𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩-𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳, 2026.
Materials: audio samples (“You can’t sit here” from Forrest Gump; “You can’t sit with us” from Mean Girls), beacon light, 1/4-inch audio tape, reel-to-reel players, microphones, plastic, wood, steel, casters, shaft collars, and brass.
Dimensions: 60 x 38 x 5 ft.
About the work.
𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩-𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 is a sound and light installation that explores the unstable duality of belonging in a context that is simultaneously invitational and exclusionary. Two expansive audio loops move through the space, limiting access to the central structure while activating a beacon light each time a recording is heard.
The work centers on restriction: sound, color, and light continuously suggest entry into a space that remains restricted. The stands guiding the tape establish a physical separation, while also reflecting both the surrounding illumination and the viewer’s presence.
This installation was created during the Sound Art and Experimental Music residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in the spring of 2026. I would like to thank the Bemis team for making this work possible, especially Matthew O’Reilly for his expertise in fabrication, and Pacos Auto Body Repair for their help.
Video documentation by Aaron Zavitz and Mauricio López F.
Color correction by Justin Jinsoo Kim.
Thanks to Veronica Gaona and Justin Jinsoo Kim.
Photos by Rio Chantel O’Reilly.
𝘌𝘴𝘰 𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘶𝘯 𝘯𝘰, 𝘢𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯 𝘴í / 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 2026.
Materials: Red crayons, red markers, audio recording, wood, casters, metal, and loudspeaker.
Wood assistance by Liang Yu Huang.
Dimensions: Moving artifact, 51 x 24 x 24 in. Wall artifact, 40 x 3 x 14 in. Ceiling artifact:
40 x 20 x 16 in. (made by Pros Arts).
About the work.
Interactive Installation that emerged from an invitation by Denny Mwaura, for what became the exhibition Imagination Doctors at Gallery 400 from the University of Illinois Chicago. The exhibition celebrates Pros Arts Ensemble, who, founded in 1978 in Pilsen, revolutionized Chicago’s art and education scene through free, community-based workshops and performances.
From the very beginning, this project involved a series of entanglements around everything I was learning through Pros Arts, along with unlocking different events in my life that, in one way or another, were connected to a sense of freedom—not necessarily directional—in the act of creating. Through this process, memories surfaced of moments when my parents would let us draw freely on the walls of our home when we were about to move.
Out of this came the intention to create drawing artifacts that invite action beyond the final outcome, where individual effort could be reflected as a collective one. I was also interested in the permanence of activation. For this reason, an aerophone—lent by Pros Arts themselves—was altered so that the sound of the act of drawing is reproduced through it, regardless of whether that action is actually taking place.
Reviews.
“(…) Mauricio López F.’s “Eso que era una no, ahora es un sí/ What used to be a no is now a yes” combines wood, crayons and markers to create two interactive sculptures and invites viewers to use them to draw on the walls. Above the viewer’s head hangs an aluminum kazoozaphone that implements López’s signature sound application to duplicate and enhance the scritch-scratch of the drawing tools. The result is an undeniably joyful interaction with the work, a true reminder that some learned rules should be teased apart for the sake of experimentation. The act of touching the sculpture, writing on the walls in bright red markers and crayons, interrogates the infrastructure of the gallery while supporting the limitless imagination.“
Ally Fouts (Newcity) read the full review here.
“(…) The work allows viewers to literally draw on the walls, transforming a segment of the room through this durational, participatory act. Three components make up the piece. Two of them are mobile drawing appliances, one on wheels and the other handheld, each with protruding red crayons. The last is an industrial looking sculpture—a kazoozaphone—that hangs from the ceiling and emits a scratching noise that replicates the sonic element of a good doodle. Together, the jury-rigged sculptural triptych is a journey back down childhood lane. It combines joyful bliss with radical defiance, bending the rules through the establishment of a new creative freedom.”
Lucas Gómez-Doyle (The Latinx Project) read the full review here.
𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢 / 𝘓𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯, 2026.
Materials: Modified microphone, weaving, audio recording, amplification system, loudspeakers, and wood.
Weaving assistance by Sage Shu Tzu Lin.
Dimensions: 10 x 10 x 26 in.
About the work.
A disarticulated podium where, instead of amplifying your voice, you sense one coming from the microphone. Without intelligible words, we can hear a mouth trying to articulate speech but failing to do so. Likewise, we perceive sounds coming from inside the podium, tapping like when a microphone is being tested. This work offers an intimate glimpse into the struggle of finding the right words, sometimes leading to saying the wrong thing or nothing at all. The flame motifs symbolize the pressure and anxiety of these moments, which feel eternal but are usually brief. The constant interruption of the threads in a weaving resembles the confusion of mismatched languages, which, in addition to its underlying structure, always carries visual information that can disrupt the grid.
