Downey was born in Santiago, Chile.[1][2] His father, David Downey V., was a distinguished architect in Chile, and following in his father's footsteps, Juan Downey studied to complete a Bachelor of Architecture in 1964 from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile.[3][4] In 1961, to further his studies and develop his artistic practice, Downey traveled to Europe. He spent a few months in Barcelona and Madrid, followed by Paris,[3] where he lived for three years studying printmaking at Stanley William Hayter's legendary Atelier 17.[4] During that time, he befriended artists Eugenio Téllez, Roberto Matta, Julio Le Parc, and Takis.[4][5][6][7]
In 1965, Downey traveled to Washington, D.C., at the invitation of the Organization of American States to present a solo show of his work.[8] It was there that Downey would meet his future wife, Marilys Belt.[9] Downey stayed in Washington for a couple of years before moving with his family to New York in 1969.[6]
Downey was an associate professor of art at the Pratt Institute in New York from 1970 until 1993.[6] He died in New York on June 9, 1993, as a result of cancer.[1][10]
Downey is recognized as a pioneer and early adopter of video art,[1][14][15] but during his artistic career, he created an extensive body of work that also includes electronic and video sculptures, photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, performance, installation, and writing.[1] Downey's drawings are especially remarkable and remained a constant practice of his.[16] All of his major works were accompanied by drawings. They reflect not only his “sureness of hand,” as curators David Ross and James Harithas noted,[17] but also his compelling ideas and visions, and they reveal a sustained practice of drawing over a lifetime.
The early period of Juan Downey's artistic practice consisted of painting, drawing, writing, and printmaking. After moving to the United States in 1965, he began to experiment with numerous forms of art that included creating interactive electronic sculptures, performances, happenings, and, in the late 1960s, video art. He wrote: “The universe is not an assemblage of independent parts, but an overlapping, interrelated system of energy. All my work relates to this vision.”[18] These media permitted Downey to investigate ideas about invisible energy as well as to invite active participation by viewers of his work.
Two seminal series in Downey's career were Video Trans Americas, begun in 1971,[19][20] and The Thinking Eye, begun in the mid-1970s. Video Trans Americas (VTA.) is often divided into two groups: the first group was developed from 1973 to 1976, and the second from 1976 to 1977. The two series stress Downey's preoccupation with political discourse, the self, the history of art, Western civilization, and Latin American identity.
Retrospectiva de Video Arte de Juan Downey, Museo de Arte Moderno de Chiloé, Castro, Chiloé, Chile (2000);
Plateau of Humankind, Honorable Mention: “Excellence in Art Science and Technology,” 49th Venice Biennale Chilean Pavilion, Venice, Italy (2001);
Juan Downey: El ojo pensante, Sala de Arte Fundación Telefónica, Santiago, Chile (2010);[30]
Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect, MIT List Visual Arts Center,[31] Cambridge, MA, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY (2011-2012)
Downey's work was included in numerous group exhibitions as follows.
Some More Beginnings: An Exhibition of Submitted Works Involving Technical Materials and Processes, organized by Experiments in Art and Technology, in collaboration with the Brooklyn Museum, Brookly, NY and The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1968);[2][30][33]
New Learning Spaces & Places, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (1974);
Whitney Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1975,[7] 1977, 1981, 1983,[34] 1985, 1987,[34] 1989, 1991);[34][35]
Documenta 6, Kassel, Germany, (1977);
Venice Biennale, US Pavilion, Venice, Italy, (1980);[34]
Against Shadows, 1968, is an interactive artwork that uses a grid of photo sensors to translate shadow thrown by the human body to a matching grid of wall-mounted lightbulbs.[31][39][40][41]
InInvisible Energy Dictates a Dance Concert, 1969-1970, readings taken by geiger counters are sent by walkie-talkies to dancers in different rooms of the gallery.[31][34]
Three-Way Communication by Light, 1972, used video, super 8 film and laser beams to join the actions of three performers painted in whiteface.[34][42]
The Video Trans Americas (VTA) Series was a video-installation composed of videos recorded with a Sony portapak during Downey’s travels from North to Central and South America between 1973 and 1976.[47][48] The first complete screening of the VTA video-installation was in the exhibition Landscape Studies in Video curated by David Ross at the Long Beach Museum of Art in 1975.[20] The VTA video-installation in subsequent exhibitions at other museum institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art (1976) was exhibited differently. This was largely due to the spatial component entailed in the presentation of the work, a key concern for Downey, as well as his own artistic liberty to make changes or integrate other components in the installation. Therefore, there are a number of different versions in the way the VTA video installation was exhibited. The following videos were included in the installation:[citation needed]
Valerie Smith, ed. Juan Downey: The Invisible Architect. Leipzig: MIT List Visual Art Center & The Bronx Museum, 2011.
González, Julieta, Nicolás Guagnini, Carla Macchiavello, and Valerie Smith. Juan Downey: el ojo pensante. Santiago: Fundación Telefónica, 2010.
Arévalo, Antonio, Marilys Belt de Downey, Juan Downey, José Goñi Carrasco, and Luisa Ulibarri Lorenzini. Juan Downey: La Biennale di Venezia, 49 Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. Milan: Rodrigo Figueroa Schirmer, 2001.
Bonet, Eugeni, Douglas Davis, Juan Downey, Nuria Enguita, Coco Fusco, Juan Guardiola, John G. Hanhardt, James Harithas, and David Ross. Juan Downey: With Energy Beyond These Walls (Con energía más allá de estos muros). Valencia: Institut Valencià d’Art Modern and Centre del Carme, 1997-98.
Hanhardt, John G., and Ann D. Hoy. Juan Downey of Dream Into Study. Santiago: Editorial Lord Cochrane, 1987.
