Javier Téllez was born in 1969 in Valencia, Venezuela. He currently lives in New York and Berlin and has established his reputation through involvement in leading international group exhibitions such as, most recently, documenta 13 (2012). The exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich is his first solo show at a major institution in Switzerland and is a joint project with S.M.A.K. in Ghent. In his videos and video installations, Javier Téllez focuses on people who typically inhabit the margins of society. He addresses issues of normality and otherness, often working with untrained actors such as patients from psychiatric clinics. In his work, he is concerned at once with questioning the concept of the 'stranger' or 'other' and reflecting on the medium of film and its place in art and film history.
