By Giuliano de Miranda
The participation of Nathan Braga in the first Brazilian Pavilion of Gwangju Biennale This marks an important moment in his career and also in the presence of Brazilian artists at one of the main international events dedicated to contemporary art. Based in Espírito Santo, the artist will be the only representative of the state in the exhibition. Devourings of Tomorrow – Brazil in its infancy, curated by Aldones Nino and Bruna Levi, which will bring together 35 Brazilian artists in the historic debut of a national pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale, held in South Korea.
Created in 1995, the Biennial was born as an outgrowth of the memory of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising and has established itself as one of the most important international platforms for contemporary art. In its 16th edition, the main exhibition adopts the theme... You Must Change Your Life (“You must change your life”), inspired by the final verse of the poem. Archaic Torso of Apollo, by Rainer Maria Rilke, inviting artists and the public to reflect on transformation, imagination, and possible futures.
In the case of Nathan Braga, the idea of transformation permeates all of his work. Before entering the Visual Arts field, he studied Chemistry. Later he would understand that the processes of altering matter could also structure his artistic research. His education at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), followed by a master's and doctorate in Art and Contemporary Culture, strengthened a practice in which sculpture, literature, education, and material experimentation mutually nourish each other. Today, in addition to his studio work, Nathan coordinates the Culture Program of [Institution Name - likely missing from the original text]. Sesc Espírito Santo and brings a new configuration of the facility to South Korea. Fragile Silence, an unfolding of research on balance, time and transformation.
In the following conversation, the artist revisits his training, discusses the shifts that marked his research, and his participation in the Gwangju Biennial:
Giuliano de Miranda: Looking at your trajectory, it's striking that your training began in Chemistry before you arrived at Visual Arts. At what point did these paths cease to seem distinct and begin to constitute a single research area?
Nathan Braga: For a long time, I thought those years studying Chemistry were behind me. When I entered Visual Arts at UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University), I had the impression that I was starting a completely different path. Over time, I came to understand that this wasn't true. Chemistry has always been present in the history of art. The studio is also a laboratory, a place where matter is transformed. My first more intense contact with this perception happened in printmaking. I already understood many of the chemical processes involved in that process and realized that this knowledge broadened my relationship with artistic production.
Today I understand that no experience is wasted. Everything we live through finds a place within research, even if it only makes sense many years later.
GM: This idea that different experiences end up converging also appears in the relationship between art and education, which has been present throughout your career.
NB: I have always identified myself as both an artist and an educator. That's why I completed both a bachelor's degree and a teaching degree. Later came a master's degree in Art and Contemporary Culture, a specialization in Artistic Languages, Culture and Education, and, more recently, a doctorate, investigating precisely the limits of artistic language and its relationships with literature, poetry, and writing.
I am a very dedicated reader, and a large part of my work stems from these readings. I have never been able to separate thought from practice. Research continues within the studio, and the studio also produces theories. Throughout my career, many people have tried to divide these two identities, as if it were necessary to choose between being an artist or an educator. For me, that has never existed. Both are part of my practice.
GM: Does this understanding also help explain your approach to cultural management?
NB: Yes. At a certain point I realized that it wasn't enough to just produce or teach. It was also important to participate in the spaces where cultural policies are built.
My first significant experience in this regard occurred at the Mercosur Biennial. I joined as an educational supervisor for the 13th edition and later became part of the team for the 14th Biennial, working on the editorial coordination of educational materials. It was a very important experience because the Mercosur Biennial was a pioneer in recognizing pedagogical curatorship as a field of activity equivalent to artistic curatorship. This understanding has always resonated with my beliefs. Later, I took on the role of Director of Education at the Casa do Governador Cultural Park (ES) and currently coordinate the Culture Program at Sesc Espírito Santo, developing initiatives for the decentralization and internalization of culture. I believe that artists also need to participate in the places where decisions are made. It is there that public policies, budgets, project continuity, and the future of institutions are discussed. Being part of these spaces is also a way to practice art.
GM: Your work has been presented in different contexts, totaling seven solo exhibitions throughout your career. Which moments do you consider most significant in this journey, and how have these exhibitions contributed to the development of your research?
NB: I consider my professional journey to have begun in 2018, when I completed my undergraduate degree. Since then, I have held seven solo exhibitions, and I realize that each one corresponds to a stage in the development of my research.
