CV: SIMONE COUTO
Simone Couto is a conceptual artist born in Brazil and based in the United States. Couto investigates how identities and biographies are negotiated and constructed through the poetics of hospitality, relationship, reciprocity, and belonging. The body of work reveals a commitment to both individual and collective-collaborative engagements with communities and places of cultural and ecological importance. Walking, creating space for experiences, documenting stories, and the creative process are meditative and artistic practices both in situ and in exhibitions.
Simone Couto holds a BA in Living Arts and an MFA in Art Practice from the School of Visual Arts. Couto has been part of several residencies such as ISCP, MASSMoCA Museum Studios (twice), and the Hafnarborg Fine Arts Museum in Iceland. Couto is a current New York Council for the Arts (NYSCA) Fiscal Year since 2021 Individual Artists advisory panelist and serves the Studios at MASS MoCA, MA, as artist residency advisory panelist since 2019.
Couto has shown nationally and internationally, including the Science Museum of Seoul, South Korea, and several NYC places, such as PioneerWorks and Electronic Art intermix (EAI). Her works are in a few collections, such as the NY Public Library.
EDUCATION
• M.F.A. Art Practice, the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
• B.F.A. Creative Arts, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA. Graduated magna cum laude. Dean's List all semesters.
• Performing Arts, University of Rio de Janeiro (Uni-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• The Arts Students League of New York (2009-2020)
• Technical High School, Center for Technological Education Celso Fonseca Suckov | Civil Engineering, Architecture & Technology
PEDAGOGY
• Now-2019- Faculty at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York :
Foundational Drawing and Painting, Upper Level drawing, EVA (English and Visual Arts), Pre-College
• 2019- Curating, Juan Morel Campos Public High School, Brooklyn, NY
• 2019- Visiting Art Critic at New Jersey City University, NJ
• 2017-2019- Visiting Art Critic at the School of Visual Arts(SVA
• 2014-2017- Faculty @ Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY
• 2014-2019- Packer Visiting Artist at Packer Collegiate Institute Annual Symposium
ADVISORY PANELS
• 2021 and 2022- Member of the New York Council for the Arts (NYSCA) Fiscal Year 2021 Individual Artists advisory panel, New York, NY
• 2019-2021— Individual artists advisory panel for Studios at MASS MoCA | North Adams, MA
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• 2015- Socratic Seminar
• 2015- Mindfulness in the Classroom
• 2022- Helping Students in Distress
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE/ GRANTS
• 2020- NARS FOUNDATION | Brooklyn, NY
• 2020- Studios at MASS MoCA | North Adams, MA
• 2018-2021-ISCP (International Studio and Curatorial Program) | Ground Floor Program |Brooklyn, NY
• 2018-2019- Project Curate | NurtureArt Non-Profit | Brooklyn, NY
• 2018- Studios at MASS MoCA | North Adams, MA
• 2018-The Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art | Hafnarborg, Iceland
• 2016- Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper, NY under Hemera’s Contemplative Fellowship
• 2013- Palazzo Rinaldi, Noepoli, Italy
• 2013- BioArt Laboratory, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
• 2009- International Festival of Literature Paraty (FLIP), Poetry, Brazil
• 2007- International Festival of Literature Paraty (FLIP), Fiction, Brazil
SOLO EXHIBITIONS + SITE-SPECIFIC COMMISSIONS + PUBLIC ART + SOLO PERFORMANCES
• 2021-Nowhere to Go But Everywhere, a site specific relational multimedia installation at the Old Mill Trail, Hinsdale, MA, 2021— Solo Commission: Berkshire Museum, MA & Art Close to Home Org and | Old Mill Trail, MA
• 2019-D.O.T (NYC Department of Transportation) Commission of 2 Large-Scale Public Murals on Newkirk Plaza | Brooklyn, NY
• 2019- 2x2 Solo Multimedia Performance Installation | La Nacional | NYC 2018-2019
• 2018- Darkness Visible | Interdisciplinary Installation AND Community Engagement| El Museo De Los Sures | Brooklyn, NY
• 2018- Red | Commissioned Performance by ISCP for Summer Open House | Brooklyn, NY
• 2018- Grace and Gravity| Performance | El Museo de Los Sures | Brooklyn, NY
• 2016-DarknessVisible|Performance|Þórsmörk Nacional Park |Iceland
• 2015-DarknessVisible|Performance|Þórsmörk Nacional Park |Iceland
• 2013- Santa Lucia— Site-specific performance at the Unesco historical well of Matera | Matera | Italy
• 2014- Terra Firma | Interdisciplinary Installation | Momenta Art | Brooklyn, NYC
• 2014- When All Things Evaporate, We Will Talk About Minerals| Interdisciplinary Installation | PioneerWorks Center for the Arts + Innovation | Brooklyn, NY
• 2013_ Santa Lucia | Site Specific Installation Performance |
• 2012- The Bear Mountain Project | Bare Mountain | NY
• 2012- Displaced | Street around Google Head Courters | New York, NY
• 2011- One Art — Arrivals and Departures | Private Exhibition | Brooklyn, NY
