José Antonio Vega Macotela

José Antonio Vega Macotela’s multidisciplinary work comes to life by working with different social groups and communities, such as prisoners, miners, soldiers, and hackers, and by exploring disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, economics, and coding. While at Amant, he builds on his research related to creating a parallel between the Q’aqchas—a group of 18th century mine thieves from Potosi, a city in Southern Bolivia—and a group of nomadic hackers led by the Catalonian activist Nos del Abismo, with whom the artist lived and traveled for several years. Macotela sees both groups as working within the cracks and crevices of the system and using the idea of “exploitation” as a tool against capitalism.

Vega Macotela, born in 1980 in Mexico City, currently lives and works in Mexico City and Amsterdam. He has shown his work at the New Museum Triennial in New York, Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Museo Amparo in Puebla, Witte de With in Rotterdam, MACBA in Barcelona, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and Artpace in San Antonio, among others. His work has been included in the 34th Sao Paulo Biennial, the 12th Taipei Biennial, Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens, Prospect 3 in New Orleans, the 13th Istanbul Biennial, and Manifesta 9 in Genk.