Jota Castro

Biography

Jota Castro is a Peruvian-born artist (Yurimaguas, 1965), based in Brussels, Belgium, who worked in the diplomatic service for two decades. In the late 1990s he left his career as a diplomat at the United Nations and the European Union and decided to devote himself totally to the field of art. Through his different professional activities, Castro has gained in-depth knowledge of the world of international politics; moreover, he considers his university studies in Law and Political Science as his real training in art.

His works point to certain mechanisms at work in present day Western society, with its imbalances and weaknesses, which are skillfully highlighted by the artist to reveal the incongruities at work in political and social structures.

He is consulting editor for Janus magazine in Belgium and Nolens Volens in Spain. He is a lecturer at the European University of Madrid. His work has been extensively shown around the world. He has participated in the Venice, Tirana, Prague and Gwangju Biennales. He won the Gwangju Biennale Prize in 2004 in South Korea.

Me in a Single Sentence

Jota, that's me, the son of a woman who is the daughter of a son of a bitch and a gentleman of the Third World, I suffered from neglect when I was little and I stopped talking for a year when I was five years old, I was a soldier, I played sports, I studied, I traveled a lot, I wrote a book-no good-I met my wife in Madrid, I married her in Belfast, I almost lost her, I almost lost me, I came back to my dreams, it makes me laugh knowing that Freud loved cocaine as much as me, I've got kidney problems but I'm taking care of myself, I dreamed of a destiny whereas I already had one, I love sex like I love life, I was tortured and I still feel guilty, I have been rich and I didn't like, I have been poor and I didn't like, I don't know where I'm gonna die, I have no children, I haven't got a mother tongue any more, I picked up art because I couldn't stand lying, I've always liked writing poetry, I lost a woman I loved, my father died without me ever seeing him again, I haven't seen my mother in 20 years, I feel lonely sometimes, I'm crazy about soccer, when I was little my motto was die rather than sin, sometimes certain friends call me el hijo del sol, I've traveled more than my imagination, I was in Berlin when the wall came down, I was in Moscow during Perestroika, mathematics calms me down, I once dreamed of a star that walked, I read the sports newspaper Equipe every day, I love the rain when I'm at home, I have a retarded little brother called Fidel, I love Cy Twombly, I feel right at home in Scotland, I feel right at home in Italy, I've seen Pelé and Maradona play, I painted the stairs in my house orange, I'm fascinated by Morrison's "low pad" armchair, I'm not white, I feel guilty, I was born in the Amazonia.

www.jotacastro.eu

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2008

• Sleep tight, Elaine Levy Project, Brussels, Belgium

2007

• Enjoy your travel, Gallery Umberto Di Marino, Napoli, Italy

2006

• No More No less, Gallery Oliva Arauna, Madrid, Spain
• Row window, Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, Finland
• Born to be alive, Elaine Levy Project, Brussels, Belgium

2005

• Exposition universelle 1, Palais de Tokyo. Paris, France
• Taking part, Sterdelijk Museum's - Hertegenosch, Netherlands
• Introduction to Jota Castro, Uplands Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008

• Madrid Abierto,Madrid, Spain
• Gravity, Museo Artium, Vitoria, Spain
• Black-Paris, Black-Bruxelles, Musée d'Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
• Art in the life World, Dublin, Ireland
• Arte e Omosessualità, Firenze, Italy
• Fate Presto, Salerno, Italy
• Atlante latinoamericano, Monterrey, Mexico
• Informacion Contra Informacion, CGAC, Spain

2007

• We are your future, Moscow Biennale,
• Construyendo el mundo, Marco Museo de arte contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico
• Confine, MAN - Museo di arte di Nuoro, Sardeigna, Italy

2006

• Ars06, Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
• Tirana Biennale, Albania

2004

• Kwangju Biennale, Korea

2003

• 50th Venice Biennale

Publications

2005

• Jota Castro, catalogue, Paris Musées, 2005

2004

• Gwangju Biennale, catalogue, 2004
• Seven Sins, catalogue, Museion, 2004
• Trouble Times, catalogue, ed. Juliet, 2004
• Produciendo Realidad, catalogue, Prometeo Arte Contemporanea, 2004
• 2ième Tirana Biennale, catalogue, 2004
• Quick Sands, catalogue, De Appel, 2004

