(this page was last updated in July 2016)
[pipa2016:52065]
São Paulo, Brazil, 1977.
Lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.
Represented by Galeria Luisa Strina.
PIPA 2014 and 2016 nominee.
Beto Shwafaty is an artist and researcher based in Brazil. He has been involved with collective, curatorial and spatial practices since the early 2000s, and as a result, he develops a research-based practice on spaces, histories and visualities in which he seeks to connect formally and conceptually political, social and cultural issues that are converging to the field of art.
Website: www.shwafaty.art.br
Video produced by Matrioska Filmes exclusively for PIPA 2014:
Artist’s Statement
In my practice I am concerned with diverse issues regarding public space, conviviality and visual culture in specific sociocultural and political contexts. Using diverse methods and languages – that ranges from sculptural and spatial situations, design and printed matter to research-based and docu-fictional strategies – I aim to explore the possibilities of being at same time a productive agent and a reflexive and critical actor, where art production becomes a way to approach the real as at the same time an opportunity to question pre-assumed positions.
The materialization of my projects can be considered as hybrid units of information, assumed as possibilities to generate (or recover) specific sets of knowledge. Through notions and acts of critique, edition, appropriation and translation I intend to create situations where issues and debates about the functions and communicative qualities of art may emerge and be articulated within certain levels of the society and the public sphere.
Considering art projects in this way – and under the lens of an expanded and complex notion of ready-made and site specificity – I try to build settings interweaved by overlapping narratives in oder to instigate the spectator’s awareness about the complexity of certain dynamics and questions regarding representation, validation and negotiation within a given sociocultural structures. This process informs productive activities that reflect a broader interest in art as pro positive and constructive structures: as processes of production and distribution of aesthetic, knowledge, techniques, designs and communication that explores critical reflections on institutional, public and social levels.
– Pedro Neves Marques, “Brazil, Deadly Environment: Desenvolvimentismo in the work of Paulo Tavares and Beto Shwafaty”, 2016. Terremoto magazine #5: Todas las Fiestas del Ayer.
– Kiki Mazzucchelli, “Contract of Risk”, Galeria Luisa Strina, 2015.
– Kiki Mazzucchelli, Beto Shwafaty. Flash Art #300, 2015. http://www.flashartonline.com/article/beto-shwafaty/
– João Laia, Art Rio, 2015. http://terremoto.mx/art-rio/
– Carolin Köchling, Foundations of the Design Substance. Kuba Paris, 2014. http://kubaparis.com/beto-shwafaty/
– Vinicius Spricigoh, “Tristes Topos”, Temporada 2014 “Remediações”, Paço das Artes, 2014. www.pacodasartes.org.br/temporada-de-projetos/2014/artistas/betoshwafaty.aspx
Education
2011
PIESP, Independent Program, School São Paulo, Brazil.
2010/11
Staedelschule (Simon Starling’s class), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
2008/09
M.A. in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA, Milan, Italy.
2001
B.A. in Visual Arts, State University of Campinas, Brazil.
Solo Exhibitions
2016
-“Risk Contract”- Prometeogallery, Milan, Italy.
2015
-“Contract of Risk”, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil.
2014
-Foundations of the Design Substance: “Cultural Metaphors to Design a New Future”, Museu da Cidade – Oca, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Remediações”, Project Season, Paço das Artes, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“El Museo Imposible de las Cosas Vivas”, PArC Lima, Peru.
2011
-“Unpredictable Signs of Revolt”, Lampione, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
-“The Impossible Museum of Living Things”, The Office, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
2008
-Annual Exhibition Program, Cultural Centre São Paulo, Brazil.
2006
-“Crossed References”, Museum of Art of Ribeirão Preto, , Brazil.
2004
-“What Occupies the Body”, Ateliê Aberto, Campinas, Brazil.
Group Exhibitions
2015
– “The World As It Is and the World As It Could Be”, ArteBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
-“Empresa colonial”, Caixa Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“I was once lonelyness”, Blain|Southern Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
-International Photography Festival, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
-19th Contemporary Arts Festival Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“1 (UM)”, BFA Boatos, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“CFB: 25 Years”, Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“Moving Collections III”, National Museum of Brasilia, Brazil.
-5th Prize Sesi Marcantônio Vilaça, Museum of Contemporary Art of Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Crossroad”, Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2014
-“Our Voice”, Casa do Povo, São Paulo Brazil.
