Asunción Molinos Gordo

Asunción Molinos Gordo was born in 1979 in Guzmán, Burgos, Spain. She is a visual artist and researcher whose practice is strongly informed by anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. Focusing primarily on contemporary peasantry and historical processes of cultural disruption, she examines the forms of political, social and intellectual domination exercised by urban society over the rural world. She considers small- and medium-scale farmers not only as food producers but also as cultural agents who preserve traditional knowledge and develop new forms of expertise in response to contemporary challenges. Working across sculpture, installation, textiles, photography, video and sound, Molinos Gordo addresses subjects including land use, the transformation of agricultural labour, biotechnology, global food trade, transhumant architecture, farmers’ protests, ancestral irrigation systems and the bureaucratisation of territory. Her research-based practice challenges dominant definitions of innovation, progress and development while drawing attention to the complexity and cultural value of rural knowledge. In 2015, Molinos Gordo received the Sharjah Biennial Prize for WAM (World Agriculture Museum), a project first developed in Cairo in 2010 that critically examines prevailing narratives of agricultural progress and the structures through which agricultural knowledge is represented. In 2019, she represented Spain at the 13th Havana Biennial. She subsequently participated in the 15th Cuenca Biennial in 2021, the Helsinki Biennial in 2023 and the Matter of Art Biennale in Prague in 2024. For the Helsinki Biennial, she presented a new iteration of ¡Cuánto río allá arriba!, a sculptural assemblage of ceramic water vessels that contrasts communal systems of water distribution with the contemporary financialisation of natural resources. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, IVAM in Valencia, CA2M in Madrid, Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, Museo Carrillo Gil in Mexico City, The Townhouse Gallery in Cairo and Darat al Funun in Amman. It is held in collections including those of the Museo Reina Sofía, TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, CA2M, MUSAC, Art Jameel and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.