Curator Name: Manuela Eichner
Residency Dates: April – May 2026
Born: 1984
Hometown: Arroio do Tigre, RS, Brazil
Lives & Works: São Paulo, Brazil
URL: manuelaeichner.com | Instagram: @manuelaeichner
Education:
2018 – Socially conscious artistic practices and activist positions, ¡n[s]urgênc!as, Agora collective, Berlin, Germany
2011 – Film-essay, Guest student in Ismail Xavier class, USP, São Paulo, Brazil
2008 – Philosophy of Art, Arena School, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
2008 – BFA in Sculpture, University IA/UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Bio/Statement:
Manuela Eichner is a visual artist, researcher and educator. Her multifaceted practice encompasses everything from videos and performances to collaborative workshops, as well as the production of illustrations, installations, and murals. It promotes the establishment of networks, working in collaboration with artist groups, institutions, and venues to foster artistic experimentation and social participation. In her sensory installations, Manuela Eichner’s strategy is to occupy and transform artistic spaces through immersive practices, transcending the boundaries of the medium and expanding formats until they merge with the space. Offering a collective experience that challenges the viewer and destabilizes beliefs related to the body, space, and nature.
As a researcher in collage and performance, she has presented the project ESTADOS TEMPORÁRIOS (Temporary States) with the MERGULHO collective and the public urban performance program, SEU – SEMANA EXPERIMENTAL URBANA (Experimental Urban Week). In addition, she co-directed MONSTRA, A CHOREOGRAPHY-COLLAGE FOR PEOPLE AND PLANTS with the choreographer and performer Elisabete Finger, as well as RUN FAST, BITE HARD. Both performances question the idea of human superiority and assume co-dependency between species. As a process of deconstructing the idea of nature and history, she also created ON EARTH, a geo-fiction in collaboration with her brother, Thiago Eichner, based on the broad theoretical and practical experience at Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (George T. Dorsch Endowed Scholarship from the Art History Department at the FIT, New York, NY). She has led several courses and engaged in projects, such as WOMEN IN COLLAGE, which explores the intertwined relation between the history of collage and the feminist waves and PLANTS THAT CHANGED HISTORY, a study and cataloging of plants that have played a dynamic role in shaping our history. Her most recent projects, KARAÔKE INFINITO, an installation designed to warmly welcome the public to sing and interact with a surreal environment and MANIFESTA COLLAGE, bring together visual and sound artists to activate public space with a festive atmosphere and unexpected encounters.
Manuela has participated in a variety of programs worldwide and has received the support of international institutions and programs such as Rumos Itaú Cultural – São Paulo (BR); FUNARTE, Sesc (BR); ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics – Berlin (DE); AnnexB – New York (USA); Fikra Graphic Design Biennial – Sharjah (UAE); Projecto Solo Madrid (ES); IASPIS Residency – Malmö (SE); Moderna Museet – Malmö (SE); CND Centre National de la Danse – Paris (FR); Radial System Berlin (DE); Vão MASP (São Paulo Museum of Art)- São Paulo (BR).
