Claudia Müller Montes
Live and work between Santiago de Chile & Berlín.
Claudia Müller Montes is a Chilean visual artist. She currently teaches at the School of Art at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She is a PhD candidate in Artistic Practice and Research at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain. She holds an MFA in Visual Arts from the Universidad de Chile (2011) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a specialization in Printmaking from Universidad Finis Terrae (2006).
Her artistic practice lies at the intersection of art, science, and cosmology, exploring the relationship between natural elements and universal phenomena. Her research focuses particularly on bodies of water—both terrestrial and extraterrestrial—conceived as dynamic, sensitive, and temporal entities. Through videos, sculptures, and installations of different scales and materials, her work proposes a symbolic system that intertwines water, living beings, time, and the cosmos, emphasizing the interconnectedness of species and nature.
She has developed public art projects incorporating astronomical elements, creating works in open spaces where celestial phenomena and natural forces converge. Her work has been exhibited internationally in cities including Milan and Licenza/Rome (Italy), Berlin (Germany), Paris (France), Bogotá (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Barcelona and Bilbao (Spain), Santa Cruz (Bolivia), and Stavanger (Norway), as well as in numerous exhibitions throughout Chile.
She has participated in several artist residencies, including ViaFarini (Italy); L’Aquila Reale Arte e Natura, Rome (Italy); Fundación BilbaoArte (Spain); the Art and Science Research Residency at Bosque Pehuén, organized by Fundación Mar Adentro (Chile); the CAB Art, Science and Humanities Residency in Tierra del Fuego (Chile); and KIOSKO residency in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia).
Throughout her career, she has received several awards and grants, including multiple FONDART and DIRAC grants (Chile); First Prize in the Chilean Ministry of Public Works competition for the public artwork Observatorio at Santiago Airport’s Boulevard Poniente (2021); First Prize in the Ministry of Public Works competition for the installation of Sol at the Pampa del Algodonal School in Arica (2023); the CCU Grant; the Fundación BilbaoArte Grant; and, on three occasions, the Artistic Creation Award for faculty members at Universidad Finis Terrae.
Since 2020, she has been the founder and director of Xirius.cl, a platform dedicated to promoting projects that connect art, science, and interdisciplinary practices.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 TRIANGLE OF WATER, NAC Gallery, Santiago, Chile.
2024 ACQUA LATTEA, L’Aquila Reale Museum, Civitella di Licenza, Rome, Italy.
2023 Fresh Water, Foro.Space, Bogotá, Colombia.
2022 Wane / Menguar, Kastanien Project Raum, Berlin, Germany.
2021 Jichi, Residency Processes, KIOSKO Gallery, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
2018 Vaivén, CCU Art Gallery, Santiago, Chile.
2017 Menguar, Regional Museum of Punta Arenas, Magallanes Region, Chile.
2017 The Water Returned to the Earth as a Comet and to the Moon as a Meteorite, Die Ecke Gallery, Santiago, Chile.
2016 No One Can Push the River, BilbaoArte Foundation, Bilbao, Spain.
2014 THE MOON THE EARTH THE SUN, Die Ecke Gallery Barcelona, Spain.
2013 SEMIDIURNO, Die Ecke Gallery, Santiago, Chile.
2013 Fall/Winter, Tajamar Gallery, Santiago, Chile.
2011 In Real Time, Galería Temporal, Santiago, Chile.
2009 Binary, Galería Animal, Santiago, Chile.
TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024 Occhio di Luce, Civitella di Licenza, Municipality of Rome, Italy.
