Daniel Rey: Creating Spaces for Connection and Collective Healing
This interview is part of the series "In the Making: Conversations on Latin American Art in the UK".
Research, Interviews and Writing by Raquel Gonzalez Eizmendiz
Curatorial & Editorial Direction by Gabriela Román González & Mónica Núñez
Before embracing a full-time career in visual arts, Daniel Rey was an architect. He designed structures; now, he designs atmospheres, spaces where emotion, identity, and spirituality converge. “I see myself more as a creator of environments,” he says, “spaces where things happen.” Through performance, immersive installations, and objects, Daniel deconstructs ideas of masculinity and explores the invisible threads that connect us.
Originally from Venezuela, Daniel studied architecture in Caracas and Milan before moving to London in 2016 for a job in an architectural studio. But it was not until the pandemic disrupted his routine that he reoriented his life completely toward visual arts. “That moment gave me perspective. I made a portfolio and applied to the MA at Central Saint Martins. Since then, my body, my soul, and my mission are aligned.”
Archipelago, performance as part of the exhibition Three{hold} by HotSheet, 2024
One turning point came with Collective Cuddles, a performance featuring five Latino men embracing on a cushion. He applied to Bloomberg New Contemporaries with Collective Cuddles in his last year of the master's degree. “People still come up to me saying they saw it, that it moved them,” he recalls. That exposure opened doors, including opportunities that came after, such as his participation in Inbetween: A Latinx Takeover at the Victoria and Albert Museum East, commissions from the Royal College of Art, and a growing network of support with collectors, patrons and art professionals in general.
Community is a recurring theme, not only in Daniel’s performances but in his day-to-day practice. Now on his year-long residency at Sarabande Foundation, he shares space alongside other artists, building a network of collaboration and care. “My performers, my photographers, and even the music all come from people I met during my university time. It is deeply collaborative.”
Daniel Rey studio at Sarabande Foundation
While performance is just one of the many media Daniel uses to express his ideas, he is fully aware of its economic unviability. “I do this because it is my passion. But it is hard to monetize, what sells are the documents, the objects, the aura,” he notes. Yet this reality does not deter him. His ambition reaches beyond market visibility: to share his work widely and ensure it endures, offering meaning and connection for future generations.
For Daniel, his art goes beyond aesthetics; it is a form of healing, a process that brings people together physically and emotionally. By creating spaces where audiences can experience vulnerability, trust, and connection, he invites them to question what it means to gather and to heal together. His performances draw on queer intimacy, religious rituals, and sports to offer a moment of rest, reflection, and emotional release. “We have grown distant,” he says. “From each other, from ourselves. But I believe we are all still connected through invisible threads. I want my work to remind people of that.”
Daniel Rey was born in Venezuela and lives and works in London. He has a MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins (2023), London, UK. Daniel creates ‘Meditative Environments’ that question conventional notions of masculinity within patriarchal societies, exploring the ritualistic realm in which sports and religion blur and combine. Working across performance, objects and immersive installations, he seeks to expand the understanding of collective experiences, inviting the public to radically re-evaluate the nature of isolation, memory and senses of belonging.
