ROMMULO VIEIRA CONCEIÇÃO
Salvador (BA), Brazil, 1968. Lives and works in Porto Alegre (RS), Brazil.
 
Master in Visual Poetics (UFRGS, 2007), PhD in Geosciences (UFRGS, 1999), and professor in the Graduate Program in Geosciences, Rommulo Vieira Conceição problematizes the categories of modern and contemporary by starting from the distinction between space and place. Places are historically identified according to the activity practiced in each of them. Yet, as the globalized world undergoes a process of increasingly complex economic relations, Rommulo questions the transformation of place into abstract space. If modernity was dominated by a functional obsession, the artist mobilizes spaces that embody permanence and dysfunctionality. They are arches that sustain nothing, windows that lead nowhere. Space is permanent, but time holds transience. To investigate public space is to question who, after all, truly lived modern space.

 

A participating artist of the 35th São Paulo Biennial, Rommulo has works in public collections such as Inhotim, São Paulo State Art Gallery (Pinacoteca), São Paulo Cultural Center (CCSP), and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC USP). He has participated in exhibitions including: Rumos Itaú Cultural (2006 edition), Agora/Ágora (Santander Cultural, Porto Alegre, 2009), Dos Brasis: Art and Black Thought (SESC Belenzinho, São Paulo, 2023), and the 8th and 10th editions of the Mercosul Biennial. Between 2017 and 2018, he participated in Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, in the exhibition Axé Bahia: The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis (Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, 2018). He was nominated for the PIPA Prize (2010, 2011, and 2018) and has numerous critical texts written about his work by Tadeu Chiarelli, Agnaldo Farias, Angélica de Moraes, Guilherme Wisnick, and Roberto Conduru.

 
SOLO SHOWS

2023 – Silver Brick, Aura Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

2022 – Due(t)lo, Ocre Gallery, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2019 – All That Is Solid Melts into Air, Cultural Center of the Federal Court of Accounts, Brasília, Brazil

2017 – All That Is Solid Melts into Air, Gestual Gallery, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2016 – Of the Subtle Delicacy of Rain, Monique Paton Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2015 – My Space and Yours Meet in an Area of Subtle Color, Goethe-Institut, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2013 – Any Place, Casa Triângulo Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

2013 – In the Absence of the First, Fill in with the Second, Estúdio Dezenove, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2012 – Carefully, Through, Mario Schenberg Gallery – Funarte, São Paulo, Brazil

2012 – In Space, the Void, Gestual Gallery, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2011 – In Between, 8th Mercosul Biennial, Casa M Showcase, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2009 – Carefully Through, Pro Artibus Art-Residence Gallery, Ekenäs, Finland

2008 – Kitchen-Bathroom, Projéteis, Funarte, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2007 – From Plan to Space, São Paulo Cultural Center, São Paulo, Brazil

2007 – From Plan to Space, Municipal Gallery Barão de Santo Ângelo, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2003 – Number 5 – Torreão, Torreão, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2001 – A Camping Tent…, Goethe-Institut Gallery, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2000 – The Materialization of Impossibility, Casa de Cultura Mário Quintana, Porto Alegre, Brazil

1999 – Saturn or the Emasculation of the Father, Universal English Course Gallery, Salvador, Brazil

1998 – Gaps, Delicate Eating Gallery, Canberra, Australia

 
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

2024 – Between Lines: Aurelino dos Santos and Rommulo Vieira Conceição, Afro Brazil Museum Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo, Brazil

2024 – MON Without Walls, Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Curitiba, Brazil

2023 – Collective Exhibition, São Pedro Factory Cultural Center, Itu, Brazil

2023 – From the Brazils: Art and Black Thought, SESC (traveling exhibition), São Paulo, Brazil

2023 – 35th São Paulo Biennial, Choreographies of the Impossible, São Paulo, Brazil

2022 – Common Place, Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC USP), São Paulo, Brazil

2021 – Frestas – Arts Triennial, SESC Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil

2017 – Axé Bahia: The Power of Art in an Afro-Brazilian Metropolis, Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

2017 – Black Traces, Caixa Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil

2017 – Duchamp’s Fountain: 100 Years of Contemporary Art, Museum of Art from Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2016 – Black Port, Érico Veríssimo Cultural Center, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2016 – Territories: Afro-descendant Artists in the Pinacoteca Collection, São Paulo State Art Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

2016 – Transmigrations, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul (MACRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2016 – Art x Advertising, Museum of Art from Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2016 – What’s Your Location?, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait City, Kuwait

2015 – Biography of Urban Life, 10th Mercosul Biennial, Memorial of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2015 – AudioVisual Without Destination – AVSD, Institute of Arts Pinacoteca, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2014 – Studies, Sketches and Poetic Essays on Architecture and Border Territories, Carbono Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

2014 – Casa Triângulo at Pivô, Pivô Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

2014 – Distractions of Memory, The Museum as a Way to Review the World, Museum of Art from Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2014 – Singularities/Notes: Itaú Cultural Visual Arts Program 1998–2013, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil

