Sergio Rojas Chaves (Venezuela, 1992) is a Costa Rican artist based in San José.
Through sculptures, installations, video, photography and performance, Rojas Chaves collaborates with non-human partners including plants and animals to question anthropocentrism through gift and affect. Their projects have been part of individual and group exhibitions, most recently at Stadtgalerie Bern, 12th Salon ACME in México, Budapest Galéria, Macalline Art Center in Beijing, MAI Riyadh, Kunsthaus Baselland, CAN Neuchâtel, MAFA Arad in Romania, MADC San José, MAC Panama, Fundación Paiz in Guatemala, TEOR/ética San José, and la_cápsula in Zurich, among others. Their work has also been part of the 8th Gherdeina Biennale, the 10th Central American Biennale, and the 9th Inquieta Imagen Biennale, as well as the Reunion Performance Festival in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and La Tigra, Honduras.
Rojas Chaves has a background in architecture and community development. Their sculptures, installations, video works, photography and performances activate new relationships and tell new stories and histories about animals and plants while also triggering affective approaches to biology. Through this exploration of the role of non-human organisms in human daily life, they attempts to cast new light on our human condition, questioning our supposed exceptionality and revealing our interconnected relationships with the natural world. This interest in the way in which we interact with plants and animals has led them to observe birdwatching communities or to study people’s relationships to their house plants with a sort of ethnographic approach that allows them to dig deeper into these relationships.
Sergio is co-director of art-space REUNION San José
https://reunion.la/SanJose
Contact: sergio@rojaschaves.com
Individual
Exhibitions
2025
Super Bloom, Stadtgalerie Bern (with Rhoda Davids Abel)
Actúa Cacatúa, Salita Temporal, Abra Espacio, San José
2023
Monsieur Jardinier: Le Nichoir Ideale, MAT, Neuchatel
Infinite Tropical Children, la_cápsula, Basel
2022
Green Thumb Syndrome, Der TANK, Basel
If you build it they will come, LOKAL-INT, Biel/Bienne
2021
Passtime Paradise, Marginal Gallery, Zurich
2019
The Bird In My Hands, Herrero Studio, San José
2018
It’s for the birds, Die Diele, Zurich
Zimmerplfanzen in Residence, Kunstverein Langenhagen
2017
El Hogar De Las Plantas, MADC, San José
Efecto Invernadero, Alianza Francesa, San José
2016
Going To/Coming From, Xchanges Gallery & Studios, Victoria BC
Plants in Residence, Open Space Arts Society, Victoria, BC
House Plants On Tour, Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria BC
Una Superficie Tangible, The FiftyFifty Arts Collective, Victoria BC
Uno No Siente El Día, Michael J. Audain Gallery UVic, Victoria BC
Group Exhibitions
2025
With a Bird, Onomatopee, Eindhoven
Con Lo Zucchero in Bocca, Istituto Svizzero, Roma
Salon Acme 12, Ciudad de México
2024
Encuentros, MADC, San José
Concrete Jungle, Kunst(zeug)haus, Rapperswil-Jona
Two To Tango, Galerie Sperling, Munich
2023
Concerto Finale, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel
The stars look different today, Austellungsraum Klingental, Basel
¿Desde donde miras el sol?, Centre d’art Contemporaine, Neuchatel
Melanie Akeret&LuanaCardinaux&SergioRojas, Bad Posture, Lausanne
Love Stories, Espace 3353, Geneva
Froggy, June Art Fair, Basel
Sancochotopia, BAK, Utrecht
2022
Mutispecies Clouds, Macalline Art Center, Beijing
A Place In The Woods, Hartwald, Karlsruhe
Sharing Movements, Kunsttage Basel, Basel
Caldera, B-A-U, Bolzano, Italy
EARTHBOUND, Windhager von Kaenel, Zurich
Rebuilding Connections, Edition VFO, Zurich
Plant Kingdom, Budapest Galèria, Budapest
Persones, Persons, 8th Biennale Gherdeina, Val Gardena
Re-appearing Imaginaries, MISK Art Institut, Riyahd
How to be Organic, SALTS, Basel
Nos Gusta La Mala Vida, Galerie Eeeh!, Nyon
2021
World’s Rainbow, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel
Cubo Negro, MADC, San José
Houseplant Portraits, Country SALTS, Basel
Hotel Simplon, Giulietta, Basel
Follow the Birds, étage 19, Nidau
Houseplant Portraits (w/Samuel Leuenberger), Villa Wenkenhof, Riehen
Emergency, AMORE, Basel
What does it take? (to win your love for me), Arsenic, Lausanne
It Almost Felt Like the Voice of a Close Friend, curated by Julie Marmet, Geneva
2020
Erbacce, Orto Monza
"Hands that feed", re-performed by Thomas Geiger, part of 4th Festival of Minimal Actions, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
Ärt, St. Alban-Anlage 67, Basel
This Thin Edge, la_cápsula, Zurich
2019
Nature Distante, CAN Neuchatel
DIGIT, Arad Art Museum, Arad
VOLUMES, Kunshalle Zurich
Ingesta, TEOR/ética, San Jose
2018
Launch, Enact, Berlin
House Warming, Hamlet, Zurich
Water Yump, Museum Tinguely/Buero, Basel
La Tigra Performance Festival, Reunion, Tegucigalpa
2017
9-11/11- 9, MADC, San José, Costa Rica
Festival de Performance, Despacio, Costa Rica
2016
Archivo Abierto, Fundación YAXS, Ciudad de Guatemala
Horizonte Rocola, as a part of the collective Islas Resonantes, X Bienal Centroamericana, Puerto Limón, Costa Rica
Recreaciones A-1/2016 Tras Aníbal López, Despacio,
D.I.Y LIFE: Art+Science+Ecology Fair, Victoria, BC
Between Amongst and Away, dc3 Art Projects, Edmonton AB
Iterations: UVic BFA Graduating Exhibition, University of Victoria
Approach, Michael J. Audain Gallery UVic, Victoria BC
2015
Synergy, Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria BC
Antimatter-media art, Deluge Contemporary Art, Victoria BC
Residencies
Salita Temporal, Abra, San José Costa Rica
Watch&Talk, FAR festival, Nyon, Switzerland
Estación Botánica, Galerie Eeeh!, Nyon, Switzerland
REUNION CAN, Centre d’art Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
Hotel Atelier, Message Salon, Zurich, Switzerland
El ruido que precede el silencio, CCE Costa Rica
Karaoke Todos Los Días, Despacio, San José, Costa Rica
Alter Academia, TEOR/ética, San José Costa Rica
Studies
Institut Kunst FHNW, MA, Visual Arts (2019-2021)
University of Victoria, BFA, Visual Arts (2013-16)
Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) Faculty of Architecture (2012-13)
Prizes
BEWE Kunstpreis 2021
Press
Future Greats, Art Review Magazine, Jan-Feb 2019
https://artreview.com/features/jan_feb_2019_future_greats_sergio_rojas_chaves/
El invernadero de Sergio Rojas Chaves florece en la Alianza Francesa, La Nación, 2017
https://www.nacion.com/viva/cultura/el-invernadero-de-sergio-rojas-chaves- florece-en-la-alianza-francesa/SP2RDXQYOZFFHLEFWXCA5NHQME/story/
Nudge, Nudge: The time plants became high art, Times Colonist, 2016
https://www.timescolonist.com/nudge-nudge-that-time-plants-became-high-art- 1.2302759