Mario García Torres: A History of Influence

Curatorial team: Larissa Hüttenhein, Julia Schleis, and Moritz Wesseler

Many of the works by Mario García Torres—born in Monclova in 1975 and now living in Mexico City—take their cue from the pieces and essence of historical artists, in particular exponents of Conceptual Art, Arte Povera, and institutional critique. Using various media such as film, slide projection, photography, sound, text, sculpture, or painting, he analyzes artistic material—works, documents, attitudes, strategies, and myths—in order to devise both new history and (hi)stories. By doing so, García Torres is able to open up unusual perspectives on the past and question purportedly universal truths. His works are often imbued with a subtle, astute sense of humor.

With A History of Influence, the Fridericianum presents the first institutional solo exhibition by García Torres in Germany. It features works from all the artist’s creative periods, thus offering far-reaching insights into his oeuvre.

García Torres’s institutional solo exhibitions include those at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (2007), at Kunsthalle Zürich (2008), the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco (2009), the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (2009), the Galerie Nationale de Jeu de Paume in Paris (2009), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (2010), the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina in Naples (2013), the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles (2014), the Pérez Art Museum in Miami (2014), the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (2015), the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City (2016), at TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in Vienna (2016), the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2018), the Wiels Center for Contemporary Art in Brussels (2019), the Museo Jumex in Mexico City (2020), the MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (2021), and at Arte Abierto in Mexico City (2024). He was represented at documenta 13 in 2012.