Artist Talk: José Oliva

José Oliva will reflect on the methodologies behind his collaborative, research-led art practice, tracing recent projects that investigate migrant economies and outsourced labour dependency. He will explore participation as knowledge exchange, and what it means to make work through dialogue and negotiation rather than fixed outcomes, raising questions of authorship, ethics, labour, and unionisation—and returning to an ongoing question: how do we sustain relationships after the funding ends?

José Oliva is a Venezuelan artist living and working in London. His practice focuses on outsourcing systems of labour, migrant economies, and the hierarchies that sculpt everyday urban life, interrogating how these structures are experienced, negotiated, and reproduced within shared spaces. He works through long-term collaborations that prioritise co-authorship and ongoing relationships, shaping how the work is made, shown, and circulated. His projects often unfold through enacted social exchanges or site-responsive provocations, taking the form of performances, drawings, sculptures, and public interventions.

Recent solo exhibitions and commissions include As Long As It Yields (TimeSpan), Welcome isn’t a Doormat (Metal Culture), Tonada de Galopeo (Abra, Venezuela), I’m listening to what you’re not saying, and it’s very loud (V&A), Out of Hours (Lancaster Arts), and How May I Serve You? (Axisweb, ACE and SET Studios), alongside residencies at Gasworks, Casa Wabi, Hospitalfield, Forgan Art Centre and SOMA. His awards include the UK Ibero-American Visual Art Prize (2021), the Augustus Martin Prize (2020), and Image of the Year, awarded by Bozar, Brussels (2020). Oliva completed an MA at the Royal College of Art in 2020 and a BA in Fine Arts in Madrid in 2017. He is currently a lecturer at Central Saint Martins and Ravensbourne University London.

Presented as part of the Laboratory for Civic Arts Research (LCAR). LCAR is an AHRC IAA-funded programme to nurture alternative modes of civic impact through creative practices and artist public spaces. It is an engagement and impact partnership across Ulster University, Queens University Belfast, and University of Glasgow. It supports facilitators and researchers who want to support and grow meaningful engagement with the public through creativity and the arts.

LCAR is curated by Dr Viviana Checchia and is coordinated by Void Art Centre, Derry.

The programme was first devised and led by Dr Viviana Checchia, with Casi Dylan, Professor Dominic Paterson, and Dr Kevin Leomo (University of Glasgow). The programme builds upon a successful pilot, supported by Thinking Culture / Collaborations & Cultural Activities Committee, School of Culture & Creative Arts.

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