Dr. Simões Paiva has a Master's in Art History, Theory and Criticism and a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies, both from the University of São Paulo (USP). Currently, she is a professor at the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB), Brazil, where she teaches interdisciplinary arts and critical race studies. She is a member of the Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA) and the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). Her research focuses on relations of gender, race, ethnicity, and geopolitics in contemporary Latin American art, a theme that also crosses her practical work in painting and images made with reproducible techniques, such as stencils, stamps, and prints.
Current position
Visiting researcher - School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds (UK)
Mar-Aug 2023 - Post-doctoral Researcher (ECR) at the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds (UK). Supervision: Professor Thea Pitman. Scholarship: National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Brazil). Research topics: decoloniality, visual arts, cultural studies, contemporary art, ecology, technology, and political activism.
Since 2015(Currently on sabbatical) - Professor in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture. Interdisciplinary Degree in Arts and Technologies/Master's Program in Teaching and Ethno-Racial Relations. Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB), Brazil. This public university has gained international recognition for its inclusive pedagogical policy, decolonial curricula, and active presence in Indigenous and Afro-diasporic communities. Duties: Teaching courses related to contemporary art, art history, cultural studies, and decoloniality; Leading practical workshops to foster creativity and community building through hands-on activities like woodcut printing, stencilling, graffiti, poster-making, zine production and audio-visual in rural and urban spaces; Advising undergraduate and graduate students; Coordinating research and university extension projects; Involvement in Indigenous, Afro-diasporic, agroecological and peripheral urban communities’ projects.
*From Oct 2019 to Jan 2023, I was Director at the Provost Office of Culture and Extension (Federal University of Southern Bahia /PROEX). It is a department for social and cultural policies in vulnerable communities in the territories covered by the university. I led a complex regulatory process in the university to comply with new federal legislation that provides that all Brazilian universities must, from 2023, include pedagogical practices carried out directly with socially vulnerable communities in their territories, such as indigenous and Afro-diasporic groups.
Qualification
2011/2014. PhD. - Postgraduate Program in Latin American Integration, University of São Paulo (PROLAM/USP), Brazil. Area: Latin American Studies. Line: Theory, Criticism and History of Art. Title: São Paulo and Buenos Aires: support cities for the new urban art. Advisor: Lisbeth Rebollo Gonçalves. FULL SCHOLARSHIP: Coordination for improving Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
2005/ 2008. Master’s degree - Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program in Aesthetics and Art History, University of São Paulo (PGEHA/USP), Brazil. Line: Theory, Criticism and History of Art. Title: Horror and Enchantment in the Art of Francisco Brennand. Advisor: Lisbeth Rebollo Gonçalves. FULL SCHOLARSHIP: Coordination for improving Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
1996. Postgraduate Certificate in Media and Economics - Foundation School of Sociology and Politics of São Paulo, Brazil. Title: Economic Perspectives. Advisor: Edmilson Costa.
1992/1995. BA in Social Communication. São Paulo State University Júlio de Mesquita Filho, UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil. (2:1)
Partnerships
Since 2018 - Partnership with NGO Thydêwá, coordinated by Sebastian Gerlic, for projects on Indigenous Art and Technology. E.g.: 1) Indigenous Electronic Art (2018), with lectures and student visits to the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Bahia. http://aei.art.br/ 2) CARA: Artistic Co-Creations, Resistances, and Ancestralities (2020), an online artistic residency for UFSB students and indigenous artists. http://aei.art.br/cara/. See more: https://www.thydewa.org/
Since 2021 – “Útero Amotara Zabelê”, a project in the Tupinambá indigenous territory, south of Bahia, Brazil, organised by the Yakuy Tupinambá, Advisory Board Member of UNESCO Sost Transcriativa. Barcelona Chair. The project proposes the first philosophical school of the native peoples of the Americas, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda in Brazil. We work together with artistic and educational experiences involving indigenous communities and non-indigenous students. https://levantazabele.com/(website under construction)
Since 2021 - Founder and Coordinator of the Critical Plurality Project, Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA). The project aims to support actions to strengthen the fields of decolonial criticism. The project was approved in an assembly in 2021 and started to count on the collaboration of numerous association members. The project is part of my research and observation of reality as an art critic. It aims to support permanent actions to strengthen the work of professionals in the fields of theory, criticism and art history, to alleviate distortions imposed by the social, historical and structural inequalities, whose consequences are in the symbolic and cultural dimension of our society. The first action was the organisation of an internal ABCA commission to implement the project, which initially invited many new members, mainly Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous people, who work with criticism from a decolonial perspective. In addition to practical actions, the project also intends to support epistemological discussions about the place of criticism in the “decolonial turn” in the arts. One of the project's most important results was the creation of new categories for the annual ABCA award, more inclusive and in line with the decolonial agenda.
