Francisco Ruiz de Infante

(Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1966)

He lives and works between Auberive, Paris and Strasbourg, France. Since 1999, he is coordinator of the research group Out of Format Art – Arts of Time at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin (Strasbourg).

He combines images, texts, sounds and objects to make complex multimedia installations that insert advanced audiovisual technology within crudely wrought materials (and vice versa), while infusing a light poetic sensibility into a rigorously critical conceptual framework. His work, usually created in situ and often ephemeral in nature, is characterized by a "DIY" aesthetic in which the forces of construction and destruction operate simultaneously, creating environments that appear both unfinished and already existing, simultaneously, in ruins. But the installations, although they often appear precarious and fragile, are in fact carefully orchestrated assemblages that function as three-dimensional drawings or diagrams, which become theatrical stages that deftly transform spectators from passive observers to active participants and, in the process , subtly, raise questions about individuality, choice, and consciousness. His videos are often hypnotic and visually poetic and achieve their particular visual power through litany-style repetition techniques, through non-narrative structures and simple optical effects that often refer to the tradition of 20th century experimental cinema.

He has exhibited important projects in institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the MNCARS in Madrid, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Maison de l'Image in Geneva, the Blaffler Gallery in Houston, the ZKM in Karlshure, the Kunst-Halle in Bonn, the Carrillo Gil Museum in Mexico, the La Panera Art Center in Lleida or the Metrónom room in Barcelona.

In 2008, he began a cycle of artistic creations, “BlueSky Ecosystems”, which is taking shape in exhibition, film and editorial productions in various contexts: Argentina (Espacio Fundación Telefónica de Buenos Aires), France (Atheneum de Dijon – Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry- Sur-Seine / Grand Paris), Spain (Artium de Álava – Galería Elba Benítez, Madrid – Fundación Botín, Santander) … Among the videos made within this series we can highlight HolyBilis (2013), BSoD -Training attitude- (2009) and his latest work, Campos Eventuales (2018-20).

Within his extensive film production, the feature film Los Lobos (1995) and the short Las Cosas Simples (prix découverte at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montreal 1993) are also relevant.