Pedro Reyes
Pedro Reyes is a Mexican contemporary artist creating participatory, socially-engaged installations and performances addressing violence, mental health, and political themes, exhibited globally at major museums and biennials including the Guggenheim, dOCUMENTA, and Venice Biennale.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersMexico City, Mexico
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Pedro Reyes does
Pedro Reyes is a Mexican contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, installation, performance, video, and participatory art. Active since 2000 and based in Mexico City, he creates concept-driven works that engage social and political themes including violence, mental health, economic systems, drug policy, and civic engagement. The portfolio centers on large-scale participatory installations that transform social issues into interactive experiences — notably Palas por Pistolas (1,527 weapons melted into shovels used to plant 1,527 trees), Imagine and Disarm (mechanical musical instruments fabricated from decommissioned firearms), Sanatorium (a transient clinic mixing art, psychology, and therapy), Baby Marx (a puppet show examining capitalism and socialism), Pharmasphere (a Theatre of the Oppressed-style performance on drug policy), and the People's United Nations (a role-play geopolitical conference with 193 citizen-delegates). The practice is supported by a small team of approximately 11 collaborators, including recurring partnerships with Cocolab (media studio), John Coxon (music producer), Alumnos47 (production), and Jerome Saint-Clair (software).
His work has been commissioned and exhibited by leading international institutions including the Guggenheim Museum (New York), dOCUMENTA(13) (Kassel), the Venice Biennale, the Walker Art Center, the Whitechapel Gallery (London), the Liverpool Biennial, Sharjah Biennial 11, the Gwangju Biennale, Art Basel Parcours, and MAC/VAL in France. He is commercially represented in London by Lisson Gallery, which hosted the Disarm exhibition in 2013. The business model centers on commissioned installations for museums, gallery-mediated sales of works to collectors, exhibition and participation fees from biennials, and limited-edition productions (such as the Disarm vinyl recorded at RAK Studios). Pricing is not publicly disclosed; sales are handled through gallery representation and private transactions. Revenue is unstated and the entity has no funding rounds, parent company, subsidiaries, or external investment.
Pedro Reyes firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Pedro Reyes
- Legal name
- Pedro Reyes
- Website
- https://pedroreyes.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Pedro Reyes is a Mexican contemporary artist creating participatory, socially-engaged installations and performances addressing violence, mental health, and political themes, exhibited globally at major museums and biennials including the Guggenheim, dOCUMENTA, and Venice Biennale.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Pedro Reyes is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Mexico City
- HQ country
- Mexico
- HQ region
- Latin America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Pedro Reyes business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Others
Revenue model
- Art Sales and Commissions: Reyes generates revenue through the sale of original artworks, commissioned installations for museums and galleries, and exhibition fees from cultural institutions.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Pedro Reyes product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Pedro Reyes is a Mexican contemporary artist who creates concept-driven, participatory art installations, sculptures, and theatrical performances addressing social and political themes such as violence, drug policy, mental health, and economic systems. His practice combines social psychology, theater, conflict resolution, and community engagement, with major projects commissioned by leading international museums, biennials, and galleries including the Guggenheim, dOCUMENTA, Venice Biennale, and Lisson Gallery.
Product overview
Pedro Reyes is a Mexican artist whose portfolio consists of participatory art installations, theatrical performances, and sculptural works—not commercial products or services. His major projects include Disarm (musical instruments from decommissioned weapons), Pharmasphere (theatrical performance on drug policy), Sanatorium (experimental therapy clinic installation), Baby Marx (puppet show about economics), Imagine (instruments from destroyed weapons), and various architectural and sculptural works. These are artistic projects exhibited at galleries, museums, and biennials worldwide, not technology products or SaaS offerings.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Disarm A series of eight mechanical musical instruments created from decommissioned weapons (shotguns, pistols, rifles) in collaboration with Cocolab media studio. These automatons are programmable via computers and capable of performing music concerts. Exhibited at Lisson Gallery, London.
- Imagine A set of 50 musical instruments fabricated from 6,700 destroyed weapons (revolvers, shotguns, machine-guns) collected from the Mexican government, transformed into instruments of life. Exhibited at Gwangju Biennale and Istanbul Biennale.
- Sanatorium A transient clinic offering short experimental treatments that mix art and psychology, featuring therapies derived from Gestalt psychology, theater warm-up exercises, Fluxus events, conflict resolution, shamanism, corporate coaching, psychodrama, and hypnosis. Exhibited at Guggenheim Museum, dOCUMENTA(13), and Whitechapel Gallery.
- Pharmasphere An experimental theatrical performance presenting the history of drug production, distribution, and consumption using Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, where audience members participate as 'spect-actors' in shaping the narrative.
- People's United Nations (pUN) An experimental conference applying techniques from social psychology, theater, art, and conflict resolution to geopolitics, where 193 citizens represent UN nations in role-play activities.
- Baby Marx A puppet show featuring Karl Marx and Adam Smith as characters discussing capitalism, socialism, and economic ideology, presented as Political Science 101 for children and adults. Exhibited at Walker Art Center and Art Basel Parcours.
- Palas por Pistolas Project where 1,527 weapons were melted down and converted into 1,527 shovels used to plant 1,527 trees, transforming instruments of death into tools for life.
Companies that use Pedro Reyes
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Pedro Reyes technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Pedro Reyes partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered major, primary and supporting.