• 2010 D.O.T (NYC Department of Transportation) Commission of 1 Large-Scale Public Mural on Dumbo | Brooklyn, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS + SCREENS + COLLABORATIONS
• 2022- The Sky in Higher Here- Transmitter Gallery | Brooklyn, NY
• 2022- Boundless Flow, SVA Curatorial Practice Space| NY
• 2021- Art In the Time of Pandemic | Brazilian Consulate in NYC | NY
• 2020- The Thing in Itself | NARS Foundation | Brooklyn, NY
• 2020- The Union Square Show, Curated by Hayley Ferber (Chashama), Michael Gormley (Equity Gallery), Priska Juschka (Lichtundfire Gallery) and Luciana Solano| New York, NY
• Nature Attuned: Simone Couto and Lina Puerta | | The Yard Gallery, 33 W 60th St, NY
• 2018- Never Take a Vacation With an Artist Who Collects the Same Stuff | ISCP Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
• 2018-About Me | Photography Group| Millepiani Exhibition Space | Rome, Italy
• 2017-UPROOT | Curated by Donna Cleary and Tiffany Smith | Periphery Space Gallery, RI
• 2017- ACT I | Organized by Dawn Breeze and Kristen Dodge of SEPTEMBER Gallery Hudson, NY
• 2017- Six Degrees | Project 151 | Brooklyn, NY
• 2016- BioArt Seoul | Gwacheon National Science Museum, Korea
• 2016- The Zen Mountain Monastery | Mount Tremper, NY
• 2016- Thinking with our Hands | RabbitHole Projects Gallery | Brooklyn, NY
• 2016- X NYC Anarchist Festival | Judson Memorial Church | NY
• 2016- Observatory of Senses | Collective Performance Led by Couto | Packer Observatory | NY
• 2015- Notes on a Working Space (Solar Therapy: Video Screening | Commissioned by Laura F. Gibellini) | El Museo De Los Sures | Brooklyn, NY
• 2015- IX NYC Anarchist Festival | Judson Memorial Church | NYC
• 2015-Highways and Rest Stops: passages in Current Practices— Visual Arts Chelsea Gallery | NY
• 2014-VideoOver: Season 9: Curated by JaeWook Lee |NurtureArt Gallery | Brooklyn, NY
• 2014-LODO Plataforma Festival | Screening of Água and Terra Firma | Buenos Aires
• 2014- K-tanglement: A project by Marcos Lutyens in collaboration with Kunstverein Toronto, Milan, NewYork and Amsterdam | | New York, NY
• 2014- Community Board—Curated by Jovana Stokic | Glasshouse ArtLife | Brooklyn, NY
• 2013- Dance of the Photons: Performance Studies— Conceptualized and curated by JaeWook Lee |Fitness Center for Arts & Tactics | Brooklyn,NY
• 2013- Current Practice— Curated by Hesse McGraw | Invisible Dog Art Center | Brooklyn, NY
• 2013- MoMA Pop Rally: Abstract Currents— Interactive video event | MoMA, New York, NY
• 2013- Ecstasy/ Apocalypse— Curated by Thyrza Goodeve | Visual Arts Gallery | New York, NY
• 2013- Frequency Response— Screen hosted by Electronic Arts Intermix | EAI | New York, NY
• 2013- Unseen Realities— Curated by Richard Brooks | Visual Arts Gallery | New York, NY
• 2013- Everything Digital— Curated by Erik Guzman and Suzanne Anker | Visual Arts Gallery | NY
• 2012- Mexican Embassy Collective Exhibition |Washington, DC
• 2012- Governor’s Island Art Fair Exhibition | New York, NY
• 2012- Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery Collective Exhibition | New York, NY
CURATORSHIP
• 2019- (Im) perfection | NurtureArt Gallery | Brooklyn, NY
• 2015-2019- ANARKOLAB PERFORMANCE Festival, Judson Memorial Church, NY
• 2014- When All Things Evaporate We'll Talk About Minerals (in collaboration with JaeWook Lee), Pioneer Works, and Brooklyn,NY
• 2014- Terra Firma, Momenta Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY + INTERVIEWS + PUBLICATIONS
• 2021- Curatorial essay by Denise Carvalho for Steel Jackdaw Arts Magazine Edition 4
• 2019- Art Forum, Summer 2019, Volume 57, No. 10, page 290
• 2019-https://hyperallergic.com/506969/an-elegant-swansong-at-brooklyns-nurtureart/
• 2019-https://www.btrtoday.com/listen/artuncovered/simone-couto/
• 2019- MID Arts and Museum Magazine, Denmark
• 2018- Darkness Visible, a 120 page-documentation of Couto’s work and engagement with the Landscape in Iceland, Hard cover
• 2018- Horsens Folkblad Newspaper, Denmark
• 2018- http://arthurious.com/iscp2018/
• 2018- Curatorial essay by Sarah Crown, Darkness Visible Press Release
• 2017- Curatorial essay by Sofia Fernandez Darkness Visible in Darkness Visible, Blurb
• 2014- When All Things Evaporate We'll Talk About Minerals, Blurb
• 2014- Curatorial essay by Denise Carvalho in When All Things Evaporate We'll Talk About Minerals, Rhodium
• 2014- Curatorial essay by Jovana Stokic in When All Things Evaporate We'll Talk About Minerals, Rhodium Publications
• 2007- Poem "Boca "at Magazine Carioca, Rio de Janeiro
OTHER
• 2021- Mind Builders Art Center, Internship in development |Bronx |NY
• 2014-2019- Co-organizer of AnarkoLab Performance Arts Festival, The landmark Judson Memorial Church | NY
• 2005- Museo dos Trajes Textile Intern, Lisbon, Portugal
• 2000- Costume Restoration for San Francisco Opera
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
• 2004-2008 Founder and Creative Director of Floret LLC, NYC Design and manufacture of soft toys and
children’s clothing distributed to 64 stores nationwide.