Carlos Garaicoa (b. 1967, Cuba) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Madrid. Central to Garaicoa’s broad-reaching artistic program is an examination of structures. These structures, first and most visibly, are the ones that make up our built environment. However, on a conceptual level, they also include the web of linguistic, political, social and artistic systems on which society itself is ‘constructed.’

Drawing on postmodernist theory and the issues of culture and politics, he connects aesthetics to meaning within urban spaces and architecture with his Cuban heritage as a point of departure. Tracing the sites—literal as well as metaphorical and temporal—where these structures overlap or diverge, Garaicoa manages to invoke poetry, critique, and suggest intimacy as well as provocation.

The artist’s vast institutional presence includes the collection of many leading museums globally, including several works in Tate Modern’s permanent collection. He has participated in several biennales, including several Venice Biennale, Documenta 14 and 11, and multiple Sao Paulo and Havana Biennales. He recently received the PEM Prize 2021. Garaicoa currently lives and works between Havana and Madrid.