Edgar Endress

Edgar Endress (born 1970) is a Chilean-American multimedia artist and academic whose work explores themes of migration, political participation, and collective action through video, performance, and public art. Based in the United States since 1999, he is known for participatory projects that engage audiences in social and political contexts. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and the Library of Congress. He is a professor of art at George Mason University.

Early life Born in Osorno, Chile, in 1970, Endress lived through some of the most significant political changes in the country's history. His birth year marked Chile's transition from democracy to Socialism under democratically elected Salvador Allende. Endress's formative years were therefore spent under a repressive regime that would not return to democracy—with freedom of speech and artistic expression—until he reached adulthood in 1990. Endress witnessed and experienced the effects of this repressive regime firsthand. His father, a teacher, was imprisoned for five days after refusing to leave the schoolhouse to cheer for Pinochet's troops as they marched through their hometown. These formative experiences influenced Endress's later practice, which emphasizes collaborative public art and employs context-dependent media that combines artistic expression with social engagement. he shifted his focus and pursued the arts. In 1998, Endress graduated from the Institute of Art and Communication (Artes de las Comunicaciones - ACROS) in Santiago, Chile, with the equivalent of a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Audio-Visual Communication.

In the 1990s, Endress participated in multiple iterations of the Art Biennale for Video and Electronic Art in Santiago, Chile where he was able to work closely with the director Nestor Olhagaray. From 1996 to 2001 he participated in multiple festivals where he received various awards. In 2002, he received an Artist-in-Residence fellowship from the C.I.C.V. in Herimoncourt, France. In 2003, he was a lecturer at Mercer County Community College. The following year he worked as an artist in residence at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany where he was funded by a fellowship and organized a symposium in 2005 as coordinator of the academy. He has continued at George Mason University (GMU) since 2004 where he is currently a full professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) as well as a practicing artist.

Endress explores engaging viewers in both traditional and unconventional avenues for art. Many of his works incorporate elements of play and interaction as they explore the relationship between materials, stories, and experiences. He employs mixed media where the product used to create the work become a critical element of the message for the work itself.

His performance works are well documented in books and journals and his works can be seen at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

Public art projects Endress specializes in Public Art projects in addition to his multidisciplinary practice. in Virginia, U.S., ASCHOY (Asociacion Chojcha de la Hoyada) in La Paz, Bolivia, Bon Dieu Bon in the Virgin Islands, U.S., and the Icebox Collective in Maryland, U.S.

His public art projects with groups like the Floating Lab Collective, link his interest in public art with his desire to pursue non traditional avenues to present art. A good example of his approach to "impure" art - public events, demonstrations, happenings - is the public piece, Scream at the Economy. This was one of many works around the White House and his role as an immigrant in the Washington D.C. metro area. Another piece that garnered international attention was Protesting on Demand - Mexico/DC. Originally produced in D.C., Protesting on Demand, was tailored for the TransitionMX International Electronic and Video Arts Festival in Mexico under Grace Quintanilla. In this iteration, Sean Watkins and other local Floating Lab Collective collaborators stood in front of the White House in Washington D.C.and captured/shared protests by passersby while Irene Clouthier and Endress mirrored the experience in Mexico in front of the National Palace (Palacio Nacional), the equivalent housing for the president in Mexico. The two public art experiences were then collectively shown via live feed at the Alameda Art Laboratory (Laboratorio Arte Alameda). 2002 C.I.C.V. (Le Centre International de Création Vidéo) Artist in Residence Fellowship, Herimoncourt, France 2003 Grant from Fondart (National Fund for the Development of Culture and the Arts), Santiago, Chile 2006 Virgin Islands Council on the Arts (USVI) for the Transfer Project- Part 1, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 2017 Rankin Scholar in Residence at Drexel University, Pennsylvania, U.S. 2018 La Maison Dora Maar Artist in Residence Fellowship, Ménerbes, France His projects often examine the relationship between individual agency and collective action, particularly in politically charged contexts. Scholars have also noted the influence of Latin American experimental media traditions in his use of video and performance.