Born in Barcelona and based in London, Robert Cervera graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2014 with an MA in Sculpture.
He won the 2014 Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize for his degree show.
My work looks at the leaky ways of formless materials such as air, water and data.
I’m interested in our efforts to contain them and herd them and turn them into reservoirs, music, breath or code.
I’m also keenly aware of how this shapeless stuff connects us, despite its invisibility. As a result, my work often foregrounds the infrastructure that holds such assets and points towards some of the materials used, be it concrete, metal armatures or liquid cooling pipes.
As for my output, I make sculptures, musical performances, videos and installations that talk to each other about flow, bodiliness and material interdependence.
He won the 2014 Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize for his degree show.
My work looks at the leaky ways of formless materials such as air, water and data.
I’m interested in our efforts to contain them and herd them and turn them into reservoirs, music, breath or code.
I’m also keenly aware of how this shapeless stuff connects us, despite its invisibility. As a result, my work often foregrounds the infrastructure that holds such assets and points towards some of the materials used, be it concrete, metal armatures or liquid cooling pipes.
As for my output, I make sculptures, musical performances, videos and installations that talk to each other about flow, bodiliness and material interdependence.
PRESS & TEXTS:
Interview with Julia Greenway, Zabludowicz Collection (pdf download)
Studio visit by DATEAGLE ART. Interview by Laura Gosney. Photography by Martin Mayorga.
https://dateagle.art/robert-cervera-interview/
ON VIEW by Flash Art
https://flash---art.com/2020/09/robert-cervera-tangent-projects-barcelona/
Profile and interview at MASDEARTE.COM (in Spanish)
https://masdearte.com/especiales/robert-cervera/
Interview with Julia Greenway, Zabludowicz Collection (pdf download)
Studio visit by DATEAGLE ART. Interview by Laura Gosney. Photography by Martin Mayorga.
https://dateagle.art/robert-cervera-interview/
ON VIEW by Flash Art
https://flash---art.com/2020/09/robert-cervera-tangent-projects-barcelona/
Profile and interview at MASDEARTE.COM (in Spanish)
https://masdearte.com/especiales/robert-cervera/
Education:
2012/14 MA Sculpture, Royal College of Art, London.
2010/11 Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art (Distinction). Byam Shaw/ Central St. Martins, University of the Arts, London.
2009/10 Foundation Fine Art (Distinction). Central St. Martins, University of the Arts, London.
1988/99 Music studies (theory, trumpet, brass quartet, orchestra). Conservatori de Música de Badalona.
Awards and bursaries:
2021 Master Class 2021, Zabludowicz Collection.
2015 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, shortlisted.
2015 Mark Tanner Sculpture Award, shortlisted.
2014 Visual Arts Fund, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.
2014 Exeter Contemporary Open, additional award.
2014 Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize, winner.
2013 Coutts Cowley Manor Arts Award (outdoor sculpture commission).
2013 Windle Trust Grant.
2012 Royal College of Art, student bursary (2012-2014).
Residencies:
2019 Tangent Projects, Barcelona
2017 La Escocesa, Barcelona.
2014 Atelier Concorde, Lisbon.
2012 Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Centre, Nepal.
2012/14 MA Sculpture, Royal College of Art, London.
2010/11 Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art (Distinction). Byam Shaw/ Central St. Martins, University of the Arts, London.
2009/10 Foundation Fine Art (Distinction). Central St. Martins, University of the Arts, London.
1988/99 Music studies (theory, trumpet, brass quartet, orchestra). Conservatori de Música de Badalona.
Awards and bursaries:
2021 Master Class 2021, Zabludowicz Collection.
2015 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, shortlisted.
2015 Mark Tanner Sculpture Award, shortlisted.
2014 Visual Arts Fund, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.
2014 Exeter Contemporary Open, additional award.
2014 Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize, winner.
2013 Coutts Cowley Manor Arts Award (outdoor sculpture commission).
2013 Windle Trust Grant.
2012 Royal College of Art, student bursary (2012-2014).
Residencies:
2019 Tangent Projects, Barcelona
2017 La Escocesa, Barcelona.
2014 Atelier Concorde, Lisbon.
2012 Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Centre, Nepal.
Performances and workshops:
2023 Create a Sculptural Wind Instrument. Family workshops at SPACE Ilford, London, November 2023.
2023 Pipework. Musical workshops in collaboration with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Ikon Gallery's Youth Programme, culminating in a day of performances at Ikon Gallery on April 22nd.
2023 Pipework on Slow Boat: a musical performance aboard Ikon Gallery's narrow boat, playing along Birminghams canals on Sept. 30th.
2023 Create a sculptural wind instrument. Workshops at SPACE Ilford on Nov 11th.
2022 Ye_soft_pipes/play_on, performance at Eufònic Festival 2022.
Solo and two-person shows:
2023 A constellation of conduits was channelled between us, and our distance became water,
Robert Cervera and Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Danielle Arnaud gallery, London.