Since 2017 – “Images of Difference, Experiences of the Common". The research, teaching, and extension project is a partnership between the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB) and the project "Inventing with Difference" from the Federal Fluminense University (UFF), coordinated by Professor Alemar Rena at UFSB. By combining cinema, education, and human rights, I led the production of videos by students and communities. I also applied the project in the Pataxó Indigenous community, Aldeia Kaí, producing a “film letter”. E.g.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tNDreHlh94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW9I_jWC79A
Current editorial collaboration
Since 2016 - ArtNexus Magazine, Bogotá, Colombia. Permanent collaborator with critical texts on contemporary art (www.artnexus.com).
Since 2010 – Art&Critical. Magazine of Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA) Member of Editorial Commission. https://abca.art.br/arte-critica/
Applicant Research Funding
Mar-Aug 2023 - Postdoctoral Fellowship Program/National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Brazil). Scholarship: GBP 1,700.00 (per month); Settlement Allowance: GBP 1,700.00; Health Insurance: GBP 540.00; Travel Allowance: USD 1,706.00.
October 2022: Visiting International Fellowship Award, Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland (AHGBI). The application was in conjunction with Professor Thea Pitman (University of Leeds).
Dr Paiva participated in the following activities during her fellowship:
• 2 x AHGBI guest lectures – 18 Oct in Leeds (in Portuguese) and 3 Nov in Essex (in English, online), both on the topic ‘Revolution from the Margins: The Decolonial Turn in the Brazilian Contemporary Art World'.
• Participation in level 2 Portuguese ‘Culture and Society in the Portuguese-speaking World’ module, Leeds, 19 Oct.
• Participation in the REBRAC (Rede Europeia de Brasilianistas de Análise Cultural / European Network of Brazilianists Working in Cultural Analysis) conference, including delivery of a paper entitled ‘Reapropriação para a Reparação: O Centenário da Semana de 22 sob a Ótica Decolonial’, 20-22 Oct, in Leeds.
• Visit the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) and the University of Essex library, Latin American art book collection, guided by Dr Sarah Demelo, Chief Curator, 24 Oct.
• Lecture for a group of students from the M-level module ‘Collecting Art from Latin America’, title ‘The Decolonial Turn in Brazilian Art: Ecology and Landscape’, 25 Oct.
• Informal discussions with various staff and other visiting academics at both universities.
Value: Up to £2,000 to support travel, accommodation, subsistence and other expenses; up to an additional £500 is also available to cover the costs of Visiting other institutions in the UK or Ireland.
Mar 2019-Mar, 2022: Coordinator of the research project “Indigenous and Contemporary Arts: Networks and Sharing”. Funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), an organisation linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation; Call 28/2018. Value: BRL 30,000.00.
2019: Funding for the Brazilian Association of Art Critics Annual Congress 2020. Funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), a foundation linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC), Call 25 PAEP. Value: BRL 27,300.00.
Feb 2018-Feb 2019: “Places of Art: An Analysis of the Teaching of Arts in the Basic Education Network”. Funded through an internal call at the Federal University of Southern Bahia. Value: BRL 4,800.00.
Oct 2016-Oct 2017: Member of the project "Maxakali-Pataxó Art, History and Language Program: Intercultural and Comprehensive Public Education in the Southern Region of Bahia". PI: Rosângela de Tugny. Funded by PROEXT, Ministry of Education). Value: BRL 299,720.00.
