David Lamelas

The recorded working language is Spanish. Places of work recorded in the authority are London, Berlin and Los Angeles. Work by David Lamelas is recorded in the collections of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, Tate and CODA Museum. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship.

Lamelas graduated from the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1963. Early in his career he focused on sculpture and participated in exhibits in Buenos Aires. During the 1960s, he was one of the key members of the Instituto Torcuatro di Tella, an organization that promoted avant-garde and conceptual art. The contemporary art movement in Argentina met opposition from the government starting in June 1966 when President Arturo Umberto Illia was deposed. Newly appointed President Juan Carlos Onganía, a right-wing conservative, used the Argentine Armed Forces to suppress political opposition coming from universities and the youth. The government also began policing outspoken artists. By his own account, David Lamelas had been arrested and jailed four times by 1968. In 1967, Lamelas exhibited at the 9th São Paulo Biennial. His installation, Dos Espacios Modificados – Two Modified Spaces, won top prize. Later the same year, his installation Situacion de Tiempo – Time Situation was on display in Buenos Aires. In 1968 he left Argentina to study sculpture at Saint Martin's School of Art in London. Also in 1968, Lamelas was invited to represent Argentina in the 1968 Venice Biennial. His installation, The Office of Information about the Vietnam War at Three Levels: The Visual Image, Text and Audio, is representative of many of Lamelas' themes including media, communication, information, and critique of United States foreign policy. Lamelas' interest in film began during his studies in London. Among his best-known films are "Film Script", "To Pour Milk Into a Glass", and "The Dictator". His films contain themes of time, space, surveillance, and popular culture.

• Exhibition — Year — Location • Documenta 5 — 1972 — Kassell • 1965-1975: Reconsidering the Object of Art — 1995 — MoCA, Los Angeles • Above the Fold — 2008 — Kunstmuseum, Basel • The Death of the Audience — 2009 — Secession, Vienna • The Quick and the Dead — 2009 — Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis • How Many Billboards — 2010 — Los Angeles • Transmissions: Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 1960–1980 — 2015 — MoMA • Fiction of a Production — 2018 — MSU Broad Solo Exhibitions • A New Refutation of Time, 1997, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art • David Lamelas, Extranjero, Foreigner, Étranger, Ausländer, 2005. Museo Tamayo. Mexico City • David Lamelas, 2006, Secession, Vienna • David Lamelas: The Machine, 2026-2027, Dia Chelsea, New York City

David Lamelas is recorded with the occupation performance artist. Recorded with the occupation film director. Recorded as film director, sculptor, photographer and artist.