(this page was last updated in August 2020)
Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1973.
Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.
Represented by Galeria Luisa Strina.
PIPA Prize 2020 nominee.
Clarissa Tossin uses installation, sculpture, moving-image, satellite-generated photography, and performance to engage with questions of displacement, repressed histories, and ecological degradation following haptic, sonic, and affectionate approaches to material beyond didacticism. Tossin received a 2019 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant and has artworks in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.
Website: www.clarissatossin.net
‘Ch’u Mayaa’, 2017 (excerpt), HD single-channel digital video, color, sound. Duration: 17’56”
‘White Marble Everyday’, 2009, two-channel HD video. Duration: 5’42” (loop)
‘Streamlined: Belterra, Amazônia / Alberta, Michigan’, 2013, (excerpt), two-channel HD video projection, eight-channel sound installation, Belterra’s wooden benches replicas, and photograph. Duration: 15′ each
Clarissa Tossin works with installation, sculpture, video, performance, and photography and received an MFA from the California Institute of Arts (CalArts-2009). Recent solo exhibitions include Future Fossil (2019) at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard University, USA), Encontro das Águas (2018) at the Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, USA), and Azul Maia (2018) at Galeria Luisa Strina ( São Paulo Brazil). In 2018, her work was included in the exhibition Pacha, Llaqta, Wasichay: Indigenous Space, Modern Architecture, New Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York – 2018), and the 12th Gwangju Biennale (Gwangju, South Korea, 2018), among others. In 2017, she received a commission by the city of Los Angeles for the exhibition Condemned To Be Modern, part of the Pacific Standard Time: LA / LA organized by the Getty Foundation. Also part of this initiative, her work was featured in the exhibition Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas at the UCR / California Museum of Photography, which traveled to the Queens Museum in 2019.
Tossin is the recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant to Artists (2019), a Fellows of Contemporary Art Fellowship (2019), an Artadia Los Angeles Award (2018); a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship at Harvard University (2017-18); a Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, Projeto Residências Artísticas (2015); a Fellowship for Visual Artists from the California Community Foundation (2014); an Artistic Innovation Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation (2012); and a Core Program Fellowship at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (2010-12).
- ‘Clarissa Tossin’, Artforum
- ‘Clarissa Tossin at 18th Street Arts Center’, by Jennifer Remenchik, Contemporary Art Review
- ‘“Place,” “Town,” “To Make a House”: Metonyms of Identity at the Whitney’, by Virginia Black, The Avery Review
- ‘Latinx Artists Are Highlighted for the First Time in a Group Show at the Whitney’, by Ananda Cohen-Aponte, Hyperallergic
- ‘Latinx Artists Use Sci-Fi to Imagine Postcolonial Futures’, by Tia Glista, Paper
Education
2009
– M.F.A. in Arts, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Valencia, USA
2000
– B.F.A., Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil
Solo Exhibitions
2020
– “Circumnavigation Towards Exhaustion”, La Kunstalle Mulhouse, France
2019
– “Future Fossil”, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
– “21st Century Wisdom: Healing Frank Lloyd Wright’s Textile Block Houses”, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, USA
2018
– “Azul Maia”, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil
– “Encontro das Águas (Meeting of Waters)”, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, USA
2017
– “The Mayan”, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles, USA
– “Stereoscopic Vision”, Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, USA
2016
– “Meeting of Waters”, JOAN, Los Angeles, USA
2015
– “Brasília Teimosa”, Galeria Baobá, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, Recife, Brazil
– “How does it travel?”, Samuel Freeman, Los Angeles, USA
– “Streamlined: Belterra, Amazônia/Alberta”, Michigan, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, USA
2014
– “Transplanted (VW Brasilia)”, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
– “Brasília, Cars, Pools & Other Modernities”, Artpace, San Antonio, USA
– “Blind Spot, Blaffer Art Museum”, University of Houston, Houston, USA
– “Study for a Landscape”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, USA
2012
– “On Brasília”, Centre 3, Hamilton, Canada
2011
– “Gasto”, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil
Group shows
2020
– “Kissing Through a Curtain”, MASSMoCA, USA
– “ReVisión: Art in the Americas”, Denver Art Museum, USA
– “Mecarõ: Amazonia in the Petitgas Collection”, MO.CO. Hôtel des Collections, Montpellier, France
– “Farsa”, Sesc Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil
– “InterStates of Mind: Rewriting the Map of the United States in the Age of the Automobile”, Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, USA
– “Seismic Movements: Dhaka Art Summit”, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Bangladesh
2019
– “Crossing Lines, Constructing Home: Displacement and Belonging in Contemporary Art”, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, USA
– “García, Raina, Shore, Tossin”, Luhring Augustine, New York, USA
