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 Budapest Galèria, Macalline Art Center Beijing, MAI Riyadh, Kunsthaus Baselland, SALTS Basel, Kunsthalle Zurich, CAN Neuchatel, Kunstverein Langenhagen, MAFA Arad Romania, MADC San José, MAC Panama, Fundación Paiz Guatemala, TEOR/ética San José and la_cápsula in Zurich, among others. Their work was also part of the 8th Biennale Gherdeina, the X Central American Biennial and the 9th Bienal Inquieta Imagen, 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



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


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