Juan Castillo was born in Antofagasta, Chile in 1952. In 1982 he traveled to Europe, residing in Sweden since 1986. He lived part of his childhood in the Pedro de Valdivia Saltpeter Works in the pampas of northern Chile, a fact that marked him personally. He studied architecture during two years at the Catholic University of Valparaíso. Later, in Santiago, he studied engraving with Eduardo Vilches, at the School of Art of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile as a free student. In Santiago, between 1978 and 1983 he joined the C.A.D.A Art Actions Collective, a group of visual artists, writers and sociologist, made up of Lotty Rosenfeld, Diamela Eltit, Fernando Balcells and Raúl Zurita.

 

Its activity extends through actions that merge social and art. His works are developed from post-conceptual, post-minimalist and performance precepts. From his artistic practice, poverty and segregation are bluntly confronted, using a formal freedom of post-situationism and a utopian perspective without falling into aestheticization.

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The problem of Latin American identity runs through his work in an unavoidable way. He addresses the phenomena of transculturation and hybridity that shape individuals and contemporary societies. Castillo labels his creations as "occupations", which spread throughout the city through various channels and media. The epistemological interaction between the artist and the citizen becomes a fundamental part of his work. His positioning as a lucid witness capable of (re)constructing past scenarios causes his idea-forces to develop in cycles that he temporarily closes to resume in the future.

 

The most recent important exhibitions are: A Larger World, Moderna Musset, Stockholm, Sweden (2018), Geometría emocional, MAC Santiago, Chile (2021) and  Signals: How Video Transformed the Word, Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York (2023). His work is part of important public and private collections, including: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain -as a member of the C.A.D.A group-; Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York, USA - as a member of the C.A.D.A group -; Il Posto Collection, Santiago de Chile, Chile; Moderna Museet Stockholm, Sweden; Ernesto Poma Family Collection, Miami Florida, USA, among others.