Mariela Scafati

Artists in Residence
01.08.2017 - 30.09.2017

Art and Activism in Latin America – year II (2017)

Born in Olivos, Argentina. Lives and works in Buenos Aires. Studied Visual Arts at E.S.A.V. de Bahía Blanca and attended the workshops of Tulio de Sagastizábal, Pablo Suárez and Guillermo Kuitca. She is considered one of the most important Argentinian artists of her generation and her work is part of important collections, such as the permanent collection of the MALBA (Museu de Arte Latino-Americana de Buenos Aires). Since 2010, Scafati is an agent of the C.I.A – Center for Artistic Research.

In 1998, she participated in the group exhibition “Tres Paredes”. In 2000, she had her first solo show “Pinturas y pared”. After then, “Show Me Your Pink (2001)”, at Bis Gallery, Rosario, Santa Fé; “He venido para decirte que me voy” (2001), at Belleza y Felicidad Gallery, Buenos Aires; “Pintura gustosa” (2001), at Casona de Los Olivera, Buenos Aires; “Mariam Traoré” (2004), at Belleza y Felicidad Gallery, Buenos Aires; “Scafati, un cuadro” (2005), at Belleza y Felicidad Gallery, Buenos Aires; “Sos un sueño” (2009), at Abate Gallery, Buenos Aires; “¡Teléfono! en diálogo con Lidy Prati” (2009), at CCBorges, Buenos Aires; “Windows” (2011), at Abate Gallery, Buenos Aires; “Ni verdaderas ni falsas” (2013), at Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani, Buenos Aires; “Pinturas donde estoy 1998-2013”, at CCRecoleta, Buenos Aires;  “Las palabras vienen después” (2014) at Maria Casado Home Gallery, Buenos Aires and “Las cosas amantes” (2015), alongside Ariadna Pastorini, at Isla Flotante Gallery, Buenos Aires. Later this year, she will be presenting a single project at Art Basel, in Miami (USA).

Scafati has also participated in various collective and collaborative projects linked to screen printing, education, radio and theater. In 2002, she co-founded the T.P.S.* – “Taller Popular Serigrafía”. Since 2007, she has been a member of “Serigrafistas Queer” **.  She was part of the Belleza y Felicidad team, founder of the Proyecto Secundario Liliana Maresca, at the Escuela Secundaria Nº349 Artes Visuales, Fiorito, Lomas de Zamora. She has also coordinated a serigraphy workshop for the Cooperativa y Editorial Eloísa Cartonera and participated in several interventions of the “Brigada Argentina por Dilma”, with Roberto Jacoby, at the Sao Paulo Art Biennial in 2009.

Among her experiences linked to theater are the series of Kamishibai, Yotiteretú and a company of puppets with Fernanda Laguna; and her work in stage scenery for the biodramas directed by Vivi Tellas, at the Museo de la paloma y Las personas, with workers of the Theater San Martin (2014).

* The “Taller Popular Serigrafía” (TPS) operated in Buenos Aires between 2002 and 2007, founded by Scafati and other artists in one of the many popular assemblies that emerged from the December 2001 popular revolt / insurrection. From that moment, the collective intervened in the context of social movements, taking the workshop to the street and socializing the process of graphic production, stamping all kinds of clothing with images that tried to testify the political mood of each event.

** “Serigrafistas Queer” (SQ), self-perceived as a non-group, was born in 2007 and has been helding periodic meetings where slogans are discussed and screenprints and stencils are assembled for multiple prints to be used in the LGBT Pride March, held annually in different cities in Argentina. The material produced is kept and freely used again in other actions.

ART AND ACTIVISM IN LATIN AMERICA is a Despina project, with the support of the Dutch organization Prince Claus Fund. The project extends for three years (2016, 2017 and 2018). Each year, a theme will guide a series of actions, including occupations, workshops, talks, film screenings, exhibitions, public talks with important names of contemporary artistic + activist thought and a residency programme. For this second edition, the project brings the BODY as its main theme and it runs from May to October. For more information, videos and pictures gallery, click here.