Ian Mont (b. 1972, Puerto Padre, Cuba). Spanish nationality. Lives and works in Barcelona. www.ianmont.com · ia@ianmont.com
Current practice
Ian Mont works from forced displacement, historical memory, and the Mediterranean as a contemporary space of disappearance. His core medium is photography, deployed in expanded format, where image, archive, object, and pictorial intervention coexist on the same surface. His practice is organized in autonomous projects that relate through projection rather than continuity, held together by method rather than style. He also researches, in parallel, the algorithmic representation of migrant lives through generative models and multimodal artificial intelligence.
Education
- 2026 — International Master in Contemporary Photography and Project Management, PhotoESPAÑA / EFTI, Madrid
- 2001–2006 — BFA in Photography, Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA), Havana. Faculty of Film, Radio and Television
- 1996–2001 — Telecommunications Engineering, University of Oriente, Cuba
- 1989–1996 — Studio assistant and apprentice to painters David Silva and Amarilis Veliz Diepa, Puerto Padre, Cuba
Solo exhibitions
- 2025 — Atelier Quindici, curated by Gregorio Rossi, Venice (Salone Internazionale d’Arte Contemporanea d’Italia)
- 2021 — Retrospective, Municipal Art Gallery, Calella, Spain
- 2006 — Autorretrato, Videfest / CTR+Z Group, La Sala Naranja, Valencia
- 2006 — Amerika, VAIA V International Video Art Show, Alcoi, Spain
- 1999 — Zonas de vacío, Museo Amalia Simoni, Camagüey, Cuba
- 1994 — Cuerpos y más cuerpos, Galería J.M. Ochoa, Puerto Padre, Cuba
- 1993 — Nombrar el silencio (installation), Galería J.M. Ochoa, Puerto Padre, Cuba
- 1991 — Límites (painting and sculpture), Galería J.M. Ochoa, Puerto Padre, Cuba
Group exhibitions
- 2027 — PhotoESPAÑA / EFTI Master Exhibition, Madrid (forthcoming)
- 2026 — Deriva, final piece approved for the International Master in Contemporary Photography, PhotoESPAÑA / EFTI
- 2024 — Expo Metro Barcelona, large-format urban exhibition
- 2023 — Luxembourg Art Prize, selected artist
- 2021 — Luxembourg Art Prize, selected artist
Awards and grants
- 2006 — Carolina Foundation / Casa de América Fellowship, Madrid (feature film development)
- 2005–2006 — Tomás Sánchez Foundation Grant, Havana (painting production)
- 2005 — 1st Prize, Salón de la Ciudad, Puerto Padre, Cuba
- 2000 — 2nd Prize, National Small Format Exhibition, Havana
- 1999 — 3rd Prize, International Biennial of Sculpture, Las Tunas, Cuba
- 1995 — 3rd Prize, Provincial Landscape Prize, Caisimú, Cuba
Collections
- Copelouzos Family Art Museum, Athens, Greece
- Palazzo Zaguri, Venice, Italy
- Private collections in Berlin, Madrid, and New York
Research and archival practice
- Photographic archive on the Catalan coast, migrant communities, and public space in Catalonia. July 2007 to 2018. Private archive, material foundation of ongoing research on the contemporary Mediterranean.
- Research with multimodal artificial intelligence and generative models. Ongoing. Applied to memory, archive, and migrant representation.
- Essay Geothanatology. 2025. Original theoretical framework on death, disappearance, and territory in contexts of forced migration. Published at ianmont.com.
- Manifesto Exclucentrism. In progress, 2026. Published at ianmont.com.
Professional trajectory in engineering
Eighteen years of experience in data and AI engineering, 2007–2025, with technical and leadership roles in international projects across health, banking, energy, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, public broadcasting, and public sector. Detailed trajectory available through the LinkedIn profile linked at ianmont.com.
Languages
Spanish (native), English (professional), Catalan (professional).