For many years I wanted to make an interactive work and, after extended periods of experimentation and sweaty luck, it has finally happened.
This is ‘Anthem’, an immersion into the messy wonders of interspecies communication. The work combines the materiality of both the natural and the technological: tree tumors (yes, trees also grow tumors), imaginary animal sounds, and electronics. In this way, several assemblages of different tree tumors, as hollow sculptures, host speakers and mics in their interior. And, all these sculptural assemblages are hanging from metallic lianas; tubes through which cables flow.
Finally, and perhaps more importantly, the audio component of ‘Anthem’ originates from creating hundreds of fictional animal sounds (by any method at hand, except for AI) that were later programmed to respond to any sound produced by a human voice, so that we all can interact with this fictional interspecies entity. However, the “answer” you get when your voice activates the piece subtly takes cues from the modulation of your voice, then at the core of this being lies a faint trace of ourselves.
Everyone in the space is invited to engage in this beyond-linguistic “conversation” by activating the piece either by speaking, singing, or simply crying out any sounds that you may like to try. We’ve been surprised by witnessing engagemente that ranges from visitors being moved to tears to others being wildly stimulated. And, also, on random occasions, an opera singer dressed in regular clothes walks into the space to also activate it in a way that, for those few minutes, the piece has a more contemplative life.
In this way, ‘Anthem’ evokes new imaginaries for how multispecies materialities may have ways of integrating with one another that cannot be fully predicted.
This work is part of “What is it like to be Earth”, my exhibition currently on view at @centroartequito curated by the admired @sarisgarzon and @theaaroncezar (I don’t think I’ve really told you how much your feedback helped shape these ideas)
> ‘Anthem’ is a project by Oscar Santillán, and produced by Studio Antimundo. 2025.
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🦄glad to join this long #history of #latinamerican #art
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Latin American Artists from 1785 to Now > @phaidonpress
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Coming out in October:
/store/art/latin-american-artists-from-1785-to-now-9781838666606
#phaidon #contemporaryart #ecuador #antimundo
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@80m2liviabenavides / @copperfield_london / @llano__mx
Oscar Santillán & Tawna represent Ecuador at the Venice Biennale, curated by Manuela Moscoso and produced by Stephanie García Albán & MAAC
For the first time Ecuador has a pavilion at the Venice Biennale!
Located near the entrance to the Giardini between the quayside and Via Garibaldi, this presentation has been an enormous joint effort between all collaborators and despite being the newest arrival, has been among critics top picks.
Congratulations to all the people that made this dream
@manu_moscoso@studio.antimundo@tawna_cine@sgarcialban@rom000@maacec@mondriaanfonds@andreaagalarza@pedro.a.c.g@matheo._.perez@pily_estrada
Ecuador Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale
Presented by @tawna_cine and @studio.antimundo
Curated by @manu_moscoso
📅 Official opening:
Today, Wednesday May 6th - 4pm
📍Castello 1636/A, Venice, Italy
(Access also available via Via Garibaldi)
The Pavilion will remain accessible throughout the day, except during the official opening at 4 PM, which is by invitation only.
Comissioner of the Ecuador Pavilion @maacec
With the support of @mondriaanfonds and @tmcgrupotramaco
Oscar Santillán + Colectivo Tawna
𝘌𝘤𝘶𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯
61st International Art Exhibition
La Biennale di Venezia
May 6 - Nov 22, 2026
Castello 1636/A
Venezia, IT
Curated by Manuela Moscoso, the pavilion features the works of Oscar Santillán and the Tawna collective: a space conceived as a territory of intersections and resonances.
This Biennale marks a pivotal moment for Ecuadorian contemporary art on the international stage.
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Curado por Manuela Moscoso, el pabellón presenta las obras de Oscar Santillán y el colectivo Tawna: un espacio concebido como un territorio de intersecciones y resonancias.
Esta Bienal marca un momento crucial para el arte contemporáneo ecuatoriano en el escenario internacional.
🔥
Oscar Santillán
𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘢 (detail | detalle), 2026
Installation | Instalación
Aluminum cast, wood carvings, ABS resin, automotive paint, metal tubes, pipe fittings, and alien DNA | Fundición en aluminio, tallas de madera, resina ABS, pintura automotriz, tubos metálicos, accesorios de tubería y ADN alienígena
Unique | Pieza única
🌱
@studio.antimundo@tawna_cine@manu_moscoso@maacec@labiennale
6 de mayo, 16:00: abrimos un nuevo capítulo.
Inauguramos el pabellón de Ecuador en la 61ª Exposición Internacional de Arte – La Biennale di Venezia.
Bajo la curaduría de Manuela Moscoso, el pabellón presenta la obra del Colectivo Tawna y del artista Oscar Santillán: un espacio que se abre como territorio de ideas, cruces y resonancias.
La Bienal será un momento clave para el arte contemporáneo ecuatoriano en el escenario internacional.
Miércoles 6 de mayo, 2026
16h00
Castello Gallery, Venecia, Italia
RSVP: [email protected]
Más información: www.pavilionofecuador.art
🌞
If in Venice, we'll be more than glad to have you stopping by the Ecuador Pavilion, an exhibition that embraces the practices of the admired @tawna_cine and myself; and, curated by the curious mind of @manu_moscoso
> All the basic info follows🐍
Our location can be easily found on your way to the Giardini:
📍 Castello 1636/A, Venice, Italy
You can also access the pavilion through Via Garibaldi > see the map on the third slide
📅 Open from Tuesday May 5th, 11am - 7pm
The following days you can visit from 10am to 7pm (on Mondays it'll be closed).
Only for the official opening you'll require RSVP (Wed May 6th, 4pm - 7pm).
Just DM me and we'll add you to the list.
