The M-residency of Angyvir Padilla

M offers Angyvir Padilla a five-month residency as an M-resident at Cas-co. Padilla's artistic practice spans a variety of disciplines and media, including sculpture, performance, photography, video and sound. Inspired by the experience of displacement, Padilla explores notions of time, memory and home.

Portret van Angyvir Padilla — Foto: Silvia Cappellari voor M Leuven

Angyvir Padilla (°1987, Venezuela) lives and works in Brussels. Her work has been recently exhibited in numerous venues, including IKOB Museum, Eupen (2023), CIAP, Genk (2022), Centrale Vitrine, Brussel (2021), Frac Grand Large - Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque (2021-2022) and S.M.A.K Museum, Ghent (2021). In 2023 Padilla started a long term residency at Moussem.

Padilla's works are narratives in constant motion, crossing the boundaries between past and present, imagined and real, ephemeral and tangible. The notion of ‘home’ recurs in her installations - a space both familiar and uncanny, impossible to capture in a single image or phrase. Central to Padilla's work is a persistent desire to inhabit what may no longer exist. This longing for familiarity, or perhaps domesticity, imbued with an inherent inability to achieve it, serves as a stimulus for experimentation.

Installation view ‘DE ALLÁ, PARA ACÁ Y DE OTROS LADOS (FROM THERE, TO HERE AND ELSEWHERE)’, 2021, Angyvir Padilla, S.M.A.K museum. Photo: Silvia Cappellari

In her artistic collaborations, often rooted in friendship and family bonds, she counteracts the physical distance and solitary nature of her artistic journey.

During the M-residency, Padilla intends to deepen the artistic dialogue with her loved ones and her connection to Venezuela. Additionally, she will explore the integration of voice and sound into her sculptures and performances.

M-resident Angyvir Padilla during a performance — ‘HOME CONTAINS US AND IS WITHIN US # STE CATHERINE 13’, Angyvir Padilla, 2021, Centrale vitrine, Brussels (BE). Photo: Philippe de Gobert

Work of M-resident Angyvir Padilla — Detail of ‘LO QUE NO PARECE IMPORTANTE PERO QUE SIEMPRE ESTÁ AHÍ’, Angyvir Padilla, 2023, IKOB. Foto: Lola Pertsowsky

‘HOME UNFOLDABLE HOME (FLASHBACKS)’, 2023, Angyvir Padilla, IKOB. Foto: Lola Pertsowsky — ‘HOME UNFOLDABLE HOME (FLASHBACKS)’, 2023, Angyvir Padilla, IKOB. Photo: Lola Pertsowsky

Moussem Collaboration

This residency is a collaboration with Moussem, an arts center in Brussels. Moussem and M are expanding their residency collaboration by organizing an exchange between the two residency sites (Brussels and Leuven).

Every two years, M selects one resident in collaboration with Moussem. In addition, Moussem and M select an artist from Leuven for a residency with Moussem. The exchange aims to anchor the artists' artistic practices in a new urban context, as well as expand their professional network.

This collaboration will take place for the first time in the spring of 2024. Angyvir Padilla is the new M resident, Kaïn Walgrave makes the reverse move and becomes a resident at Moussem.