– “Place: Jane Benson, Joseph Havel, Leslie Hewitt, Rick Lowe, Clarissa Tossin”, Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, USA
– “Museum of Modern Art and Western Antiquities, Section II”, Department of Carving and Modeling: Form and Volume, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal
– “LAMOA DS#7”, Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, USA
– “Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas”, Queens Museum, USA
– “Bagage Claims”, Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, USA
2018
– “Pacha Llacta Wasichay: Indigenous Space”, Modern Architecture, New Art, Whitney Museum, New York, USA
– “12th Gwangju Biennial: Imagined Nations/Modern Utopias”, Gwangju, South Korea
– “Other Walks, Other Lines”, San Jose Museum of Art, USA
– “Mon Nord best ton Sud”, Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Mulhouse, France
– “The House Imaginary”, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, USA
– “Emerald City”, K 11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
– “PST/CST”, BANK/MAB Society, Shanghai, China
– “Bagage Claims”, Weatherspoon Art Museum, USA
– “In Any Direction”, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, USA
2017
– “Condemned To Be Modern”, parte de Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA – LAMAG, Los Angeles, USA
– “Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas”, parte de Getty Foundation’s PST: LA/LA California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside, USA
– “Visual Intelligence”, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, USA
– “Bagage Claims”, Orlando Museum of Art, USA
– “Vernacular Environments”, Edward Cella, Los Angeles, USA
– “99 Cents”, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, USA
– “Lives Between”, KADIST, San Francisco, EUA e The Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
– “Between Words and Silence: The Work of Translation”, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, USA
2016
– “Trans-Americas: A sign, a situation, a concept”, Museum London, Canada
– “MetaModern”, De Vos Art Museum, EUA e Palm Springs Museum of Art, USA
– “Everyday Reflections in Abstraction”, Space Collection, Irvine, USA
– “Customizing Language”, LACE, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, USA
2015
– “United States of Latin America”, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, USA
– “After Landscape”, Fabra i Coats Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain
– “MetaModern”, Krannert Art Museum, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Orlando Museum of Art, USA
2014
– “Unsettled Landscapes”, SITE Santa Fe, USA
– “Made in L.A.”, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA
– “Bringing the World into the World”, The Queens Museum, New York, USA
– “Liberdade em Movimento”, Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil
– “Dispositivos para um mundo (im)possível”, Roesler Hotel, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
– “Southern Panoramas – 18o Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Videobrasil”, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil
– “La Elipsis Arquitectónica”, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, City of Mexico, Mexico
2012
– “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes”, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, USA
2012
– “Dallas Biennial”, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, USA
– “2012 Core Exhibition”, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, USA
2011
– “Building Arts”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, USA
– “Material Differences”, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, USA
– “Young Latino Artists 16: Thought Cloud”, Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, USA
– “Nowhere Near Here”, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, USA
2011
– “Core Exhibition”, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, USA
2010
– “The First Thing”, Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles, USA
Grants / Awards / Fellowships / Residencies
2019
– Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, New York, USA
– Fellows of Contemporary Art Fellowship, Los Angeles, USA
– Artist Lab Residency, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, USA
– Juméx Foundation Research Grant, Artist Lab Residency, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, USA
– LAB VERDE: Art Immersion Program in the Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil
2018
– Los Angeles Artadia Awards, USA
2017-18
– Radcliffe Institute Fellowship – Harvard University, USA
2016
– The City of Los Angeles for Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA exhibition, USA
2015
– Residency Fellowship, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, São Paulo, Brazil
2014
– Emerging Artist Fellowship, California Community Foundation, USA
2013
– ARTPACE, International AIR, San Antonio, USA
– ARC Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, USA
2012
– Artistic Innovation Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, USA
– VI Concurso de Videoarte Grant, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, São Paulo, Brazil
2011
– SOMA Residency, City of Mexico, Mexico
2010-12
– Core Program Fellowship, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, USA
2010
– Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain
2009
– Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture
Solo screenings
2019
– “New Media Series: Clarissa Tossin”, Saint Louis Art Museum, USA
