Three questions to Tiago Rocha Costa
About Tiago
Tiago Rocha Costa is a transdisciplinary artist from Lisbon whose work explores the worlds of natural history, archaeology, and palaeontology. His visual universe is rooted in three-dimensionality and is currently characterised by “fossilised artefacts.” Nature is a central point in his practice, through which he explores its limits and interconnections with a critical and expressive perspective.
Tiago, when did art meet you in life?
Curiosity has always played a central role in my life. As a child, I felt compelled to draw the things that intrigued me the most, as if I needed to make sense of them through representation. Many of the themes that captivated me early on have remained present in my work, evolving over time and acquiring new layers of complexity. My practice also reflects a lasting interest in disciplines such as biology, palaeontology, and archaeology, as fields that continue to inform my universe of references.
Your work involves unique material explorations - from synthetic polymers to organic matter. Can you walk us through your process and how you select materials to embody concepts of environmental transformation?
I bring together natural and artificial materials as part of a continuum that allows me to reflect on the entanglement between nature and culture. I recognize that each material carries its own set of physical properties, as well as cultural and symbolic meanings that are worth exploring. Currently, I work with a set of materials and techniques I’m very familiar with – such as wooden structures, sand-based mortar or cyanotype – but I often delve into other mediums as part of my ongoing research, as they can also propel new ideas.
How does your art challenge traditional concepts of nature ("nature" as an idyllic territory), and what insights do you hope to provoke in viewers?
I believe the idyllic notion of nature is challenged when we approach it as a concept in crisis, or at least, as one that no longer aligns with the romanticized ideals we’ve inherited from the past, which often depict it as a pristine, harmonious territory untouched by human influence. To me, this vision feels increasingly anachronistic and disconnected from our current reality. At the same time, I remain fascinated by nature’s inherent resilience and its capacity for reinvention, often beyond the bounds of human temporality and control. Even as we attempt to instrumentalize and dominate natural systems, nature continues to surprise us in unpredictable ways, so I believe that wonder will always be present. Viewers may experience both of these perspectives when engaging with my work and ultimately draw their own conclusions.
Our top selection of Tiago's works
