Dr. Sebastián Eduardo Dávila

21335 Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, C5.422
Fon +49.4131.677-1992, sebastian.eduardo@leuphana.de
Wiss. Mitarbeiter*in, Professorship of Contemporary Art

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Vita

Sebastián Eduardo Dávila’s current research focuses on the relation between syncretism and contemporary art throughout the Americas. His dissertation deals with art practices from postwar Guatemala with a focus on materiality, on the basis of which he is currently preparing his book "Making the Cosmos. The Practice of Art in Postwar Guatemala". His publications and editorial work address the relation between art and materiality, topography, Indigeneity, religion/spirituality, and violence.

His undergraduate seminars explore artistic practices and theories in dialogue with artists, curators, and political actors, with a focus on the tension, for example, between art and violence, or art and Indigeneity.
His graduate seminars deal with the history of political theories, the contexts of emergence as well as frames of reference of situated concepts, and their relation to art and cultural pratices, particularly in the Americas. 

Sebastián Eduardo Dávila studied art history and film studies in Jena, Berlin, and Mexico City, and formed part of the research training group “Cultures of Critique” at the Leuphana University (Lüneburg). In 2023, he was a Visiting Student Researcher at Stanford University, and between 2023-2025 a fellow at the research network “Cambridge Visual Culture”. He is an editor at the journal "kritische berichte: Zeitschrift für Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften", and part of the political group “VOCES de Guatemala en Berlín”. 

Publications

Books and anthologies

  1. On Withdrawal: Scenes of Refusal, Disappearance, and Resilience in Art and Cultural Practices
    Sebastián Eduardo (Editor) , Rebecca Shanti Hanna John (Editor) , Ulrike Jordan (Editor) , Nele Wulff (Editor) , Judith Sieber (Editor) , Thorsten Schneider (Editor) , 2023 Berlin/Zürich , 384 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologies › Collected editions and anthologies › Research

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Journal contributions

  1. The Dance of Tradition in Contemporary Art. Edmundo Torres’ China Diabla Performance
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , 01.01.2025 , in: caiana. Revista de Historia del Arte y Cultura Visual del Centro Argentino de Investigadores de Arte, 26

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  2. Edgar Calels "Skulpturale Erdarbeit" Umkreisen, Überfliegen und sich Danebenlegen
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , 01.06.2024 , in: Texte zur Kunst, 134 , p. 149-160 , 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  3. Beneath the Second Skin. Mayan Textiles and Bodies in the Art of Manuel Tzoc Bucup and Sandra Monterroso
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , 29.03.2022 , in: Miradas. Zeitschrift für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Amerikas und der iberischen Halbinsel, 6, 2 , p. 104-125 , 22 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  4. "República": La Nueva Fábrica, Antigua Guatemala
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , 01.12.2021 , in: Art Nexus, 117 , p. 122-124 , 3 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Comments / Debate / Reports › Research

  5. Memoria del movimiento (ensaio visual)
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , Edgar Calel (Author) , 27.01.2020 , in: Revista Poiésis, 21, 35 , p. 163-176 , 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

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Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

  1. Walking Text and Writing Space: Reflections on Ladinidad in Guatemala
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , Natalia del Carmen Eduardo (Author) , 31.03.2025 , p. 209–228 , 20 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review

  2. A Psychiatric Clinic, a Monastery, a City and a River: On the (Artistic) Legibility of Disappearance in Topography
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , Ulrike Jordan (Author) , 01.01.2023 Berlin/Zürich , p. 209-236 , 28 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review

  3. In the Aftermath of Violence. On Being Present and Calling Into Presence
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , Ulrike Jordan (Author) , Diana Taylor (Author) , 01.01.2023 Zürich , p. 159-176 , 18 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review

  4. Visiting the Colección Poyón, or Indigeneity and the Nation-State in Guatemala: Performing the Nation for Two Hundred Years
    Sebastián Eduardo (Author) , 27.05.2022 Bielefeld , p. 213-240 , 28 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review

View all publications

Activities

  1. The “Ends of War” and Research in Guatemala.
    Sebastián Eduardo (Speaker) , Silvia Posocco (Speaker)

    Activity: Guest lectures › Research

  2. "Branches of an Imaginary Marimba". Indigeneity, Diaspora, and the Nation-State in Contemporary Art Practice
    Sebastián Eduardo (Speaker)

    Activity: talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research

  3. Dance, Diaspora, and the Artist's Subject: Edmundo Torres' China Diabla Tradition
    Sebastián Eduardo (Speaker)

    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

  4. Violencia de Estado y Violencia Colonial: Reverberaciones de Edicto Cambio de Nombre
    Sebastián Eduardo (Speaker) , Aura Cumes (Speaker) , Marilyn Boror (Speaker)

    Activity: Guest lectures › Research

  5. Leaving Art History? Contemporary Art and Material Practices
    Susanne Angela Leeb (Speaker) , Sebastián Eduardo (Speaker)

    Activity: talk or presentation in privat or public events › Research

View all activities

Press / Media

  1. Wo bleibt die Erfahrung? Das Kunstwerk des Monats: »Dambudzo« als Anti-Genre-Kunst von Nora Chipaumire
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  2. Learning to take care of Sasha Amaya’s Sarabande
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  3. Interview mit Çağla Ilk und Antje Weitzel
    Interviewed once

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  4. Hand- und Fingergesten in -UP IN ARMS-
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  5. Interview with Gabriel Vallecillo by Sebastián Eduardo @ ZK / U Berlin
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

View all press/media coverage

Teaching