Whitechapel Gallery presents Archaeology of Memory (Arqueología de la Memoria), a major new commission by Gabriel Chaile — his first London institutional solo exhibition. The presentation follows Chaile’s shortlisting for the Fourth Plinth (2024) and his acclaimed exhibition at Studio Voltaire (2023), marking a significant moment in the artist’s growing international profile.
Chaile’s practice draws deeply on the cultural traditions of north-west Argentina, where he was born. Working primarily with Adobe clay mixed with local organic materials, he creates anthropomorphic sculptures that reinterpret indigenous architectural and ceremonial forms at a monumental scale. Acting as both storyteller and anthropologist, Chaile describes his approach as a study of the “genealogy of form”: the way certain shapes and motifs recur across time, absorbing new meaning as they pass through different cultures and histories. His sculptures often return to a familiar cast of figures, serving as vessels for memory, ancestry and communal knowledge.
For Whitechapel Gallery, Chaile develops a site-specific installation rooted in the layered histories of London’s East End. Drawing on his long-standing interest in collecting ceramics and everyday objects, the artist will source decorative and functional items from the neighbourhood surrounding the gallery. These locally found objects will be housed within a group of newly made adobe sculptures that operate as both containers and guardians — a sculptural arrangement that evokes the atmosphere of an archaeological dig.
The contrast is deliberate: ancient, organic forms holding objects shaped by migration, trade and everyday use. Together, they create an intimate encounter between cultures, geographies and personal histories. As Chaile has noted, his collecting began with Portuguese ceramics found in street markets — objects that carried visible traces of movement and displacement. Over time, this expanded into what he describes as a “migrant collection”, where the journeys of objects mirror the journeys of people.
Archaeology of Memory extends this thinking into an immersive environment, one seeded with overlapping histories and modes of living. While grounded in material presence, the work unfolds conceptually — inviting audiences to navigate questions of identity, migration and belonging through the slow, attentive lens of archaeology.
A fully illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition, published in May 2026, featuring a newly commissioned text by Manuela Moscoso and an in-depth interview with the artist.
Gabriel Chaile: Archaeology of Memory, 1st April – 6th September 2026, Whitechapel Gallery
About the artist
Gabriel Chaile (b.1985, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina) has exhibited extensively around the world. His large-scale public work The Wind Blows Where It Wishes was presented on the High Line in New York in 2023. Chaile’s work was included in the Venice Biennale and the Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2022 and the New Museum Triennial in 2021. His work has been the subject of solo presentations at the Fundación Cervieri Monsuárez, José Ignacio (2025); La Tabakalera, San Sebastián, (2024); Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley (2024); Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2022); the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (2017); Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires (2014); Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires (2015); and Nuevo Museo Energía de Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires (2011).
He has been featured in group exhibitions at Guggenheim, Bilbao (2025); Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah (2025); Malba Puertos, Buenos Aires (2025); Madragoa, Lisbon (2025); the 14th Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre (2025); MARCO, Buenos Aires (2024); C3A – Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba (2023); BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts, Lisbon (2023); Temporary Gallery, Cologne (2023); FORMA, Paris (2023); Fondation Thalie, Brussels (2021); the New Museum, New York (2021); Galeria Municipal, Porto (2021); Plural Nodo Cultural, Bogotá (2021); Espacio Temporal, Mexico City (2021); Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, Montevideo (2019); Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires (2019); Faena Festival, Miami Beach (2019); Art Basel Cities, Buenos Aires (2018); Museo de Arte Moderno de Cuenca (2015); and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Latinoamericano, La Plata (2012). Chaile’s work is included in collections of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires; the Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires; Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid; and Kadist Foundation, Paris.
