Marcello Mercado

Biography

Marcello Mercado (b. 1963, Sáenz Peña, Argentina) is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist based between Germany and Argentina. He studied Film, Television, and Psychology at the National University of Córdoba and later completed postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln). His work spans experimental cinema, documentary, video art, and bio-art, exploring the intersections of technology, biology, and the politics of the body. Since the early 1990s, Mercado has directed a wide range of short and feature-length experimental films, videos, and sound works presented in major international festivals and exhibitions, including the New York Film Festival (Lincoln Center), Videobrasil (São Paulo), Videoformes (Clermont-Ferrand), Transmediale (Berlin), European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück), and the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement (Geneva). His projects have also been featured in institutions such as Museum Ludwig (Cologne), ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (Karlsruhe), Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid), Centre Pompidou (Paris), and Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna). A recipient of multiple international fellowships and awards, Mercado has been supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Fundación Antorchas, and the Digital Synesthesia Group in Vienna. His honors include the First Prize at Videobrasil (1998, 2001), the Grand Prix de la Création Vidéo (Videoformes, France), the Main Prize at the Videofest Berlin, and an Honorary Mention at Ars Electronica (Linz, 2012). Mercado’s films and installations blend scientific inquiry, poetic critique, and formal experimentation. His cinematic language oscillates between analytical precision and sensory excess, engaging with themes such as the body under technological control, religious and medical authority, and the aesthetics of biopower. His recent works, including Emptiness (2025), continue his ongoing exploration of the relationship between image, matter, and technology.