- Whitechapel GallerymajorWhitechapel Gallery in London hosted Sanatorium as part of The Spirit of Utopia exhibition curated by Kirsty Ogg, featuring 10 artists speculating on alternative futures.
- Lisson GalleryprimaryLisson Gallery in London represents Pedro Reyes and hosted the Disarm exhibition (March-May 2013) featuring instruments made from decommissioned weapons. The gallery manages sales and exhibition of Reyes' works.
- CocolabsupportingCocolab, a media studio in Mexico City, collaborated with Pedro Reyes on the Disarm project to create mechanical musical instruments from decommissioned weapons.
- John CoxonsupportingMusic producer John Coxon worked with Reyes on the Disarm exhibition, producing a limited edition vinyl record recorded at RAK Studios with 7 musicians improvising on the weapon-turned-instruments.
- Liverpool Biennial & FACTmajorLiverpool Biennial and FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) commissioned Melodrama and Other Games, using board game format to explore relationships in a commoditized environment.
- Alumnos47supportingAlumnos47 served as commissioning and production partner for the Imagine project, coordinating 6 musicians who transformed 6,700 destroyed weapons into musical instruments.
- Gwangju BiennalemajorGwangju Biennale featured Imagine instruments made from destroyed weapons, with young Korean music band Frog in the Well performing at the opening.
- Walker Art CentermajorWalker Art Center in Minneapolis hosted the Baby Marx documentary exhibition and filming project from August-November 2011, examining the development of the puppet show examining capitalism and socialism.
- Guggenheim MuseummajorGuggenheim Museum commissioned Sanatorium for the Stillspotting NYC program at 1 Metrotech Center in Brooklyn. The museum hosted the therapy-based art installation as part of their experimental program.
- MAC/VALmajorMusée d'Art contemporain du Val-de-Marne hosted OuScuPo exhibition featuring ambigram sculptures, including pieces fabricated by prisoners at Fresnes Prison as part of the museum's outreach program.
- Jerome Saint-ClairsupportingSoftware designer and programmer Jerome Saint-Clair collaborated with Reyes to develop OuScuPo software that identifies ambigrams in French dictionaries for creating the ambigram sculpture series.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Pedro Reyes competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Rirkrit Tiravanija: Thai-born artist widely recognized as a pioneer of relational and participatory practice, creating installations that transform social interaction into art—closely aligned with Reyes' socially-engaged installations.
- Ai Weiwei: Chinese contemporary artist working across installation, sculpture, and conceptual practice with strong political and humanitarian themes; also represented by Lisson Gallery, making him a directly comparable peer in both practice and commercial positioning.
- Allora & Calzadilla: Collaborative duo known for installation and performance work exploring sociopolitical themes; exhibited at the same biennials (Venice, Sharjah-related circuits) as Reyes with comparable conceptual range.
- Alfredo Jaar: Chilean artist working in installation and conceptual practice focused on political violence, social inequality, and ethical engagement—directly comparable thematic and methodological approach to Reyes' weapons-related projects.
- Theaster Gates: American artist known for social-practice installations, urban renewal projects, and community-engaged work that converts social issues into large-scale sculptural and architectural interventions—comparable in the participatory, socially-engaged methodology.
- Olafur Eliasson: Icelandic-Danish artist producing large-scale installations addressing environmental and social themes, exhibited across the same global museum circuit (Tate, MoMA, Venice) as Reyes.
- Francis Alÿs: Belgian-Mexican contemporary artist based in Mexico City whose multidisciplinary practice spans performance, video, installation, and socially-engaged public projects with political and urban themes—directly comparable to Reyes in medium, geography, and conceptual framework.
- William Kentridge: South African artist working across installation, film, and performance with socially and politically charged content; operates in the same biennial and museum ecosystem as Reyes.
- Tania Bruguera: Cuban performance and installation artist whose work uses participatory, political, and conflict-resolution methodologies similar to Reyes' People's United Nations and Pharmasphere projects.
- Gabriel Orozco: Mexican contemporary artist with a conceptually driven, multi-medium practice rooted in the same Mexico City context and exhibited at the same top-tier international institutions as Reyes.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Pedro Reyes social profiles
Digital presencePedro Reyes financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Pedro Reyes leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Pedro Reyes funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Pedro Reyes M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about Pedro Reyes
What does Pedro Reyes do?
Pedro Reyes is a Mexican contemporary artist who creates concept-driven, participatory art installations, sculptures, and theatrical performances addressing social and political themes such as violence, drug policy, mental health, and economic systems. His practice combines social psychology, theater, conflict resolution, and community engagement, with major projects commissioned by leading international museums, biennials, and galleries including the Guggenheim, dOCUMENTA, Venice Biennale, and Lisson Gallery.
Is Pedro Reyes a public or private company?
Pedro Reyes is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Pedro Reyes founded?
Pedro Reyes was founded in 2000. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Pedro Reyes based?
Pedro Reyes is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico, in the Latin America region.
How does Pedro Reyes make money?
One revenue line is on record: art Sales and Commissions.
Who are Pedro Reyes's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Rirkrit Tiravanija, Ai Weiwei, Allora & Calzadilla, Alfredo Jaar, Theaster Gates, Olafur Eliasson, Francis Alÿs, William Kentridge, Tania Bruguera and Gabriel Orozco.
Does Pedro Reyes have an API?
No public API is recorded for Pedro Reyes.