Esther Moñivas is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in the Complutense University of Madrid.
Her research deals with the relationship between art, science and technology. She analyzes the operative-imaginative dimension of new media and materials, and is specialist in water. She documents the processes of current artistic practices using transdisciplinary methodologies and develops theoretical-practical research from the perspectives of New Materialisms and Critical Heritage Studies. She received her Ph.D. (Summa cum Laude) in 2011 for her doctoral dissertation "Presencias hídricas en el arte contemporáneo. Una perspectiva desde la semántica material" ("Water presences in contemporary art. A material semantic approach"). Since then, she has has been part of diverse research and artistic projects related to water, including academic publications, exhibitions, courses and conferences. As curator she collaborated with Victoria Vesna in the exhibition "The 4th State of Water. From Micro to Macro". She has also curated the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum online resource "Water Images", and the exhibition "H2O: emergencies" in Complutense University of Madrid (also held at waterbodies.org). She is part of the artistic collective Water Tissues with Eva Lootz and June Papineau, and participates in diverse projects with performative and intermedia pieces.
Publications related to water (selection):
MOÑIVAS, Esther. “Water, Women and Action Art in Latin America. Materializing Ecofeminist Epistemologies” in: BLACKMORE, Lisa y GÓMEZ, Liliana (Eds.). Liquid Ecologies in Latin American and Caribbean Art. Nueva York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2020, pp. 127-143. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367199005
MOÑIVAS, Esther. “Camino líquido” in: LINARES AGUILAR, Mauricio Alfredo. Imaginando el agua. [Cat.]. Roma: IILA Organización Internacional Ítalo Latinoamericano, 2018, pp. 3-4. XXXV Firenze Reward (2017) in visual arts.
MOÑIVAS, Esther. “Observing from inside the drift. The studio as a flow condenser” in: KIRSCHNER, Roman (Ed.). Raw Flows: Fluid Mattering in Arts and Research. Viena: De Gruyter, 2017, pp. 108-123. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110525991-009/html
MOÑIVAS, Esther. H2O:Emergencias [Exhibition]. Complutense University of Madrid, 2013. https://extensionbellasartes.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/h2o-emergencias/
MOÑIVAS, Esther. “Agua y arte contemporáneo. Mirar (y crear) a través de esferas de agua”. La Esfera del agua. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Vicepresidencia Adjunta de Cultura científica y Aqualogy, 2013. http://www.esferadelagua.es/agua-y-sociedad/agua-y-arte-contemporaneo-mi...
MOÑIVAS, Esther. “Changes of State and Material Imagination in Contemporary Art” in: VESNA, Victoria; DENEGRI, Dobrila (Eds.). The Fourth State of Water. From Micro to Macro / Czwarty Stan Skupienia Wody. Od Mikro do Makro. Torun: Centrum Sztuki Wspólczesnej Znaki Czasu, 2012, pp. 23-32. [Online] URL http://victoriavesna.com/ebooks/4th_State_Catalog/4th_state_catalog.html...
MOÑIVAS, Esther. “Narrativas fluidas. El agua como presencia material en las artes plásticas contemporáneas” in: Universitat de Barcelona, Granada: Editorial Atrio, 2012, pp. 249-263. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7069597
Conferences and courses related to water (selection):
“Liquid interactions”. [International conference with PhD. Roman Kirschner, Zurich University of the Arts]. Fine Arts Faculty, La Laguna University, 04/03/2021.
“Water, Women and Action Art in Latin America. Eco-epistemologies Regarding Memory and Fluidity”. Universität Zürich y University of Essex. Visual Culture Studies Section Pre-LASA (Latin American Studies Association) International Workshop Liquid Ecologies in the Arts: Fluidities and Counterflows in Latin America and the Caribbean. Barcelona University, 22/05/2018.
“Imaginar el agua: recorridos desde el arte contemporáneo”. Pontificia of Salamanca University (UPSAM), 04/03/2015.
“Licuar la historia del arte”. Barcelona University, 25/02/2015.
"Building water". Master of Art and Science, Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien, Viena, 27/05/2014. https://www.dieangewandte.at/jart/prj3/art_science/main.jart?rel=de&rese...
“H2O: emergencies” in: FUKS, Suzon (et al.) (Eds.). Water Views: Caring and Daring – Waterwheel World Water Day Symposium 2014 – 3WDS14. Queensland, Australia: Igneous Incorporated, 2015, pp. 146-153. [Online] DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1552.6567. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277952878_Water_Views_Caring_an...
“Flux, Morphing, and Memory. Paradoxes from a Material History of the Impermanent in Contemporary Art”. International Symposium Flows (Un)bound: Fluid Materials in Artistic and Scientific Practices. Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien, Vienna, 27/09/2013 – 28/09/2013.
Presentation of projects related to water (Round Table). Complutense University of Madrid, 8/11/2013.
“Water as an artistic material”. Complutense University of Madrid, 21/05/2013.
“Material/Inmaterial. Una memoria en proceso”. Simposio Archivos y Fondos Documentales para el Arte Contemporáneo. Museo Vostell Malpartida, Universidad de Extremadura y Comité Español de Historia del Arte (CEHA).
Tutorization of Doctoral Thesis related to water:
LINARES AGUILAR, Mauricio Alfredo. “La imaginación social y la representación visual del agua en Mesoamérica”. Complutense University of Madrid, Faculty of Fine Arts.
DURÁN GONZÁLEZ, Clara, “La relación del ser humano con el agua a través de la piscina fluvial. Un estudio fotopoético fundamentado en la imaginación material”. Complutense University of Madrid, Faculty of Fine Arts.