This piece was exhibited in the group exhibition “Us Three One,” a collaboration between Hongik University College of Fine Arts, Musashino Art University, and SAIC, at Kobun Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. Curated by Fia Kim.
𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴, 2025.
Materials: Copper pipes.
Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 4 ft.
About the work.
Gargantas is an installation composed of three copper structures that sprout from the floor of the water fountain at the sunken garden at 40-50 W Schiller. The piece was conceived with the intention of creating an imaginary extension of the disregarded pipe rooms within an inhabited building, slipping into the central point of this complex. As its title suggests, Throats in English, they function simultaneously as an inlet and an outlet, emerging with the purpose of allowing these underground lines to interact within a new scenario.
This piece was shown in Sunken Garden, part of the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change organized by Alexis de Chaunac and Brooke Hummer. The exhibition takes place in the courtyard of a 1922 Andrew Rebori–designed building in Chicago and explores the poetic and political significance of a “sunken garden” as both a refuge and a metaphor.
Photos by Brook Hummer.
Video documentation by Sage Shu Tzu Lin and Mauricio López F.
𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 2025.
About the work.
Wind Reenactment, my first solo exhibition, was presented in June 2025 as part of Comfort Station’s annual open call in Chicago, USA. All of the works were created between February and June of that year.
Exhibition statement.
Possession is an impulse that quickly settles into control. Inevitably, what is not understood is captured, examined, and when it presents some exploitable quality, it becomes a tool, a possibility. Wind is a strongly romanticized element, allowing heroism to be injected into moments that might otherwise seem tasteless. At the same time, its manifestation has a revealing quality. It dusts off what is latent and shows us that our environment is not pristine—that there is the precarious, the hidden, the forgettable, the unfixed. This duality forces its will upon us; we cannot stop it—it is there whether for our convenience or not. We can try to simulate it in forced controlled conditions, but it is well known that that’s not wind.
The exhibition consists of three exemplary objects— Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3. Each one aims to recreate, with different processes and materiality, the tensions between misinformation and the drive to capture.
Photos by María Burundarena.
Video documentation for Fig. 1 and 2 by Mauricio López F.
Video documentation for Reencarnación del viento by Elijah Valter.
Fig. 1
Materials: Handrail, mechanism, miniature flag, and toggle switch.
Dimensiones: 45.67 x 3.54 x 48.82 in.
Fig. 2
Materials: Case, loudspeaker, audio recording, acrylic, cement, miniature flag, and toggle switch.
Dimensions: 13.78 x 24.41 x 16.14 in.
Fig. 3
Materials: Photograph, printed flag, flagpole, wood, acrylic, and toggle switch.
Dimensions: 59.06 x 43.31 x 1.97 in.
Unlisted
Materials: Cement, concrete, and metal.
Dimension: 2 x 2 x 2 in.
Set of six pieces.
Reencarnación del viento (performances)
In the context of the exhibition Wind reenactment, Reencarnación del viento was an activation that shifted the focus from objects to the body. In dialogue with the works on view, the collectives Polvos Rojos (Gabriela Estrada Loochkartt and Pablo Lazala Ruiz) and Ppppaaarrrkkkk 公. 園 pppaaarrrquuuE (Sage [Shu Tzu] Lin and Alejandra Ramos) presented two new performances.
Reviews and essays.
“Recently at Comfort Station he presented “Wind Reenactment,” a solo show that utterly, magnificently, hilariously fails to do what it titularly claims. This is not because López F. was unsuccessful at building machines in the service of his goals, but because faking the wind is a ludicrous proposition (…)“
Lori Waxman (Chicago Reader) read the full review here.
“(…) Wind Reenactment carries power dynamics that surface gradually through its conceptual syntax. The work stages stark, often satirical responses to heightened and miniature conditions. It suggests that agency is entangled with an awareness of proportion-sometimes deeply out of balance-and that action may reside just as much in symbolic observation as in decisive intervention”.
Noé Cuéllar (Future Vessel) read the full essay here.
𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪é𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘢ñ𝘢𝘯𝘢 / 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸, 2025.
Materials: Traffic cones, work zone, safe zone, movement mechanisms, concrete, glass, metal, and wood.
Dimensions (each cone): 25 x 17 x 17 in.
Movement zone: 8 x 8 ft. variable.
About the work.
