Carlos Motta is an artist (b. Bogotá, Colombia, 1978) whose work investigates the effects that historically significant political events have exercised on individual and collective subjectivity.

Motta’s video and photographic installations are influenced by conceptual documentary and journalism and engage with historical material (such as military intervention, foreign policy and political rhetoric) in an attempt to question dominant modes of reading and (re)writing history.

The resultant projects engage their specific subject matter in a variety of ways, aiming at reflecting upon culturally embedded forms of abuse of power, subjection and the construction of ideology.

His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at: rum46, Aarhus, Denmark; Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, USA; Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, FL, USA; Winkleman Gallery/Schroeder Romero Gallery, New York, NY, USA; and La Alianza Francesa, Bogotá, Colombia.

His work has been in group shows in venues including CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art, Annadale-on-Hudson, NY, USA; Palazzo Papesse, Siena, Italy; Foam_Fotografie Museum, Amsterdam, Holland; Manifesta 6 (cancelled); TEOR/éTica, San José, Costa Rica; Sara Meltzer Gallery, NY, USA; VideoBrasil, Sao Paolo, Brasil; Prometeo Associazione per l’Arte Contemporanea, Lucca, Italy; Artists Space, NY, USA; Museum of Modern Art, Bogota, Colombia; SF Camerawork, San Francisco, USA; and Fries Museum, Groningen, Holland.

Motta is a graduate of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, holds an MFA from The Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College and a BFA from The School of Visual Arts, all in New York.

Motta has received grants and awards and residencies from IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden; The Cisneros Fontanals Foundation, Miami, USA; The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, USA; The Center for Book Arts, New York, USA; The Danish Arts Council, Denmark (with Ditte Lyngkaer Pedersen, Jeuno J.E Kim and Lize Mogel); and The Rhodes Family Award for Exceptional Achievement in Photography, New York, USA.

Motta’s work has been reviewed by publications such as Artforum, Artforum.com, Artnews, The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, Time Out New York, Arte al Dia, Art on Paper and many others.
His work is in the collection of Deutsche Bank, Savannah College of Art and Design, The Cisneros Fontanals Foundation and many private collections.

Carlos is the editor of artwurl.org and faculty at the International Center of Photography and Parsons The New School for Design in New York.

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