BIO

Marisa Caichiolo is an artist and curator who studied art history and curatorial studies, she holds a PhD in art history and psychology.

Her research focuses primarily on the impact on social and political changes in society. She focuses on cultural exchanges researching cultural production fluctuating between theory and practice.

Her curatorial projects have been shown internationally, including, AMA Museum, Museum of United Nations, Washington DC, (USA) , AAL Museum, (Chile),  Manhattan Beach Art Center, Manhattan Beach (California), LUM Museum of Memory, Lima, (Perú), MUSA Museum of Arts of the University of Guadalajara (Mexico); Kirchner Cultural Center, Buenos Aires, (Argentina); DOX Center for Contemporary Arts, Prague (Czech Republic); Frost Science Museum, Miami (USA); PVAC PalosVerdes Art Center, Palos Verdes (California); Building Bridges Art Foundation, Los Angeles (California); KATARA Cultural Center, Doha (Qatar); Sharjah Museum of Contemporary Art, Dubai (United Arab Emirates); Anaheim Muzeo Museum andCultural Center, Anaheim (California); Telefónica Art Foundation, Santiago(Chile); Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, (California) among others.

She is the founder  of Building Bridges International Art Foundation an international non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California.  The foundation is conceived to be a platform for critical thinking, and researching; local and international programs in Los Angeles; art residencies; and education programs among others.

She was and it is  part of the curatorial team for several international biennials, such as Cuenca Biennial, Cuenca (Ecuador), the Casablanca Biennale, Morocco; Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Biennial of the Americas,Denver, Colorado; among others. 

She is also an active board member for  AAL Museum, Chile, Bugatti Foundation, Italy; Now Art LA, Los Angeles; and the Advisory Board of the DAP Program at The Broad, Los Angeles. 

Marisa Caichiolo's CV.

STATEMENT 

Over the last twenty years, regardless of its variations, my work has focused on reflecting about the skin. Skin as a metaphor, as a shield, as a mediating element and a support for a nomadic identity, always changing, always expectant, exposed to interacting with others and the construction of my feminine and feminist self.

From my perspective as a displaced woman-artist-curator, skin is that layer, that blanket, that barrier (always permeable), which separates our inner world from the outer realm and its harshness. At the starting point, I use skin as a symbol, as a narrative structure, later transforming it into a medium and conceptual support. It is from there, from that place, that I approach topics beyond the basic notions of biology and cognition in order to reach reflections of another scope, leaning more into social and political themes. I am particularly interested in power relations: their discursive-linguistic instrumentation and their potential for the diminishment and deconstruction of dominant orders.

This quest has led me to explore new paths, environments and subversive strategies associated with insurrection, without ever jeopardizing my artwork’s hedonistic nature and aesthetic dimension. During this process, I have incorporated the use of different materials into artistic practice, as I find them more malleable to transport the pieces. Time has also borne witness to my work’s metamorphosis, which has acquired a certain levity in terms of materials, thickness and volume, but also has become more intense and critical from a conceptual point of view.

In the explorative phrase of my latest series "How else can I serve you?", I was immersed in an intense conversation with myself. In the series, skin thickens until it forms a callus and turns into metal and silver objects. Subsequently, I make the metal burst open in a very sensual or sexual way, and transform it into something permeable and fragile to create an organic shock with the use of my own hair through embroidery (a practice that I feel very attached to since my grandmother's death).

This is where my critical commentary comes in, denouncing hidden violence, abuse and immigration as narratives of the ceaseless dominance and vexation that have led women to spaces of silence and forced subjugation. I confess that, in my professional evolution, I have developed a great predilection for artistic residencies as the main platforms for developing artistic projects. I firmly believe that the creation process should not be carried out from a closed-up studio. Instead, we should establish connections with what happens in other parts around the globe, fostering interaction and growth, which can only flourish from contact with other people and cultures.

In recent years, exhibitions of my work have always been under the gaze and supervision of curators and I have participated in solo exhibitions and small group showings, always under 10 artists. I have recently exhibited in China; in LosAngeles for the PST Getty under the curatorship of Isabel Roja Williams; and in Foto España, Madrid, under the curatorship of AndrésIsaac Santana.Also at the OscarNiemeyer Museum during Brazil’sCuritiba Biennial, curated by Gabriela Urtiaga; at the ThousandOaks Museum under the curatorship of Lynn Farrand; at Ecuador’s Museum ofModern Art in Cuenca under the curatorship of Dermis Leon; and in Italy at the Vimercate Museum curated by Martina Corgnati from the Brera Academi  Milano; among others.

When discussing my career, I prefer to talk about fixations and obsessions. If I detect any personal obsession, I try to observe and analyze it from an objective perspective, because I often have a bipolar attitude when it comes to separating my curatorial practice from my artistic practice. In fact, I never incorporate my own work into any project when I am involved as curator.

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS , MUSEUMS & CULTURAL CENTERS

Chile - AAL Museum, Panquehue, Chile. 

Mexico- MUSA Museum of Contemporary Art of University of Guadalajara.

Italy - Bugatti Foundation  &  Fundazione  Rossi  

Italy - Collezione Carmela Sanguedolce curated by Martina Corgnati /Academy Brera, Milano.

China - OFFA Museum of Olympic Fine Arts 

India- Tagore Cultural Center.

China - Qindao Museum of Contemporary Art.

Los Angeles - Kashfian Private Collection.

Los Angeles - Japanese Cultural Center. 

Los Angeles - Lidia & Eduardo Rubinstein's Collection. 

AWARDS

2019- Arts Patron & Building Bridge Award  - Santa Monica Arts  Award - Senate USA/ Sanator Ben Allen - 26th District - Santa Monica - CA

2019- Arts Patron Award - Santa Monica Arts Leadership Award - Santa Monica Foundation - Santa Monica - CA

2014- Selected best work - Qindao Biennial - Qindao -China

2011- Mention best installaition - Reconsidering Earth - National Gallery - Jackarta - Indonesia

2009 - Selected by David Pagel - Los Angeles Times Prize – 825 Gallery

2008 - Selected by the International Olympic committee to be part of the permanent collection of the Museum FineArts- Beijing - China

1997 - Selected Young artists prize- Palace de Glaze- Buenos Aires- Argentina

1996 - Second Prize -Young artists -  Klein Foundation - Argentina