'(situational awareness)': a Solo Exhibition by Professor Rirkrit Tiravanija at Pilar Corrias
Rirkrit Tiravanija, Professor of Professional Practice in the Visual Arts program, presents (situational awareness) at Pilar Corrias, his fifth solo exhibition with the London-based gallery. The show features oil paintings and a performance component that explores labor, craft, and production within Britain’s military history—a relevance that extends to Savile Row, the grounds the gallery is situated on.
Tiravanija paints landscapes and seascapes over a newspaper canvas—specifically, the Financial Times coverage of the Iran War. The terrains span Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America and depict significant battle sites of the British Empire; these are sites of both victories and defeats that shaped the expansion, consolidation, and eventual decline of imperial power. Alongside these paintings, a practicing tailor deconstructs and reassembles nineteenth-century military jackets. This deepens the exhibit’s engagement with history of place as the gallery’s site is historically associated with Gieves & Hawkes, a renowned tailoring house that supplied uniforms to the British armed forces.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tiravanija is a leading figure in relational art and is widely recognized as one of the most influential artists of his generation. His solo exhibitions have been hosted by many of the world's leading art institutions, including Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2026); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2024); MoMA PS1, New York (2023); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2021); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (2019); and National Gallery of Singapore (2018), among many others. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions and biennials around the world, including Qatar National Pavilion at Venice Biennale (2026); Shanghai Biennale (2025); Helsinki Biennial (2021); Sharjah Biennial (2007, 2015); and Venice Biennale (2015, 2011, 2009, 2003, 1993). Tiravanija's many scholarships and awards include the Absolut Art Award (2010), the Silpathorn Award from the Thai Ministry of Culture (2017), the Hugo Boss Prize (2004), and the Lucelia Artist Award from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (2003).
Tiravanija’s work has earned numerous awards, including the Benesse Prize from the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum in Japan, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lucelia Artist Award, the Hugo Boss Prize from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (2004), and the 2010 Absolut Art Award.
In addition to his role at Columbia University, Tiravanija is a founding member and curator of Utopia Station, a collective project of artists, art historians, and curators. He is also President of an educational-ecological project known as The Land Foundation, located in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and is part of a collective alternative space called VER, located in Bangkok, where he maintains his primary residence and studio. (situational awareness) will be on exhibition from October 9 to November 14, 2026.