Brazil
Statement
The last 3 years I have been writing and researching images of displacement, which resulted in a PhD thesis and several studio projects. My interest lies in vast empty spaces, slow paces and reduced color pallets. As disorientation is illustrated by giant waves, displaced islands, impossible body shapes, repetition of abstract forms, dark and phantasmagoric landscapes, silent storms, gas bubble-like lights, isolation and desolate cities, I am seeking a sense of tranquility through moving images and sound.
Thematically, my practice is rooted in displacement, migration, miscegenation and how the body-mind copes with disorientation. This is explored through showing the body in situations of chance and unpredictability. In other works, I create a landscape where one could arrive after a lifetime of drifting, where maps of psycho-geography, precarious images of memory, proto-images, impermanence and doubtful, cultural identifications reside.
The interest in science, researching digital media and the observation of mass and social media are a part of the search for a “map” or method, as I try to understand how people form their collectives and identities. These concepts and processes converge into single channel videos, installations and photographs.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from January of 2018 to March of 2018
GlogauAIR Project
I would like to invite the public to play a game with me – in one-on-one sessions booked via my email marciavaitsman@gmail.com. The game is called Jogo das Ilhas, Rios, Aeroportos e Fantasmas (game of islands, rivers, airports and ghosts) and was created by me to facilitate self narratives and a type of exchange in the arts that approaches subjectivity modes of the public and not only of the artist. The game can be played in English, German, Portuguese or Spanish.
CV Summary
Marcia Vaitsman has a degree in media studies with specialization in radio and TV broadcast from the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
- Student at the University of Vienna, Austria, in the Media Institute and Germanistic Institute.
- Post graduation degree from the prestigious Academy of Media Art (KHM – Kunsthochschule fuer Medien), Germany and a MFA from SCAD, Atlanta.
- PhD from Universidade de Coimbra.
- Worked for six years as a member of the artistic team and teaching staff at KHM.
Vaitsman has received several prizes such as:
- Idea Capital Travel Grant, Atlanta;
- Prize “Mostra de Artistas no Exterior” from the Biennial of Sao Paulo Foundation;
- Frances Larkin McCommon fellowship from SCAD Atlanta;
- project grant from Prince Claus Fund, The Netherlands;
- project grant from FUNARTE, Rio de Janeiro;
- artist stipendium from UNESCO-Aschberg, France/Finland;
- granted artist in residence in IAMAS, Japan;
- honorable mention, Video Art Prize, Bremen Filmbüro, Germany;
- Cria de Casawinner, São Paulo;
- EMMA winner (Electronic Multimedia Award), London, UK.
Marcia’s work has been nominated and invited to several video art festivals around the world. Marcia participates in many art exhibitions and events in the Americas, Japan and throughout Europe. Vaitsman lives in Jersey City, keeping also her residence in Sao Paulo. She was visiting scholar at Parsons in New York in 2016 and is represented byWhitespace in Atlanta.