2011-2014: Doctoral scholarship. Funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). Value: BRL 80,000.00.
2005-2008: Master's Scholarship. Funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). Value: BRL 36,000.00
Award and jury
Nov 2021: Member of the jury of the II Black Biennial, the exhibition on Afro-descendant art. www.bienalblack.com.br
2012: Young Critics Award – International Association of Art Critics (AICA), Paris, France. The award was a recognition of the quality of my critical writing at an international level. I was invited to participate, with all expenses paid, at the AICA Congress in Zurich (Switzerland), at the post-conference event in Kassel (during the Kassel Documenta festival), and at the Curitiba Biennial (2013).
Membership in scholarly organisations and research groups
- European Network of Brazilianists Working in Cultural Analysis (REBRAC)
- International Association of Art Critics (AICA)
- Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA)
- Aesthetic Reception and Art Criticism (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq; School of Communication and Arts of the University of São Paulo)
- Advanced Research Group on Materialities, Ambiences and Technologies (UFSB/CNPq/Red Latinoamericana de Investigaciones en Prácticas y Medios de la Imagen)
Previous professional experiences
2012. Lecturer in Art History. UNIARA, Araraquara, São Paulo. Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado – FAAP, Brazil
2010. Research on designers focused on the issue of Sustainability. Bienal Brasileira de Design, São Paulo, Brazil
2010. Lecturer in Art History. Centro Universitário do Planalto Central – UNICEPLAC, Brasília, Brazil
Instituto de Educação Superior de Brasília – IESB
2005 – 2006. Journalist and writer with critical texts on contemporary art. Bien'Art Magazine, São Paulo Bienal (www.bienal.org.br), Brazil
2001 – 2002. Publisher in the cultural area. Editing of articles, elaboration of editorial and pedagogical projects for the media and companies. Bei Web – BEI, São Paulo, Brazil (www.bei.com.br)
2000 - Arts journalist based in New York City for articles published in the Gazeta Mercantil, a leading Brazilian financial newspaper.
1997 – 2001. Critical texts on culture, visual art, theatre, architecture and design. Gazeta Mercantil, São Paulo, Brazil
Conferences
School of Philosophy and Art History Seminar Series. 2022 (online). The University of Essex. Talk on “Revolution from the Margins: The Decolonial Turn in the Brazilian Contemporary Art World”. https://www.essex.ac.uk/events/2022/11/03/spah-seminar-series-week-5
The decolonial turn in the arts. 2021 (online). Conference. 8º Seminário de Arte e Cultura da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COIwnXtiniE&t=310s
The Outlines of the Invisible: Brazilian Art in the Post-pandemic Era, and the End of the Cognitive Empire. Conference. 2021 (online) University of Leeds, England.
"Contours of the Invisible": Brazilian art in the pandemic, and the end of the cognitive empire. 2021 (online). Lecture. Conference of the Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA). https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jornada+abca+2021
Annual Congress of the Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA) "Poetic resistances: art, criticism and human rights". 2020 (online). Organisation and presidency (debates and final publication). The conference had strong media representation and was a decisive event for changes in the institution in the sense of seeking greater awareness concerning the decolonial debate. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6RsVPw64C5FWVbch0_VwWA
II Extension Congress of the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB). 2020 (online). Organisation. (debates and final publication). The annual event presents the results and debates on the university's relations with the vulnerable communities in its surroundings. https://www.youtube.com/c/Audit%C3%B3rioVirtualUFSB
III Extension Congress of the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB). 2021 (online). Organisation. (debates and final publication). The annual event presents the results and discussions on the university's relations with the vulnerable communities in its surroundings. https://ufsb.edu.br/conex/; https://ufsb.edu.br/proex/conex/anais-do-conex
Black Women in the UFSB Extension. Series of lives with black female teachers from UFSB who develop projects with vulnerable communities around the university. 2020 (online). Organisation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtZ-Ru2DpvY&list=PLh0qgTg5i6OkDGXknG7jnERO6fq-LVZ3b
Visions of the decolonial: black poetics and indigenous "good living". 2018. Organisation. Conference. Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB)
Las capuchas (acrylic)