Come by🌿
Thanks to @maacec commissioner of the Ecuador Pavilion, to @mondriaanfonds and @tmcgrupotramaco for supporting my presentation
SOLARIS, Oscar Santillán's third solo exhibition at the gallery, will open on Wednesday 27 May 6-8:30pm. The exhibition follows the opening of the Ecuador Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale next week.
SOLARIS centres around a work that proposes to allow “the desert to look at itself”.
In the history of art, just about everything possible has been done to both subject and image in the context of photography, but the crucial thing it all passes through – the lens – has remained largely unaltered. Solaris (2025) is the culmination of a long-standing body of research and refinement, comprising 35 printed images and a single special lens that span an entire wall of the gallery.
Oscar Santillán and Tawna will represent Ecuador at the 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Manuela Moscoso.
May 9 - November 22, 2026
9 Castello 166/A, Venice, Italy
More info at link in bio.
يستكشف أوسكار سانتيان كيف تتجاوز مستويات الذكاء حدود الوجود البشري؛ متتبعاً تلك الروابط الخفية بين التكنولوجيا، والبيئة، وأشكال الحياة على كوكبنا.
في البينالي، يتجلّى عملا “النشيد” و”استصلاح العَتَمة” كتحفتين متكاملتين تصوغان مفهوم التحول؛ حيث يتفاعل الأول مع الأصوات التي يُصدرها الزوار، بينما يحتضن الآخر جزيئات مسحوقة لخوادم حواسيب داخل تكوين نحتي من المرايا الداكنة.
معاً، يوجّه العملان انتباهنا نحو الإحساس والتأمل بدلاً من اليقين المطلق؛ ليفتحا فضاءً تتعانق فيه القوى البشرية، وغير البشرية، والتكنولوجية في حوارٍ كوكبي متجدد.
تفاعلوا مع عملي “النشيد” و”استصلاح العَتَمة” لأوسكار سانتيان في بينالي الدرعية للفن المعاصر 2026.
B5 | حي جاكس، الدرعية.
اللقاء الكامل متاح الآن عبر قناتنا على يوتيوب @ DiriyahBiennaleFoundation
Oscar Santillán explores how intelligence moves beyond the human — tracing connections between technology, ecology, and planetary life.
At the Biennale, Anthem and Terraforming Darkness unfold as complementary works shaped by transformation — one activated by visitors’ voices, the other enclosing a pulverized computer server within a mirrored sculptural form.
Together, the works shift attention toward sensing rather than certainty — opening a space where human, non-human, and technological forces meet in an evolving planetary dialogue.
Interact with Oscar Santillán’s Anthem and Terraforming Darkness at the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026.
B5 | JAX District, Diriyah.
The full conversation is available on our YouTube channel @ DiriyahBiennaleFoundation
For centuries, modern science has attempted to rationally classify the planet's immeasurable complexity. In 1735, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus proposed that the world was composed of three kingdoms: animal, vegetable, and mineral, each subdivided into multiple categories.
Although intellectually elegant, this system could neither contain everything in existence nor point at the relationships between the parts.
To "resolve" this impossibility, Linnaeus added a fourth category: Paradoxa.
"Paradoxa" listed those beings that escaped his classifications or whose existence he doubted, such as dragons, frog-fish, and unicorns. This became the point of departure for the work shared in this post.
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Paradoxa, 2025
Oil paint on canvas, stainless steel, laser-cut plexiglass, ABS resin and automotive paint.
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Credits
A project by Oscar Santillán
Produced by Studio Antimundo
3D design for metal and plexiglass, Matheo Pérez
3D digital visualizations, Pedro Castillo
Painted components, Ema Jariso, Michael Vera, and Oscar Santillán.
Making of metal components, Víctor Yépez
Production coordination, Andrea Galarza
Incredibly grateful for the opportunity to create new works for the @contemporaryartbiennale_sa and, also, for the generous eyes of Josie Thaddeus-Johns, lead editor at @artsy who just published this review.
The two new commissions were enabled by miraclemakers of all sorts. Thanks to artist/curator #lantianxie (and @kristikbot ) and curator #sabihahmed for their vision and support.
And! the most special thanks to my team who stood up in the midst of the strange tempests that many artworks convey in their making:
@andreaagalarza@pedro.a.c.g@matheo._.perez
Grazie to those amazing collaborators who shared their talents with us.
And, more more more specially, to my beloved @majoelmar who held me so many times during the making of these projects.
Thank you @angelicamcuevas and @terremoto_mx for this review of our exhibition!! Such incredible análisis of all the stakes of the show and the new interspecies works by @studio.antimundo !! 👾🛸💥
If you are in Ecuador the show is open until April!
“What Does It Feel Like to Be Earth?” seeks to expand beyond its nature as an exhibition in order to destabilize our position as human beings.
Presented at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Quito until April 2026, the show brings together ten years of research by Óscar Santillán around the more-than-human, ecocriticism, and the languages of the Global South. In this sense, the curatorship, carried out by Sara Garzón, shifts our anthropocentric position to think of Earth as both agent and interlocutor.
Written by anthropologist Angélica Cuevas-Guarnizo.
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“¿Qué se siente ser Tierra?” busca expandirse más allá de su naturaleza de exposición para desestabilizar nuestra posición como seres humanos.
Presentada en el Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Quito (@centroartequito ) hasta abril de 2026, la muestra reúne diez años de investigación de Óscar Santillán (@studio.antimundo ) en torno a lo más-que-humano, la ecocrítica y los lenguajes del sur global. En este sentido, la curaduría, realizada por Sara Garzón (@sarisgarzon ), desplaza nuestra posición antropocéntrica para pensar a la Tierra como agente y como interlocutora.
Escribe la antropóloga Angélica Cuevas-Guarnizo.
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