-“Situations Brasília”, National Museum of Brasilia, Brazil.
-“Authorship, Curatorship and Counter-reform”, Estudio Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Permanent Playfulness”, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Taipa Tapume”, Galeria Leme, São Paulo, Brazil.
-Art and Heritage Prize, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“The Artist as…,” Pivô Art Space, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Advertisers, Latitude plataforma digital”, revista Select / ABACT, online.
2013
-“Conversation Pieces”, NBK, Berlin, Germany.
-“Love and Hate to Lygia Clark”, Gallery Nacional Zacheta, Warsaw, Poland.
-“P33_Unique Forms of Continuity in Space”, 33rd Panorama de Arte Brasileira, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil.
-9th Mercosul Biennial, “Weather Permiting”, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-10th São Paulo Architecture Biennial, City: W”ays of Making, Ways of Using”, Cultural Centre São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Mythologies”, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, Brazil.
2012
-“Counter Bartering, 9th Edition of Rede Nacional Funarte, Belo Horizonte and Recife, Brazil.
2011
-“Mythologies”, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France.
-“Strategies for Public Occupation”, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, USA.
-“Instant: Experience/Event”, Sesc, Campinas, Brazil.
-“When in Rome”, Malta Contemporary, Valleta, Malta.
-“OPEN#3”, Sale Docks, Venice, Italy.
2010
-“Comvideo”, Apexart, New York, USA.
-“Shadowed by the Future”, Institute Cervantes, São Paulo, Brazil.
-“Evasivas”, Gallery Penteado, Campinas, Brazil.
-“Urbaniform, Squat. The Informal City Under Construction”, Depot, Istambul, Turkey.
-“Urbaniform, Squat. The Informal City Under Construction”, Museum da Casa Brasileira, São Paulo, Brazil.
2009
-“3rd Utrecht Manifest” – Social Design Biennial, Utrecht, Netherlands.
-4th Architecture Biennial of Rotterdam, section urbaniform.net, online.
-Bookmarks, Magazine del Sale, Venice, Italy.
-“Public Turbulence”, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy.
-ETATW Curatorial Conference, NABA, Milan, Italy.
-“Auf Wiesersehen Berlin!”, E-flux Building, Berlin, Germany.
-“Beauty”, Museum Bispo do Rosário, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-“79>09”, Museum of Contemporary Art of Campinas, Brazil.
2008
-“Bodies Architecture”, Nothing to See Here magazine, NABA/FORMA, Milan, Italy.
2007
-MARP 15 Years, Museum of Art of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
-“Contemporary Brazilian Printmaking”, Pratt Institute, New York, USA.
2006
-9th Havana Biennial, Território São Paulo: São Paulo art collectives, Havana, Cuba.
-Rumos Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Florianópolis, Brazil.
-6th Goiás Art Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil.
-31st Sarp, Museum of Art of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
-Art Movimenta (Public Interventions), Funarte, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2005
-Mercosul Printmaking, Fundation Caja Granada, Granada, Spain.
2004
-9th Santos Biennial, Santos, Brazil.
2003
-35th Piracicaba Contemporary exhibition, Piracicaba, Brazil.
2002
-MAC Campinas, Brazil.
Talks, collaborations and curatorial projects
2015
-Recibo∆ Cartazes, Editorial Project, Traplev Publisher, Recife, Brazil.
2013
-The Artist as Public Intellectual, Pivot Art and Research, 10th Edition National Network Funarte, São Paulo, Brazil.
2012
-Counter Bartering, 9th EditionNational Network Funarte, São Paulo, Brazil.
2011
-Studio Visits blog, Goethe Institute, São Paulo, Brazil.
2010
-Silent City publication – Diagram for a Possible Productive Resistance, London, England.
-Answering Machine (part of the 29th São Paulo Biennial), Capacete, São Paulo, Brazil.
-1st Curatorial Meeting (forumpermanente.org), São Paulo, Brazil.
-Radical Intention, talk on urban actions, Milan, Italy.
2009
-Utopia for Sale, in collaboration with archive kabinnet, abc-def, Berlin, Germany.
-Cosa sucede a…, talk on collaborative practices, Casa Sestier, Venice, Italy.
-Jeux sans Frontier at Other Discourse’s Curatorial Project, CareOf, Milan, Italy.
