Helio Santos

About

Biography
Portrait of Helio Santos rendered in dots

Helio Santos (b. 1984, Colima, Mexico) is an artist, professor and researcher whose practice joins painting, data, internet culture and emerging technologies.

Trained as a painter and digital artist, he now works with creative coding, computer vision and artificial intelligence. Landscape, natural and urban, is his main subject and his conceptual vehicle for thinking about the relations between humans, nature and machines. He treats technology as an extension of the body and intellect rather than a neutral tool.

His approach reprograms machine vision so that it contemplates instead of controls, turning surveillance and data-extraction tools into creative agents. Recent research asks how AI might build ecological awareness instead of reinforcing extractive or techno-optimistic narratives. Earlier works used bots and artificial-life systems to confront violence, disappearance and border surveillance in Mexico.

His output includes oil paintings made with custom CNC plotters and robotic drawing systems, as well as digital and on-chain works. It has been exhibited in Paris, New York, London, Lisbon, Seoul, Tokyo, Mexico City, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, Rome, Zurich, Amsterdam and Barcelona, and is held in private collections internationally.

Since 2017 he has been a full-time professor-researcher in the Visual Arts department of the Instituto Universitario de Bellas Artes, Universidad de Colima, where he leads the research group Visual Practices, Art, Territory and Community (UCOL-CA-129) and teaches the New Technologies workshop: net art, networks and public art on the internet. With the research group he organises the International Congress of Artistic Syncretism Habla el Arte, international since 2026.

Education
PhD in Humanities and Arts, ISU Universidad, in progress
MA in Digital Arts, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, 2009–2011
BA in Visual Arts, Universidad de Guadalajara, 2002–2006
Grants
Experimenta CDMX: Climate Change and Collaboration, Centro de Cultura Digital, 2019
FONCA Jóvenes Creadores, New Technologies, 2017–2018
FONCA Jóvenes Creadores, New Technologies, 2012–2013
PAPIAM, Programa de Apoyo a la Producción e Investigación en Arte y Medios, Centro Multimedia, CENART, 2012
PECDA, Programa de Estímulos a la Creación y al Desarrollo Artístico, Colima
Awards & selections
HUG 100: Artists to Watch, 2024. International selection with jurors linked to MoMA, Christie’s, artnet and The Shed
Bienal de las Fronteras, 2015. Selected artist, prize winner
Screengrab New Media Arts Award, James Cook University, Australia, 2013. Selected artist
Residencies
VCA Residency, VerticalCrypto Art, 5th cohort, 2023
Listhús Artist Residency, Ólafsfjörður, Iceland, 2016
Programa de Exploración Interdisciplinar: CMMAS, Morelia · CANTE, San Luis Potosí · La Parota, Colima, 2014
Festivals & biennials
ISEA 2012 Machine Wilderness, Albuquerque · FILE 2011, São Paulo · MIRADAS, Tijuana · Bienal de Artes Visuales de la UNAM · MOD, Guadalajara · BILIA, Mexico City · NFT Biennial, Tokyo

On-chain

NFT works

A large part of the work since 2021 lives on the blockchain, mainly on Tezos.

The main body of editions and unique works is minted on OBJKT and Teia: landscapes from Reconstructed Reality, works shown in OBJKT exhibitions such as Al aire libre (Copenhagen, 2024) and Still Wet (Berlin, 2026), and pieces from the Landscapebot and machine-painting line. Generative work such as A Hacker in the Pampas is on fxhash; Multiplexing Reality was released on Ethereum with Unit London; and a sovereign contract on Base holds work minted under the artist's own contract.

For Santos, blockchain is also a subject of research: he has written on blockchain, art and community, and on how on-chain culture changes the way art circulates and is collected.

Tezos · main
OBJKT · created works
Teia · helio_santos
Tezos · generative
fxhash
Collections
Reconstructed Reality · OBJKT
Multiplexing Reality · Unit London
Sovereign contract · Base
Writing
Blockchain, arte y comunidad, 2026

Exhibitions

Solo & group

Solo exhibitions

  • Meta-scapes
    Colonna Contemporary, Wayne, Philadelphia, USA, 2025
  • Al aire libre
    Tech Contemporary Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024. Curated by OBJKT
  • Máquina controladora del universo
    Galería Unión, Mexico City, 2022
  • p(AI)saje
    Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Querétaro, Mexico, 2021
  • La pausa al borde del bosque
    Unidad LVTN, Querétaro, Mexico, 2021
  • LandscapeBot
    Espacio Pared, Mexico, 2021
  • Islandia. Paisaje ampliado
    Museo Jorge Chávez Carrillo, Colima, Mexico, 2016
  • Norðurland
    Listhús, Ólafsfjörður, Iceland, 2016
  • El Habitante
    Museo Jorge Chávez Carrillo, Colima, Mexico, 2016
  • Biocartografías
    With Cecilia Vilca. Casa de la Cultura de Colima, Mexico, 2014
  • Panóptico
    With Cecilia Vilca. Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, 2013
  • Si ves actividad sospechosa…
    Centro Cultural Fronterizo, Mexico, 2012
  • La frontera de Texas
    Escola d'Art de Vic, Vic, Spain, 2011
  • Ruido sonidero
    Museo Regional de Historia de Colima, Mexico, 2008

