Marcello Dantas

An award-winning curator and artistic director specializing in interdisciplinary practices in Brazil and beyond, Marcello Dantas is responsible for innovating the concept of museology by bringing technology, interactivity and multimedia resources together and providing immersive experiences that engage the senses and change perceptions. He is the name behind the conception of various distinct museums and cultural institutions across South America, such as the Museum of Portuguese Language, Japan House São Paulo and the Museo da Natureza in Brazil; the Museo del Caribe and Museo del Carnaval in Colombia; and the Telecommunications Museum in Argentina.

Currently, he is artistic director of SFER IK Museion in Tulum, Mexico, and curator of Aqui, a new art space opening its doors in May 2024 at Cidade Matarazzo, a 30,000-square-meter complex in the heart of São Paulo.

With a career spanning more than 30 years, Mr. Dantas is the co-curator, along with Maya El Khalil, of the latest Desert X AlUla biennial, the open air exhibition recently opened in the Saudi Arabian Desert featuring 16 newly commissioned pieces. He was curator of the 13th Mercosur Biennial that took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2022 and, since 2014, he has been a member of the curatorial board of the Vancouver Biennale.

Mr. Dantas has curated some of the most popular solo shows of the last decade, including “Ai Weiwei Raiz,” the largest exhibition ever staged by the artist, in São Paulo in 2018, as well as exhibitions with some of the most influential contemporary artists of today, including Anish Kapoor, Laurie Anderson, Antony Gormley, Erwin Wurm, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jenny Holzer, Rebecca Horn, Bill Viola and others.

Among his most innovative projects as a creative director, “NAVE” was an immersive experience comprising a 5,000-square-meter video projection, one of the main attractions of the Rock in Rio music festival in 2019. He was also the artistic director of “Pelé Station,” featured during the 2006 World Cup in Berlin, the Brazilian Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai and the Brazilian Pavilion at Rio+20 in 2012.

Mr. Dantas has received numerous prizes and awards throughout his illustrious career, including the award for best documentary at the Biennale Internationale du Film Sur L’Art at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and FestRio, the International Film and TV Festival, New York. He is also the recipient  the prestigious iF Design Award from Businessweek and Sao Paolo’s Tarsila do Amaral Medal. He sits on the board of several international institutions and serves as a visual arts mentor at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil.

 

Photo credit: Tinko Czetwertynski