2003

• Hardcore, catalogue, Palais de Tokyo, 2003
• 50° Biennale di Venezia, catalogue, 2003

Selected Bibliography

2005

• The Guardian, 'Emergency Biennale', Dan Hancox, April 2005
• DeMorgen, 'Jota vat de dingen', Luk Lambrecht, March 2005
• La Libre Belgique, 'Castro politiquement incorrect', Claude Lorent, March 2005
• La Libre Belgique, 'Portrait', Claude Lorent, March 2005
• Metro, 'Jota Castro: Le chercheur de problèmes', Mélanie Roero, Feb. 2005
• Le Soir, 'Le Paris-Charleroi de Jota Castro', Dominique Legrand, March 2005
• Le Monde, 'Le Florilège provocant de la répression selon Jota Castro', Philippe Dagen, March 2005
• Commission en direct, 'Jota Castro: un art militant', March 2005
• Redux, 'Entretien avec Amiel Grumberg', March 2004

2004

• Le Monde, 'Galeries', Harry Bellet, May 2004
• Rebel Art, 'Jota Castro exit exil', Alain Biebe, 2004
• Flash Art, 'Many Hands Make Art Work', Andrea Bellini, Dec. 2004
• Art in America, 'Fiac', David Ebony, Dec. 2004
• The Japan Times, 'An Eastern Art Show to Rival Venice', Kate Thomson, Sep. 2004
• The Guardian, 'Her Dark Materials', Adrien Searle, Sep. 2004
• L’oeil, 'Jota Castro: “ Mourir pour des idées, d’accord, mais...”,' Amiel Grumberg, Jan. 2004
• Janus, 'Sooner or Later Someone Will Try to Understand What You Are Trying to Express', + reloaded, March 2004
• Le Monde, 'Poitou-Charentes ne veut pas du librettiste Berlusconi', Harry Bellet, Jan. 20, 2004
• La Libre Belgique, 'Artbrussels bien dans ses marques', April 1, 2004

2003

• Le Monde, 'L’art adulte de Jota Castro', Harry Bellet, Aug. 16, 2003
• Nudus, 'Art Sexe et Culture', spécial LoveHotel, Marie-Charlotte Arraul, May-June 2003
• Le Figaro, 'Sarkozy, cible des activistes', Ivan Rioufol, May 14, 2003
• L’art Aujourd’hui, 'Sarkozy très exposé, Frédéric Maufras, March 21-27, 2003
• L’Echo des Savannes, 'Dans l’ombre de Sarko', entretien avec Olivier Chini, April 2003
• Nova Magazine, 'Capitale Risque – Jota Castro artiste Sarkomane', April 2003
• L’oeil, 'L’art de résister', Thomas Schlesser, April 2003
• Art Presse, 'Hardcore', Paul Ardenne, May 2003
• Beaux Arts Magazine, 'Questions à Jota Castro: une belle rebellion', Sabrina Weldman, June 2003
• Blast, 'Kidnapping par Jota Castro', March-April 2003
• Mouvement, 'Guide Survie pour Manifestants', portfolio: Jota Castro, March-April 2003
• DN Kultur, 'Radikal konst i dag är som piratradio', Lars O Ericsson, March 25, 2003
• Art Review, 'Look Back in Anger', Charles Darwent, May 2003
• Elle, 'Art: Une Chambre en Ville', Florence Tredez, May 5, 2003
• El Pais, 'Los hackers de lo real', Octavi Martì, Jan. 2003
• Numéro, 'Chambre Close', Nathalie Fraser, June 2003
• Lui, '50 Jours/50 Nuits: l’Art et les Cochons', June 2003
• Bolero, '50.Biennale Venedig', June 2003
• Modzik, 'Sex in the City', Audrey Mascina, 2003
• Janus, 'At the Consilience Salon', Marina Damestoy, 12, 2003
• Flash Art (versione italiana), 'Jota Castro', 243, Dec. 2003-Jan. 2004
• Tema Celeste (versione italiana), 'Jota Castro', 100, Nov.-Dec. 2003

Awards and Prizes

1983

• Young Peruvian Poet Prize

2004

• Gwandju Biennale Prize (Korea)