During February and March 2025, I presented two of my works at the SAIC galleries as part of the Graduate Exhibition. As a thesis presentation, this show represents the most significant body of work I have produced in recent months.
The exhibited artworks were: “También tienes que venir mañana / You also need to come tomorrow”, a kinetic installation in which six moving traffic cones seek to complicate the boundaries between a safe and a dangerous zone, pushing us to interact with it in a constantly unbalanced space. Likewise, the continuous motion of the cones absurdly reflects the perpetuity of labor, a sequence of actions that only demand to be performed and not questioned. And “60625”, a sound sculpture that recreates the sonic environment of my residential building. Constructed using found objects and sounds, this assemblage allows sound to traverse from one point to another, penetrating thin walls and erasing any sense of privacy for the residents.
I want to thank everyone who was part of the different stages of development of these works: Camila López, Dan Miller, Ellen Rothenberg, Juan Angel Chavez, Lou Mallozzi, Lori Waxman, Maria Gaspar, Nic Collins, Oliver Y. Shao, Pascale Larré, Robb Drinkwater, Shawn Decker, Tirtza Even, Whitney Johnson, and Yoko Lee.
This project was supported in part by a grant from The Mitchell Foundation, administered through Art and Technology / Sound Practices at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Video and photo documentation by A. Piriyapokanon and Mauricio López F.
This exhibition was featured by Six Inches from Center through the animated comic “El Sonido es mi Brújula” created by artist Carlos Matallana, which reenacts a conversation we had during the show. Click here to read the full article.
Ars Electronica - PANIC - yes/no (2025)
This installation was presented in a new format at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, as part of the edition “PANIC – yes/no.”. The exhibition was curated by Benedetta Minardi and presented at the University of Art and Design Linz. This project was supported, in part, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant and the Art and Technology / Sound Practices department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Photos by Steffen Reichter.
During the last day of the exhibition, the piece was installed in the main square of Linz (Hauptplatz), generating new interactions in public space. This was carried out with the help and support of Kika Echeverría and Carlos Sfeir.
Video documentation by Carlos Sfeir and Mauricio López F.
𝟨𝟢𝟨𝟤𝟧, 2024.
Materials: Recordings of an inhabited apartment, amplifications system, loudspeakers, card catalog drawers, stool, steel pipes, and steel sheet.
Dimensions: 24 x 24 x 75.5 in.
Duration: 12 min.
About the work.
Soon after our arrival from Santiago de Chile to Chicago, USA, we were struck by the sounds of one of the two apartments that accepted our papers. Everything in it creaked; sounds traveled and filtered through the enclosure, giving us intimate information about our neighbors, whether we wanted it or not. Our behavior was influenced by the space, leading to various interactions, both rhythmic and narrative. Although we live in the same structure and share the same walls, our stories are unique, and how we catalogue our lives are different.
During 2025, 60625 has been presented at SAIC Galleries, Expo Chicago 2025, and at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of SITE Gallery curated by Matthew Cortez, and was presented in 2026 at the Arts Club of Chicago.
Video and photo documentation by A. Piriyapokanon and Mauricio López F. Except EXPO Chicago (Eugene Tang), SITE gallery (Mikey Mosher) and Arts Club of Chicago (Michael Tropea).
𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤, 2025-XXXX.
Materials: “Realistic” loudspeaker box, photograph, and a Chilean 10 pesos coin.
Dimensions: 3.74 x 2.95 x 3.54 in.
About the work.
Blending photography with found objects, this series of works seeks to tensions the relationship between the selfishness of the flash and the fixed physicality of an object. “Realistic” forms part of an ongoing series of micro-artifacts that explore the physical manifestation of urban spaces and how enclosure reshapes experiential encounters.
𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘫𝘢𝘴, 2024-XXXX.
About the work.
“Esponjas” is a live, cooperative installation and performance that relies on the active involvement of both the audience and the space. Three portable recorders are used during the piece: one is handed to the audience so they can record whatever they wish, another is used by the performer to capture sounds in the space that are perceived as interesting, and a third continuously records everything from the beginning of the performance. A graphic score device is used to create a visual structure of the room. All recorded sounds are then collected and individually assigned to separate speakers, which are distributed throughout the space—leading to the alteration of the environment and the people around us through unconventional listening procedures.
Photos by Maya Nguyen.
Video documentation at Elastic arts by Mauricio López F.
Video documentation at ION Gallery by Kyriakos Apostolidis.
Live at / En vivo en Elastic Arts, Chicago, IL, USA.
Live at / En vivo en ION Gallery, Kansas City, MO, USA.
𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘶é𝘴 𝘥𝘦 𝘮í / 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 2024.
About the work.
The piece was built around the historical relationship between repetition and spirituality, where various call-and-response strategies create an intriguing duality between collectivity and hierarchy. In this way, all attendees received the graphic score before the performance, with no further explanation, allowing both the title and the graphic linearity to guide the interactivity. In this context, the graphic score became a device for activating the complex cultural heritage of repetition in an unknown live setting.
Live at the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL, USA.
𝘊𝘢𝘻𝘢𝘥𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘴 / 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴, 2024.
About the work.
This piece depict the moments after being unjustly struck by something: a knife, a tooth, or an insult. All of this spills onto a piano that “plays by itself,” seeming to struggle for autonomy, when in reality, it’s being more controlled than ever. For that, I used a mixed technique of sending and returning MIDI signals, blending organic ideas played on the piano and then digitized, in contrast with completely quantized elements coming from the MIDI to the instrument. This concert was curated by Sam Anthem and hosted by The School of the Arts Institute of Chicago and Experimental Sound Studio.
𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦, 2024.
About the work.
This object is created for the subjective measurement of how sound—and the physical components related to it—are reacting in a specific space. The goal is to generate a visual comparison based on the acoustic perception of what is being measured and the creative objectives that are being addressed. Therefore, this tool will allow for a graphical observation of how these elements behave. It can be used both by artists working with sound and by anyone who simply enjoy this type of experience.
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘯, 2024.
About the work.
This project originated in the class “Sound, Performance, and Land” by Whitney Johnson and Raven Chacon at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The research focused on the space of the Lincoln Park Conservatory, where various activations took place. In this context, together with Liz Flood and Sam Anthem, we developed a framework titled “How to Pop a Balloon,” which unfolded in different formats.
First, through a series of performances at the {Re}HAPPENING festival of Black Mountain College in North Carolina and Chicago. It also took the form of a spatial audio installation in the Florasonic system, curated by Experimental Sound Studio, at the Lincoln Square Conservatory. Finally, an edited vinyl piece was created under the album title “In Relation to Ferns.”
“In relation to Ferns” audio track:
𝘚𝘰𝘣𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘴 / 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 2023.
About the work.
This piece was born as an attempt to materialize a situation we witnessed on a bus in Chicago. In this context, the clash of different languages and the confusion of translation gave rise to an uncomfortable yet flavorful scene. The initial sketches took the form of precarious notes to capture what was observed, then it was translated into sound. To achieve this, I used a percussive treatment of the guitar based on the resonance of its open strings. I altered these by creating two groups of tunings (each consisting of 3 consecutive strings) in such a way that these would vibrate according to the part of the body that has been hit. On the other hand, the recited voice plays a game of question and answer with an automated translation. This robotic attempt aims to exemplify everything that is lost when translating ideas from the native language to acquired ones. The graphic score arises as a result of some guiding drawings I made during the composition process, and with the idea of not wasting any material, it seemed like a good opportunity to open up its interpretation. Thanks to Sarah Lutkenhaus, who not only helped me with the best strategies for illustrating my ideas but also with the layout of the score.
Live at High Concept Labs , Chicago, IL, USA.
𝘏𝘪𝘮𝘯𝘰, 2022-XXXX.
About the work.
Himno is a series of electroacoustic performances where the performer’s body merges with the monochord, intertwining the relationship between sound sources and expectations. The instrument undergoes various acoustic, physical, and digital interventions, generating intriguing conversations between material, resonances, and processes. Each performance is unique, exploring different expressive possibilities of this relationship through improvisation.
Live at Asian Improv aRts Midwest, Chicago, IL, USA.
Live at Carmen Studio, Santiago, RM, Chile.
𝘈𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙: 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘢 19, 2022.
About the work.
ANDER is a multimedia exhibition designed by José Délano and curated by Juan José Santos that portrays two emblematic spaces of the Chilean underground culture of the eighties. These places were key to artistic and recreational development in times of dictatorship. This exhibition was praised by critics on the Artforum.com site and on prominent chilean platforms such as Artishockrevista.com.
In this project I was in charge of the technical implementation of sound and image. Due to the hybrid nature of the exhibition, we had to use different devices to achieve the expected result. There are a total of 25 raspberry pi that are connected to projectors, CRT TVs and LCD screens. For the sound, we use headphones and build 6 custom-made directional speakers that hang from the ceiling. This allowed us to generate different acoustic atmospheres, reminiscent of the ambient sounds of the bohemian spaces of that time.
The exhibition was held at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Chile and Matucana 100.