– “Ch’u Mayaa”, Smith College Museum of Art, USA
– “Ch’u Mayaa”, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, USA
2018
– When the Land Speaks: Clarissa Tossin, Broad Museum, Michigan State University, USA
Public collections
– Los Angeles County Museum of Art – LACMA, Los Angeles, USA
– Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
– Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, USA
– Smith College Museum of Art Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, USA
– The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Bibliography
– Janelle Zara, “How Clarissa Tossin uses Amazonian tribal lore and retro sci-fi to address looming ecological disasters”, Art Basel Magazine (April 2019)
– Jennifer Remenchik, “Clarissa Tossin at 18th Street Arts Center”, Contemporary Art Review LA (March 13, 2019)
– Camila Belchior, Review: “Clarissa Tossin”, ARTFORUM (February 2019)
– Maximilíano Durón e Alex Greenberger, “15 Los Angeles Artists to Watch”, ARTNews (winter 2019)
– Ming Lin, “The Phantom of Gwangju: Historical and Political Specters at the 2018 Biennale”, ARTNews (Nov. 09, 2018)
– Virginia Black, “Place”, “Town”, “To Make a House”: Metonyms of Identity at the Whitney, The Avery Review
– Jillian Steinhauer, “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week”, The New York Times, (September 13, 2018)
– Ananda Cohen-Aponte, “Latinx Artists Are Highlighted for the First Time in a Group Show at the Whitney”, Hyperallergic, (August 28, 2018)
– Nadja Sayej, “We’re building a bridge’ – the exhibition shining a light on Latinx artists”, The Guardian, (July 16, 2018)
– Robin Pogrebin, “Museums Turn Their Focus to U.S. Artists of Latin Descent”, The New York Times, (April 24, 2018)
– Sharon Mizota, “Review: Nearly a century later, a video artist follows Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mayan footsteps”, Los Angeles Times, (Oct. 15, 2017)
– Christopher Hawthorne, “With Pacific Standard Time, Getty finally climbs down from hilltop oasis it built 20 years ago”, Los Angeles Times, (Oct. 19, 2017)
– Monica Westin, “Lives Bewteen”, Critick’s Picks , ARTFORUM (April 2017)
– Susan Dunne, “Wesleyan Exhibit Looks At Brazil, U.S. Cultural Overlap”, Hartford Courant (February 13, 2017)
– Ana Abril, “Exposição de Clarissa Tossin, nos EUA, apresenta a complexidade do mundo através do avizinhamento de opostos”, Select (30/01/2017)
– “Artist Portfolio: Clarissa Tossin”, Los Angeles Review of Books, Quarterly Journal (summer 2015)
– Edward Goldman, “Art that a) Amuses, b) Challenges, c) Leaves us in Disbelief”, KCRW Art Talk (June 30, 2015)
– Alexandra Grant, “Biennial at a Crossroads: SITE Santa Fe’s Reinvention”, X-tra Magazine, (Summer 2015)
– Neha Choksi, “Staging a Biennial”, X-tra Magazine, Vol. 17, Number 2 (Winter 2015)
– George Melrod, “Made in L.A.”, Art Ltd Magazine (July/August 2014)
– Abe Ahn, “Broadcasting Los Angeles”, Hyperallergic, (July 28, 2014)
– Paula Bittar, “A Casa que Niemeyer Criou”, Correio Braziliense, (July 24, 2014)
– Adele Oliveira,”SITE Santa Fe — Clarissa Tossin: Place holders”, Santa Fe-New Mexican Magazine (July 18, 2014)
– Anuradha Vikram, “The Politics of Rehearsal”, Daily Serving, (July 14, 2014)
– Roberta Smith, “If Seeing Is Believing, a Panorama of Truth”, The New York Times, (June 19, 2014)
– Mariola V. Alvarez, “Maintaining Cars, Pools & Other Modernities: Clarissa Tossin’s Brasília”, Gulf Coast, Vol. 26, Issue 2 (Spring 2014)
– Anjali Gupta, “This is Not An Institutional Critique: Artpace’s IAIR 13.2”, Current (July 24, 2013)
– Kelly Klaasmeyer, “Relentless Sun: The Images of Clarissa Tossin”, Houston Press (November 9)
– Pedro Hernández, “La Elipsis Arquitectónica”, Arquine (May 29, 2013)
– “Arquitectura más allá de la función, en el CCUT”, El Universal (February 26, 2013)
– Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, “When Art is Simply Art”, Austin American-Statesman (July 10): F1-F3
– Margherita Dessanay, “Viewing: Clarissa Tossin”, Elephant, issue 7 (Summer 2011): 24
“Future Fossil,” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University (Exhibition Booklet). “Condemned To Be Modern”, Clara M. Kim, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs/LAMAG, 2017. “Mundos Alternos” Hernández, Stallings, Szupinska-Myers, University of California, Riverside, 2017. “Customizing Language”, Idurre Alonso, Selene Preciado, 2016. “Marler Medienkunst-Prize 2016”, Skulpturenmuseum, Glaskasten Marl, Germany, 2016. “Unmapping the World | Desmapenado o Mundo”, Guilherme Wisnik, Michael Ned Holte & Moacir dos Anjos, 2015. “After Landscape: Ciutats Copiades”, Fabra i Coats Centre d’Art Contemporani, 2015. “MetaModern”, Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox, University of Washington Press, 2015. “Made in L.A. 2014”, Butler & Holte, Hammer Museum, Delmonico/Prestel, 2014. “Unsettled Landscapes”, SITE Santa Fe, 2014. “Liberdade em Movimento”, Fundação Iberê Camargo, 2014. “Panoramas do Sul – 18o Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Videobrasil”, Edições SESC. 2013. “La Elipsis Arquitectónica”, Estévez & Toscano, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, Arquine, 2013. “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes”, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, 2012. “2011-2012 Core Program”, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2012. “2010-2011 Core Program”, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2011. “Why Theory”, California Institute of the Arts, 2009.
EMPAC – Work in progress (2020). Duration: 6’28”
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