Group exhibitions, biennials and festivals

2026

  • Still Wet
    Galerie Met, Berlin, Germany. Curated by Kika Nicolela and Ruizhe Liang (OBJKT)
  • BYOB mx — Bring Your Own Beamer
    Mexico City. Exhibition and drop, with Teia

2025

  • Algorítmica Íntima :: Runtime
    Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City. Curated by Emmanuel Martínez, Semántico 2.0
  • OBJKT Pop-Up Show in the Streets of NYC
    New York, USA. With Unfold Gallery, during NFT NYC. Curated by Raquel Gaudard and Kika Nicolela
  • Visual Detachment
    Fakewhale × Verse, online
  • Drifting Landscapes
    Wintercircus Arena, Ghent, Belgium

2024

  • Echoes of Life — Memories of Fragile Ecosystems
    Instituto Departamental de Bellas Artes, Cali, Colombia. Curated by Ana Aguirre and Diane Drubay
  • Screensavers
    UNCOMMON Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
  • The Path to the Present, 1954–2024
    Expanded.Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany
  • RGBMTL
    Montreal, Canada. Curated by Danielle King
  • Eutopía
    Hashtag #2, Pabellón de las Bellas Artes UCA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Curated by Gabriela Serkin
  • Artcrush
    Public screens in Belgium, Romania, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Australia. Curated by Fanny Lakoubay

2023

  • Digital Dreams
    Musée de la Mine, Bois-du-Luc, Belgium. Curated by Kika Nicolela
  • Non Fungible Conference
    Superchief Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Bad Glitches Only
    Superchief Gallery, Rome, Italy
  • NFT Biennial — Non-Binary Pavilion
    UltraSuperNew Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
  • Computational Realism
    The NFT Gallery, London and New York (VerticalCrypto Art)
  • Lapin blanc
    La Conciergerie, La Motte-Servolex, France
  • Unbound Ecology in the Machine Age
    Unit, London, UK
  • NFT Art Day ZRH
    Zurich, Switzerland. Curated by OBJKT
  • NFT.NYC 2023
    New York, USA. Curated by OBJKT
  • Multiplexing Reality
    Unit London, online release

2022

  • BILIA — Bienal Latinoamericana de Inteligencia Artificial
    Mexico City
  • Retratos de un mundo incognoscible
    Galería La Rebelde, Mexico City
  • NFTGRDN
    Casa Basalta, Mexico City
  • NonNFT Summit
    Mexico City

2021

  • Maquinaturalis II
    TopLap Factory, metaverse

2020

  • Analog to Digital
    Obition, South Korea
  • Maquinaturalis
    La Fábrica VR, TopLap, Mexico. Curated by Malitzin Cortés
  • Algorave VR
    Virtual reality performance, Mexico

2019

  • Arte y Ambiente en Concierto
    Congreso Nacional sobre Cambio Climático, Mexico
  • Sesiones Audiovisuales + Post-Amor
    ACA Arte Contemporáneo, Colima, Mexico

2018

  • Circuito Interuniversitario de Arte
    Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico
  • Creación en Movimiento
    Museo de las Identidades Leonesas, Guanajuato, Mexico
  • VII Encuentro Internacional de Artes Sonoras
    UNAM, Mexico City

2017

  • Reencuadre, códigos y modos
    Hunter College, New York, USA
  • Inclusión y diversidad
    Universidad de Colima, Mexico
  • Fronteras/Fronteras
    Instituto Cultural de México, Washington, D.C., USA

2016

  • Desde el río, el paisaje es diferente
    Funka Fest, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • Fronteras
    Instituto Cultural de México, Miami, USA
  • Bienal de Artes Visuales de la UNAM
    MUCA UNAM, Mexico City
  • EYRI
    Listhús, Ólafsfjörður, Iceland

2015

  • Bienal de las Fronteras
    Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Tamaulipas, Matamoros, Mexico. Selected artist, prize winner
  • Acción Global por Ayotzinapa
    Fenómeno 43, online. With 44

2014

  • El arte de bordear
    MAXXI, Rome, Italy
  • MOD — Festival Internacional de Arte Digital
    Guadalajara, Mexico
  • Programa de Apoyo a la Producción e Investigación en Arte y Medios
    Exhibition, CENART, Mexico City

2013

  • Creación en Movimiento
    FONCA, Cuernavaca, Mexico
  • antiAtlas des frontières
    Musée des Tapisseries, Aix-en-Provence, France. With The Texas Border, with Joana Moll
  • Portas Abertas
    Fundação Eugénio de Almeida, Évora, Portugal
  • Screengrab New Media Arts Award
    James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. With Bioapp

2012

  • ISEA 2012 — Machine Wilderness
    Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, USA. With The Texas Border, with Joana Moll
  • MIRADAS — 5ª Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales
    Tijuana, Mexico

2011

  • Arte 40
    Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City
  • FILE 2011
    Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica, São Paulo, Brazil. With The Texas Border, with Joana Moll
  • Checkpoints
    Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, Ithaca, USA
  • Lexías
    Fundación Telefónica, Lima, Peru

2010

  • TV/ARTS/TV
    Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain

Texts

Writing & press

By the artist

  • Blockchain, arte y comunidad
    Revista Interpretatio, 2026
  • Paisajes pintados por máquinas
    Column, Ciencia y futuro, El Comentario, Universidad de Colima, 18 August 2026
  • Paisajes pintados por máquinas
    Talk, Semántico 2.0. Inteligencias No Humanas – Otras Inteligencias, UNAM, Mexico City, 2025

On the work

Interviews & features