2014 – Manifesto: Power, Desire, Intervention, Museum of Art from Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2013 – The Beautiful Death – Confrontations with 21st Century Still Life, Museum of Art from Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2013 – In Between: Curatorship A–Z, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul (MACRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2013 – The Now, the Before – A Synthesis of the MAC Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC USP), São Paulo, Brazil

2012 – Chromomuseum: Post-pictorialism in the Museum Context, Museum of Art from Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

2011 – Experiment Zero, Plataforma Espaço de Criação, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2011 – Agora: Simultaneous/Instantaneous, Santander Cultural, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2011 – Peripheral Borderlines, Banco do Nordeste Cultural Center, Fortaleza, Brazil

2010 – Parallel 30: Tripé Project, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil

2009 – Pessoal – Drawings Romances, Zavaleta-LAB Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2008 – Minimum Borders, Collective intervention alongside Fronteiras do Pensamento, Porto Alegre, Brazil

2008 – Yo no entendí muy bien, qué dices?, International Artists Residency in Argentina (RIAA), Ostende, Argentina

2008 – Looks Conceptual or How I Mistook Carl André for a Pile of Bricks, Vermelho Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

2006 – Rumos Itaú Cultural 2005/2006, Itinerant exhibition across São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Campo Grande, Brazil

2002 – Number 4 – Barra 1, Atelier Aberto Project, Porto Alegre, Brazil

 
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES

2012 – Marcantonio Vilaça Prize, 5th Edition, Funarte
2012 – Funarte Contemporary Art Prize, São Paulo Galleries
2008 – 1st Funarte Production Prize in Visual Arts
2007 – Selection, Projéteis Project, Funarte
2007 – Selection, São Paulo Cultural Center, Exhibition Program
2007 – Selection, Dialogues Project, 6th Mercosul Biennial
2006 – Itaú Cultural Visual Arts Program
2001 – Goethe-Institut, Porto Alegre, Brazil (Artistic Residency)
2009 – Pro Artibus International Art Residency, Ekenäs, Finland
2008 – International Artists Residency in Argentina (RIAA), Buenos Aires and Ostende, Argentina
2006 – University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
 
INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS

• São Paulo State Art Gallery (Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo), São Paulo, Brazil

• Museum of Art from Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

• Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul (MACRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

• Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC USP), São Paulo, Brazil

• Afro Brazil Museum Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo, Brazil

• Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON), Curitiba, Brazil

• Instituto Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil

• Marcos Amaro Art Factory (FAMA Museum), Itu, Brazil

PUBLICATIONS

Chiarelli, T. (2016). Territories: Afro-descendant artists in the Pinacoteca collection. São Paulo: São Paulo State Art Gallery (Pinacoteca). IPSIS Ed., 127p., ill.
Cintrão, R. (2014). Living with Art: Temporary Exhibitions 2012/2013. São Paulo: Santander Cultural / Perfil Cultural Ed., 224p., ill.
Pasqual, V. (2013). I Lived an Art History. Ed. Modelo de Nuvem, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. 224p., ill.
Te s]xOH. Journal of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul (MACRS). Volume 1, July–September, 2013.
In Between: Curatorship A–Z. Curated by Ana Zavadil. Porto Alegre: MACRS, 2013.
Carefully, Through. Curated by Angélica de Moraes and Bruna Fetter. São Paulo: Funarte, 2013.
8th Mercosul Biennial: Essays on Geopoetics. Coordination: Alexandre Dias Ramos. General curator: José Roca. Porto Alegre: Mercosul Biennial Foundation, 2011.
Agora/Ágora: Creation and Transgression in Network. Curated by Angélica de Moraes. Santander Cultural / Estúdio Nômade, Porto Alegre, May 2011.
PIPA Prize, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 2010.
PIPA Prize, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 2011.
Tripé 2010: Writing: Parallel 30. Curated by Jailton Moreira and Lucia Santos. São Paulo: SESC SP, 2011.
RIAA: International Artist Residency in Argentina, 3rd Edition. Curated by Melina Berkenwald and Gachi Hasper. Buenos Aires: RIAA, 2008.
Projéteis FUNARTE Contemporary Art Award, 2007–2008. Funarte – Brasil Mostra a Sua Arte, 2006.
Junior, L.L.; Sobral, D.; Tejo, C.; Chaimovich, F. National Art Salon of Goiás, 6th Prêmio Flamboyant, 2006.
Rumos Visual Arts Itaú Cultural 2005–2006. Amaral, A.; Tejo, C.; Mokarzel, M.; Duarte, L.; Lagnado, L.; Farias, A.; Cattani, I.; Interlenghi, L.; Panitz, M.; dos Anjos, M.; Melendi, M.A.; Huchet, S.; Safatle, V. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural, 2006.
Conceição, R.V. (2011). Very Little Is Known About This, Yet. In: Agora/Ágora, Creation and Transgression in Network. Exhibition catalogue. Santander Cultural / Estúdio Nômade, Porto Alegre, RS.
Conceição, R.V. (2010). First of All: From Where I Speak, What I Speak About, and Why I Speak About It. Investigações, no. 11. ISSN 2178-3993.
Visual Arts Connection. MinC, Funarte, Petrobras.