{"id":2105264,"date":"2025-10-21T08:39:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T08:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2105264"},"modified":"2025-10-21T08:39:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T08:39:05","slug":"mexican-artist-pedro-reyes-believes-in-arts-functionality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/mexican-artist-pedro-reyes-believes-in-arts-functionality\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican artist Pedro Reyes believes in art\u2019s functionality&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  width=\"580\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/myBbFzu-YVE?autoplay=1&#038;modestbranding=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<br \/>The Mexican artist explores sculpture as a physical and social practice, ranging from stone carving to large-scale participatory projects &#8211; always aiming for transformation.<\/p>\n<p>Pedro Reyes distinguishes between classical approaches to sculpture and what he calls \u201csocial sculpture\u201d &#8211; a form of sculpture in which the material is a social context, and part of it is the participation of different social actors. <\/p>\n<p>Trained in architecture, Pedro Reyes developed a belief in art\u2019s functionality: \u201cI have wanted art to be used and to have a measure of effectiveness that is not purely aesthetic.\u201d Influenced by Joseph Beuys and by Mexico\u2019s tradition of socially committed art, he sees sculpture as a way to bridge material, community, and imagination: \u201cWhat you do in sculpture is to somehow take matter and try to make a transmission of spiritual energy into matter, and then that object should be able to irradiate that energy back to the viewer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of his best-known projects, Palas por Pistolas (Shovels for Guns) collected 1.500 donated guns, melted them down into 1.500 shovels, and used them to plant 1.500 trees. The project is a critical comment on gun violence in Mexico. To Pedro Reyes, the project is twofold, entailing \u201cnot only a physical transformation of the metal, but also a psychological transformation and hopefully a social transformation &#8211; turning something that is an agent of death into an agent of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At once ancient and experimental, Pedro Reyes\u2019 practice merges mysticism with social engagement. He suggests sculpture is a form of play and a tool for reimagining the world: \u201cArt is not fiction, but it\u2019s not reality. It\u2019s something in between. It\u2019s like a surplus reality\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Pedro Reyes (b. 1972, Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican sculptor known for projects that merge art, activism, architecture, and craft. He studied architecture at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City. His work has been shown in established institutions internationally, including at the Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Whitechapel Gallery (London), and the Museo Tamayo (Mexico City) ICA (Miami), and MAAT, (Lisbon). He lives and works in Mexico City.<\/p>\n<p>Pedro Reyes was interviewed by Nanna Rebekka in his studio and house in Mexico City in June 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Editor and producer: Nanna Rebekka<br \/>\nCamera: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan<br \/>\nCopyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025<br \/>\nLouisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. M\u00f8llerske St\u00f8ttefond and Ny Carlsbergfondet.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our channel for more videos on art: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/thelouisianachannel<\/p>\n<p>FOLLOW US HERE:<br \/>\nWebsite: http:\/\/channel.louisiana.dk<br \/>\nInstagram: http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/louisianachannel<br \/>\nFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LouisianaChannel<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=myBbFzu-YVE\">Video Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mexican artist explores sculpture as a physical and social practice, ranging from stone carving to large-scale participatory projects &#8211; always aiming for transformation. Pedro Reyes distinguishes between classical approaches to sculpture and what he calls \u201csocial sculpture\u201d &#8211; a form of sculpture in which the material is a social context, and part of it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2105265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2105264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videos"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761035944_maxresdefault.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2105264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2105266,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105264\/revisions\/2105266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2105265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2105264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2105264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2105264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}