2008
-Urban Alterations, visual essay for Making-Do Magazine), London, England.
-Crossed References_Counter Propaganda, visual essay on Itch online magazine, Johannesburg, South Africa.
-Milanpoli, Collective Curatorial Project, NABA, Milan, Italy.
-Connecting cultures, talk about São Paulo City Tellers film, Milan, Italy.
Residencies
2016
-Lugar a Dudas, Cali, Colombia.
2015
-Residency Unlimited, New York, USA.
2013
-JA.CA residency program, Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
2012
-RES-Ò residency platform: Eco & Narciso, Torino, Italy.
2011
-Other Possible Worlds, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Prizes and Fellowships
2015
-ICCo/SP-Arte Prize.
2014
-Situações Brasília Prize, National Museum of the Republic, Brasilia, Brazil.
2013
-JA.CA Centro de Arte e Tecnologia, residency program, Nova Lima, Brazil.
-Art and Heritage Prize, IPHAN – Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-Graham Foundation exhibition grant, Chicago, USA.
-New histories for an abstract reality, Proac, São Paulo, Brazil.
-The Artist as Public Intellectual…, Curatorial Exhibition Project, 10th Edition National Network Funarte.
2012
-Counter Bartering, Curatorial Exhibition Project, 9th Edition National Network Funarte.
-2nd Mário Pedrosa Prize for essays on Contemporary Art and Culture, Recife, Brazil.
2011
-The Life of the Centers project, Proac – support from the state of São Paulo to produce photographic book, São Paulo, Brazil.
-Procultura MinC, Government support for the web magazine and platform Translados.org, Brazil.
2010
-Brazilian government travel aid for artists.
2008
-M.A. Scholarship, New Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, Italy.
2006
-31st Ribeirão Preto Contemporary Exhibition.
2003
-35th Piracicaba Contemporary Exhibition, Piracicaba, Brazil.
2002
-Museum of Contemporary Art of Campinas, Brazil.
Public Collections
-National Museum of the Republi, Brasilia, Brazil.
-Paço Imperial- IPHAN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
-Museum of Art of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
-Museum of Contemporary Art José Pancetti, Campinas, Brazil.
-Pinacoteca de Piracicaba, Brazil.
-Estampería Quinteña, Quito, Ecuador.
-House of the Americas, Havana, Cuba.
-Museum of Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Bibliography
-Neves Marques, Pedro. Brazil, Deadly Environment: Desenvolvimentismo in the work of Paulo Tavares and Beto Shwafaty, 2016. Terremoto magazine #5: Todas las Fiestas del Ayer. http://terremoto.mx/article/pedronevesmarques/
-Mazzucchelli, Kiki. Contrato of Risco, Galeria Luisa Strina, 2015. http://terremoto.mx/risk-contract/
-Mazzucchelli, Kiki. Beto Shwafaty. Flash Art #300, 2015. http://www.flashartonline.com/article/beto-shwafaty/
-Laia,João. Art Rio, 2015. http://terremoto.mx/art-rio/
-Köchling, Carolin. Foundations of the Design Substance. Kuba Paris, 2014. http://kubaparis.com/beto-shwafaty/
-Azulgaray,Paula. O Brasil em colisão, Revista Isto É, 2014.
-Spricigo,Vinicius. Tristes Tropos. Paço das Artes, 2014
-Marins, Mirtes. Serventias do Moderno. Panorama Arte Brasileira [cat.], MAM SP, 2013.
Related Posts
- Beto Shwafaty's new video on the Kinoscope platform focuses on the transformation of work
- Kinoscope exhibits a film by Maura Grimaldi and a text-dialogue between the artist and Leandro Muniz
- Beto Shwafaty participates in Ireland's Biennial of Contemporary Art
- Brazilian contemporary art in focus in "Ação e Reação"
- The question of what is panting guides "Painting or not"
- "Pacific Standard Times: LA/LA" features over 60 exhibitions across Southern California
- "Condemned to be modern" explores the relationship between architecture and politics
- On view | In "Hablemos de Reparaciones" different narratives and materials gain new statuses
- Beto Shwafaty presents his first solo show in Europe: "Hablamos de Reparaciones"
- 38 contemporary Brazilian artists participate in the group exhibition "Soft Power. Arte Brasil."
