

Obando's recent solo shows include “DEMO” at MOCA Tucson (Tucson, AZ, 2024), They/Them at Fiendish Plots (Lincoln, NE, 2024), “Fake New” at General Expenses (Mexico City, México, 2023,) “Summer Sets” in Faneuil Hall (Boston, MA, 2022), “DEMO” at Museo Espacio (Aguascalientes, MX, 2022), and “La Bodeguita de La Concordia” at Galería Santa Fé for the Luis Caballero National Art Prize (Bogotá, Colombia, 2021.) Selected group exhibitions include Get In The Game (SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA), Makeshift Memorials, Small Revolutions (Kadist, San Francisco, CA), This Is Perfect, Perfect, Perfect (Transmediale, Berlin, Germany, 2024), The Future Is Not What It Used To Be (Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR, 2023), Game Changers (MAAM, Boston, 2020), Video Sur (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2018), and Rencontres de la Photographie (Arles, France, 2017). His work is part of collections such as The Perez Museum (Miami, FL, USA) and Kadist (San Francisco, USA, and Paris, France). He was awarded a Rhizome commission from The New Museum for the project “Museum Mixtape” project in 2012, a MassArt Foundation grant in 2017, an Art Matters Fellowship in 2019, and an Evelyn Smith Endowment in 2023.