2017 Between Form and Matter, La Pan, Valparaíso, Chile.
2017 Between Liquid and Solid, Wom, Valparaíso, Chile.
2015 The Moon and Two Heads, Batuco Contemporary Art, Batuco, Chile.
2012 States of Minimal Distraction, Oficina Barroca, Santiago, Chile.
PUBLIC ART
2025 SOL, public solar observation artwork at Pampa del Algodonal School, Arica, Chile. (forthcoming)
2022 Observatory, public solar observation artwork at Boulevard Poniente, Santiago International Airport, Chile.
2021 ASTRO, water play and solar observatory in the municipality of La Pintana, Santiago, Chile.
Direct commission by the Metropolitan Park of Santiago / Nemesio Antúnez Foundation, Ministry of Public Works.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2025 Award for Sustainable Water Management, Category B: Vaivén, Water Observatory, Botín Foundation, Spain.
2024 First Prize, Design, Execution and Installation of Art at Pampa del Tamarugal School, Arica, Parinacota Region, Chile.
2023 L’Aquila Reale Residency, Italy.
2021 First Prize, Ministry of Public Works Competition; grant awarded for the construction of a public art Observatory for Boulevard Poniente, Santiago International Airport, Chile.
2021 Recipient of the ArteCIH UC Award, to develop a collaborative project with the UC Faculty of Astrophysics: Limits of Confusion Project.
2020 Ars Electronica Festival, Prisma Curatorship; development of the Art, Science and Technology project Xirius.
2020 Art–Science Residency, Bosque Pehuén, Fundación Mar Adentro, Chile.
2019 Third Prize, CCU Grant Award.
2019 DIRAC Funding for the group exhibition Continuities / Hydrographies of the Body Project, as part of the R.A.R.O Residency, exhibited at CCMATTA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2019 Art, Science and Humanities Residency Award, CAB, Tierra del Fuego, Magallanes, Chile. Project funded by CNCA.
2016 National Fondart Open Call Grant, project No One Can Push the River, carried out at Fundación BilbaoArte, Spain.
2016 Award for the funding of a solo exhibition, Fundación BilbaoArte, Spain.
2015 National Fondart Grant, BilbaoArte Foundation Fellowship (Open Call, Government of Chile).
2015 BilbaoArte Foundation Fellowship.
2013 National Fondart Grant for the creation project SEMIDIURNO.
2009 Fondart Grant to pursue a Master’s Degree in Visual Arts, University of Chile (2009–2010).
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Wasser Archives, Bardo Project Raum, Berlin, Germany.
2022 Crisol / Media Arts Biennial, Espectra project, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile.
2021 Digital Culture Meeting, Hexa project, online exhibition, Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, Chile.
2021 Ars Electronica Festival, curated by Fundación Mar Adentro, Liquid Border project, Linz, Austria.
2019 Continuities / Hydrographies of the Body project, as part of the R.A.R.O Residency, exhibited at CCMATTA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2019 Infinita / Source Apparition project, Mushroom Museum, Media Arts Biennial, Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna Museum, Santiago, Chile.
2019 Tearamas: Artistic Ramifications on the Contemplation of Nature, Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation of Chile, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile.
2019 Deep Time, outcome of the post-residency at CAB, National Center for Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile.
2017 Examples to Follow / Building a River project, curated by Adrienne Goehler, co-curated by Rodolfo Andaur, Parque Cultural de Valparaíso, Chile.
2016 Against a Conspiracy of Invisibilities / Water Cadastres project, Sobering Galerie, Paris, France.
2015 An Other Land… and in the Other, Our Own – Prosjektrom Normanns (Stavanger, Norway), curated by Ian Cofré.
2014 Before Eating I Will Go to Fetch Water, Sala de Carga, Talcahuano, Chile.
2014 Sea for Bolivia, Simón Patiño Cultural Center, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
2012 Signs, Portents and Miracles, Las Condes Art Gallery, Santiago, Chile.
2011 In Three Times, Machina Gallery, Pontifical Catholic University, Santiago, Chile.
2011 Lack of Distance, National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA), Concepción, Chile.
2010 Zíper, CCU Art Gallery, Santiago, Chile.
2008 Oscillation: Thinking // Working with // Sound in Intermediate Spaces, Egenau Gallery, Santiago, Chile.