2021 Invites Robert Cervera: 'To Vent', Zabludowicz Collection, London.
2020 Ye_soft_pipes/play_on, Tangent Projects, Barcelona.
2019 YES AND, MOCA London (with Peter Lamb)
2018 YES AND, Kelder Projects, London (with Peter Lamb).
2017 Tomorrow Starts Here, La Escocesa, Barcelona.
2015 Re:Pro, OK Corral, Copenhagen (with Robin Seir).
2014 Prova, Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art (with Youngju Oh).
2013 Access, solo installation at St Mary Aldermary, London.
2012 A Few Words In Material Nepali (solo), Patan Museum, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Recent group shows:
2024 Outpost Open Sound Rewind 2024
2021 Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer 5th Edition.
2020 You're in a computer game, Max!, skelf.org.uk
2019 Panorama #03, Galeria Fran Reus, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
2019 Happy Hour. Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London.
2019 Matter. County Hall Gallery, London.
2017 Identify your limitations, acknowledge your periphery. VITRINE, Basel.
2017 Glut Data. ASC Gallery, London.
2017 Concrete + Clay, Roaming Room, London.
2017 New Material. APT Gallery, London.
2017 Salón ACME, Zona MACO week, Mexico City.
2016 CUE COLLISION with Vivien Zhang. House of Egorn (London Lounge).
2016 OUTPOST OPEN FILM 2016. Selected by Ed Atkins. Outpost, Norwich.
2016 ICHOR. Robert Cervera, Katarina Hruskova, Alix Marie. Danielle Arnaud, London.
2016 Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition. Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen.
2016 Rare Collisions of Purpose. Boetzelaer | Nispen, Amsterdam.
2015 The things we make, make us. Sarah Bayliss, Robert Cervera & Simon Linington, Space in Between off-site at Eton College, Windsor (UK).
2015 Stuart Barnes, Robert Cervera, Tom Owen, Studio 1.1, London.
2015 Tara has no rooms inside, Unit 1, London. (View images here)
2015 Salón ACME, Zona MACO week, Mexico City.
2014 Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter (UK).
2014 For(matter), Atelier Concorde, Lisbon.
2014 Encuentros Arte Contemporáneo 2014, Museo de la Universidad de Alicante.
2014 Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London.
2014 Open 2014, Oriel Davies, Newtown (Wales).
2023 Create a Sculptural Wind Instrument. Family workshops at SPACE Ilford, London, November 2023.
2023 Pipework. Musical workshops in collaboration with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Ikon Gallery's Youth Programme, culminating in a day of performances at Ikon Gallery on April 22nd.
2023 Pipework on Slow Boat: a musical performance aboard Ikon Gallery's narrow boat, playing along Birminghams canals on Sept. 30th.
2023 Create a sculptural wind instrument. Workshops at SPACE Ilford on Nov 11th.
2022 Ye_soft_pipes/play_on, performance at Eufònic Festival 2022.
Solo and two-person shows:
2023 A constellation of conduits was channelled between us, and our distance became water,
Robert Cervera and Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Danielle Arnaud gallery, London.
2021 Invites Robert Cervera: 'To Vent', Zabludowicz Collection, London.
2020 Ye_soft_pipes/play_on, Tangent Projects, Barcelona.
2019 YES AND, MOCA London (with Peter Lamb)
2018 YES AND, Kelder Projects, London (with Peter Lamb).
2017 Tomorrow Starts Here, La Escocesa, Barcelona.
2015 Re:Pro, OK Corral, Copenhagen (with Robin Seir).
2014 Prova, Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art (with Youngju Oh).
2013 Access, solo installation at St Mary Aldermary, London.
2012 A Few Words In Material Nepali (solo), Patan Museum, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Recent group shows:
2024 Outpost Open Sound Rewind 2024
2021 Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer 5th Edition.
2020 You're in a computer game, Max!, skelf.org.uk
2019 Panorama #03, Galeria Fran Reus, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
2019 Happy Hour. Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London.
2019 Matter. County Hall Gallery, London.
2017 Identify your limitations, acknowledge your periphery. VITRINE, Basel.
2017 Glut Data. ASC Gallery, London.
2017 Concrete + Clay, Roaming Room, London.
2017 New Material. APT Gallery, London.
2017 Salón ACME, Zona MACO week, Mexico City.
2016 CUE COLLISION with Vivien Zhang. House of Egorn (London Lounge).
2016 OUTPOST OPEN FILM 2016. Selected by Ed Atkins. Outpost, Norwich.
2016 ICHOR. Robert Cervera, Katarina Hruskova, Alix Marie. Danielle Arnaud, London.
2016 Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition. Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen.
2016 Rare Collisions of Purpose. Boetzelaer | Nispen, Amsterdam.
2015 The things we make, make us. Sarah Bayliss, Robert Cervera & Simon Linington, Space in Between off-site at Eton College, Windsor (UK).
2015 Stuart Barnes, Robert Cervera, Tom Owen, Studio 1.1, London.
2015 Tara has no rooms inside, Unit 1, London. (View images here)
2015 Salón ACME, Zona MACO week, Mexico City.
2014 Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter (UK).
2014 For(matter), Atelier Concorde, Lisbon.
2014 Encuentros Arte Contemporáneo 2014, Museo de la Universidad de Alicante.
2014 Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London.
2014 Open 2014, Oriel Davies, Newtown (Wales).