Among these experiences, I consider bassa danzaThe exhibition, presented in 2024 at the Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro, was a significant turning point. It brought together approximately 25 works produced between 2019 and 2024, distributed across four series, curated by Aldo Victorio Filho. It was also my first solo exhibition in the city where I was born. Until that point, since my undergraduate studies, I had been developing research related to updating my artistic vision. Vanitas (The ephemeral nature of life)...especially drawing from Christian symbols associated with death. This work had a very strong autobiographical dimension. I lost my mother when I was seven years old and was raised by my father and grandfather. For a long time, my work was linked to her absence, to the memory of someone I physically resemble, but about whom I retain few references, because memory tends to fail, selecting and editing many things. As the research progressed, I began to understand that this issue was not limited to my personal experience.
It was also an investigation into Thanatos and how Christian culture, so present in the formation of the country, structures our relationship with death, mourning, absence, and the images produced around these experiences. bassa danza The exhibition brought together works related to that early stage of my career, but also presented issues that have guided my more recent production. The title comes from an Italian dance characterized by slow, expansive, and restrained movements. I was interested in reducing the vibrancy and intensity of the gestures, thinking of the exhibition as a kind of dance performed at a lower level. With continued practice in the studio, I understood that I was moving towards silence. It was this reduction that I sought in the work, both in the formal field and in the way of organizing the works in space. Therefore, I consider that the exhibition marked a transition between my previous research and what I have been developing currently.
GM: Besides solo exhibitions, what experiences have been crucial in expanding the material and institutional possibilities of your work?
NB: A significant moment was the artistic residency I undertook in 2019 at the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP), an educational and cultural institution located in São Paulo. The residency offered me the opportunity to experiment with materials that I was not yet able to fully develop in my studio. It was during this period that I had, for the first time, the chance to work with brass, a material that has come to occupy an important and recurring place in my production. The residency experience broadened the technical and formal possibilities of my research and directly influenced the development of my subsequent works. Following this period at FAAP, two of my works were incorporated into the collection of the Institution's Museum (MAB-FAAP). Recently, these works also participated in a commemorative exhibition dedicated to the history of the FAAP collection.
GM: Your work has also become part of the collections of Brazilian museums. What do these incorporations represent within your career path?
NB: The inclusion of my works in institutional collections follows their circulation and the maturation of the research itself. After my experience at FAAP, other museums began to incorporate my works into their collections.
One of the works is part of the collection of the Rio Art Museum (MAR), in Rio de Janeiro. This acquisition occurred through a process mediated by the MAR's Education Coordinator, Patricia Marys, and the curator Marcelo Campos. MAR is an institution dedicated to the training, preservation, and presentation of a collection focused on art and visual culture, with special attention to the historical, social, and cultural relationships that permeate the city of Rio de Janeiro. I also have two works in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul (MACRS), in Porto Alegre. This incorporation has an important connection to the period I lived in Rio Grande do Sul and developed part of my artistic research. More than considering these acquisitions solely as professional recognition, I see inclusion in a collection as a possibility for permanence and circulation. The works cease to depend exclusively on temporary exhibitions and become part of an institutional memory, allowing them to be researched, exhibited, and placed in dialogue with other works and different moments in art history.
GM: Your participation in the first Brazilian Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale stems from a relationship built over many years with curator Aldones Nino. How did this connection develop, and how did it lead to the invitation to participate in the Biennale?
NB: My relationship with Aldones dates back to the end of 2018, when I went to Spain on a scholarship to study Fine Arts. We were both experiencing very similar situations. Universities were making it difficult to accept our documentation, and we faced episodes of xenophobia. A mutual friend put us in touch, and since then, we have built a very strong friendship. I followed his work, and he followed mine. I participated in the first exhibition he curated. At that time, there was practically no infrastructure. I even painted the exhibition wall myself because there wasn't enough money to hire someone. We grew together, following each other's research and processes. Now, in curating the first Brazilian Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale, Aldones thought of my work and invited me to be part of the exhibition. I was very honored. There is a relationship built over years, based on trust and following each other's research.
GM: The work chosen to represent your research in South Korea is Fragile SilenceHow was this facility built and what research does it encompass?
