David Medalla The Philippines, 1942-2020

David Medalla (1938–2020, Manila) was a pioneering Filipino-born artist whose practice encompassed performance, installation, kinetic sculpture, and participatory art. He moved across Manila, New York, London, Paris, and Berlin, connecting avant-garde communities worldwide.

He gained prominence in the 1960s with his kinetic Cloud Canyons bubble machines, which became icons of ephemeral, participatory art. His relational piece A Stitch in Time invited collective involvement, transforming everyday acts into poetic and political gestures.

Medalla also founded Signals Gallery in London (1964), a hub for experimental international artists, and later the London Biennale, continuing his role as a catalyst for collaborative and socially engaged art. Throughout his career, Medalla challenged institutional conventions and embraced activism, collaboration, and play, leaving a profound legacy within kinetic and participatory art. His works remain part of major museum collections worldwide.

Selected Exhibitions

2024 – In Conversation with the Cosmos, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Hammer Museum, LA

2021–2022 – Parables of Friendship, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn; Museion, Bolzano

2018 – A Stitch in Time, Southbank Centre, London

2017 – Locus Solus. Omaggio ad Arthur Rimbaud, Galleria Enrico Astuni

2016 – How Art Became Active: 1960 to Now, Tate Modern, London

2012 – Migrations, Tate Britain, London

2010 – The Mondrian Fan Club, Baró Galeria, Sāo Paulo

1998–1999 – Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949–1979, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; MAK, Vienna; MCAT 

1989 – The Other Story, Hayward Gallery, London

1972 – Documenta 5, Kassel

1969 – When Attitudes Become Form, Kunsthalle Bern

Collections

– Tate, London

– Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

– Museo Tamayo, Mexico City

– Centre Pompidou, Paris

– New Museum, New York