Life as Activity: David Lamelas

Plotting narratives that blur the line between fact and fiction, David Lamelas is a pioneering figure of conceptual art. "Life as Activity: David Lamelas" draws vivid connections within the artist's multifaceted practice and explores how his sculpture, film, video, and photography invite us to participate in fictional narratives while moving through space and time. Life as Activity: David Lamelas developed from a graduate seminar in Hunter College's Advanced Certificate in Curatorial Studies and is supported by the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), which advances scholarship and public engagement with art from Latin America. ISLAA proudly sponsors Hunter College as its inaugural university partner in the ISLAA Artist Seminar Initiative, an education and curatorial program that fosters intimate exchanges between students and living Latin American and Latinx artists. David Lamelas's works experiment with conventional formats in ways that make us acutely aware of the constructed nature of narrative and identity. Featuring his investigations of different media - including sculpture, photography, and film - the book charts new ground through a body of work that spans from 1966 to 2020. Made in Argentina, Europe and the United States, the twelve projects that make up the focus of the book demonstrate the inventive ways Lamelas produces works in which he directs his critical eye toward diverse contexts to reveal the proximity of fantasy and truth.

New works and never-before-seen archival documents from the pioneering Argentinian conceptual artist. 

Blurring the line between fact and fiction, the works featured in Life as Activity: David Lamelas invite viewers to move through space and time by identifying with images of celebrities. This new collection brings together Lamelas’s experiments in a wide variety of media—including sculpture, film, photography, and video—to emphasize the constructed nature of narrative and identity. Made by this influential conceptual artist in Argentina, Europe, and the United States between 1966 and 2020, the thirteen projects featured in this book demonstrate the agile and inventive ways Lamelas has played with form and medium. Life as Activity: David Lamelas includes full-color illustrations of new works by the artist and never-before-seen documents from his personal archives.

Life as Activity: David Lamelas developed from a graduate seminar in Hunter College’s Advanced Certificate in Curatorial Studies and is supported by the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), which advances scholarship and public engagement with art from Latin America. ISLAA proudly sponsors Hunter College as its inaugural university partner in the ISLAA Artist Seminar Initiative, an education and curatorial program that fosters intimate exchanges between students and living Latin American and Latinx artists.