Nicolás Lamas

(b. 1980, Lima, Peru) Nicolás Lamas is an artist whose work explores the intersections of art, science, technology, and everyday culture. Using both found and self-made objects, he creates dynamic installations that blend high-tech materials, medical prosthetics, scientific excerpts, and street or flea market items. His work challenges modern disciplinary boundaries, bringing together opposites such as the organic and the technological, the human and the non-human, and nature and culture. This approach, inspired by Donna Haraway’s "transknowledge," reveals the complexity and interconnections of these seemingly separate realms. Lamas’ practice revolves around the idea that objects and materials are not passive but active, capable of transformation and signifying elements of disembodied humanity. His works often reference the human body as an object while exploring the potential of matter itself—considering it a complex, archaeological site made up of inanimate materials, technological remnants, and collapsing histories. These objects, assembled through impulsive compositions, create a dialogue between human perception and other forms of understanding, blurring the lines between fiction, life, and inertness. A recurring theme in Lamas' practice is the interaction between industrial products, the body, and technology, as well as the traces of humanity left on nature. His works often evoke rituals and ephemeral moments, challenging the stability of meaning and value in objects. Lamas sees objects as fluid, ever-changing entities that lose their essence as they transition between different states. Lamas studied Fine Arts at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and continued his education at the Universidad de Barcelona and the Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent. Since 2006, he has exhibited widely in solo and group shows across Europe and Latin America, with recent solo exhibitions at venues like Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and Meessen De Clercq in Brussels. Among their most recent exhibitions are "Flujos atemporales / sedimentos cognitivos" at The Goma Gallery (Madrid, 2024), "Scenarios for coexistence" at Cukrarna (Ljubljana, 2024), "Thinking about things that are thinking" at Meessen De Clercq (Brussels, 2023), "Digital anomalies" at FORM (Arnhem, 2023), "Umbral" at Longtermhandstand - Hall (Budapest, 2022), "The end of motion" at Longtermhandstand (Budapest, 2022), and "Bone Tone Shelf Self" at Foundation for Contemporary Arts Prague - Cursor Gallery (Prague, 2022, duo show with Barbora Zentková and Julia Gryboś). They have also participated in group exhibitions such as "Matterflux" at Meessen De Clercq (Brussels, 2021), "Assemblage and circulation" at De Vereniging (SMAK, Ghent, 2021), "Times in collapse" at Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré (Tours, 2021), "Liquid bones" at La Borie (Solignac, 2020), "Impermanence" at In Extenso (Clermont Ferrand, 2020), and "Screening" at Centre Culturel de Namur (Namur, 2020, duo show with Daniel Locus).