Juan José Olavarría is an acute observer and translator of present-day Latin America, motivated by an interest in memory and history associated with the contradictions of the past as something that hasn’t finished closing, and at the same time is unrepeatable. For more than two decades, he has developed his practice—individual, group and community projects—aware of the performative nature of memory and the precarious and unrepresentable condition of memory. He studied at La Escuela de Artes Plásticas Arturo Michelena in Valencia, Venezuela. He has participated in exhibitions, conferences, talks, forums, programs, and projects in the field of disability and community mental health, international biennials of visual arts, curatorship, multimedia, and theater. He was a member of the Provisional Group (1997-2001), an artists' collective with which he participated in various creative experiences in academic, community, productive, and artistic spaces.

His work has been presented in: Sala Mendoza, Caracas; Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba; MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, México; MACBA Museum d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain; WKV Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany; ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany; SITE Santa Fe Biennial, SITEline 2018, New Mexico, USA. Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain. Museo de Arte Arte Contemporáneo de Lima (MAC Lima), Peru; Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, CDMX, Mexico; dAPPERTutto, Espacio A, Pabellón de Italia, 48 Bienal de Venecia, Italy; Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas; and Galería Municipal de Arte Pancho Fierro; among others.

- Americas Society/Council of the Americas