NB: I'm bringing a piece of work that I presented at my last solo exhibition, held at the Mercedes Viegas Gallery in Rio de Janeiro last year. The installation is called... Fragile SilenceIt stems directly from research that began in bassa danza. I believe that exhibition led me to an investigation into silence and how to think about silence throughout history. Initially, there were two independent works: Fragile Silence I e Fragile Silence II. These were separate mobiles. For the Biennial, I developed an installation that brings together mobiles inspired by the first two works. They are mobiles constructed of brass, glass, and ceramic. The glass, in some way, mimics certain birds. This is the image that guides my thinking during the process, although I never like to tell the public exactly what they should see. I think that experience also belongs to the viewer. Glass interests me because it works with refraction and reflection, characteristics that also appear in the plumage of many birds. It's a material I've been researching for some time, along with ceramics.
GM: Literature appears constantly in your research. How does it permeate the construction of Fragile Silence?
NB: I consider myself a reader. My artistic practice is deeply connected to literature. I really enjoy reading and I believe that a large part of my work originates from writers and poets. While preparing bassa danzaI was reading Eros, the bittersweet From Anne Carson's reading, I began to reflect on fire and its transformative power. Carson discusses how fire permeates the great classics of literature and appears associated with desire, love, and human transformation. This idea became part of my research.
Clay only becomes ceramic because it goes through fire. The glass I use is produced using the technique of... fusing...which also depends on heat to take shape. Even brass, depending on its thickness, requires fire to be molded. I realized that practically all the materials I use go through this transforming agent. Therefore, fire has ceased to be merely a technical procedure and has become a conceptual aspect of the work.
GM: The theme of the Brazilian Pavilion proposes the idea of Devouring Tomorrow. How does Fragile Silence dialogue with this curatorial proposal conceived by Aldones Nino?
NB: I think this connection happens much more through the process than through the final work.
The installation doesn't literally thematize devouring. It doesn't represent that concept directly. But I believe Aldones understood that my entire process is permeated by transformation. Fire devours matter to produce something else. It transforms clay into ceramics, transforms glass, and participates in practically the entire construction of the work. There's also another important dimension. Fragile Silence works with a very delicate idea of balance. The mobiles support pieces of glass and ceramic that remain in tension. The mere approach of the visitor is enough to alter this balance. The displacement of air caused by the body already interferes with the installation. It's as if the very presence of the other devours the silence that existed before. That's why I believe the dialogue with the curatorial proposal is much more present in the process of constructing the work than in a literal representation of the theme.
GM: The first Brazilian Pavilion represents a historic moment for the Gwangju Biennale. How do you see this initiative and the significance of participating in it?
NB: I think there's a growing appreciation for Latin American art, and especially Brazilian art. The market also participates in this process, mainly through the circulation of young artists.
But I find Aldones' curatorial decision very beautiful. He could have brought together only artists represented by major Brazilian galleries. That would have produced a different kind of pavilion. Instead, he chose to build a very diverse representation of the country, bringing together artists from different regions, backgrounds, and structures. I, for example, don't have a gallery in Brazil. I'm an independent artist. I sell my work directly from my studio. Even so, I'm participating alongside established artists and others who have a very different structure from mine. Throughout the organization, there was also a collective concern to ensure that independent artists could participate. Those with larger structures helped with the logistics of the works of those who didn't have that support. I think that represents Brazil very well.
GM: Your presence at the Biennial was also made possible by a grant from the Espírito Santo State Department of Culture. What does arriving in Gwangju mean at this point in your career?
NB: I will only be able to attend the opening of the Biennial thanks to the grant from the Espírito Santo State Department of Culture. This was the second time I applied for this support. Therefore, this participation represents much more than a trip. It consolidates a trajectory that began in 2018, marked by the pandemic and built daily within the studio. I believe in studio work, experimentation, and time as fundamental elements of artistic practice. Being in Gwangju, alongside artists I have always admired, is a great achievement. I also recently experienced another very important moment, starting with the exhibition. bassa danzaTwo sculptures and a painting became part of the collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts. It was the first museum I ever visited. Today I see these works circulating in traveling exhibitions throughout the country, and that has a very special meaning for me. The Gwangju Biennial arrives as another step in this journey. Not as an end point, but as the continuation of research that continues to transform.
