The geometry of skateboarding and the political struggles of Central America are being explored in two new exhibitions from overseas artists at an Oxford gallery.

Modern Art Oxford, in Pembroke Street, is staging The Body of Others by Guatemalan performer Regina José Galindo and Geometry Improved by French photographer and sculptor Raphaël Zarka.

The displays, which both last until March 29, are UK firsts for both creators.

Mr Zarka, who was born in Montpelier and studied at the Winchester School of Art, explores historical themes in science and geometry through modern landscapes in concrete and metal.

He said: “This is fantastic for me, most of all because Modern Art Oxford was the first museum I visited in England.

“I think the works may seem pretty abstract and very geometric but they are always referred to the same process.

“The background history referred to in this show is the work of the British astronomer Abraham Sharp .”

As part of the exhibition, Mr Zarka’s video history of skateboarding, Topographie Anecdotée du Skateboard, will be screened in MAO’s lower galleries.

The 31-year-old said: “My interest for geometry and science overlaps with my interest for skateboarding.

“The geometry issue is there in what you build for skaters, like truncated pyramids, slopes and half pipes.

“It’s as if today’s skateboarding was a direct study of motion, a more intuitive form of motion.

“People skateboard for enjoyment, but like any subject if you step away from it you can understand it in a different way.”

Mrs José Galindo will present films, performances and poetry about her native Latin America, exploring the themes of civil war, violence towards women and the region’s relationship with the USA.

In 2005 she won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for her video performance Quien puede borrar las huellas? (Who can erase the traces?), which commemorates the victims of General Rios Montt’s dictatorship.

At MAO, which recently appointed Michael Stanley as its new director, her exhibition will involve some audience interaction.

She said: “I hope that after their participation they can see the other pieces with other eyes. It will be like a preparation for the rest of the work.”

Suzanne Cotter, of MAO, said: “Regina José Galindo’s exhibition continues Modern Art Oxford’s commitment to presenting artists working internationally, sometimes in challenging cultural and political contexts.

“We are excited to be bringing her powerful and poetic art to a broader audience here in the UK.

“Raphaël Zarka is part of a current generation of artists working with existing cultural forms in ways that throw new light on to our present. His work taps freely into history in a fresh, intelligent way.”

For more information see modernartoxford.org.uk