Verena Smit

Verena Smit (São Paulo, 1984)

Verena Smit is an artist whose works take place within the logic of two antagonistic realities that can coexist perfectly: some works start from a sphere of experience. intimate, but also deal with universal issues; Other works demand individual contact and are also carried out in collective enjoyment; Still, others talk about how things are, while pointing at what they may become. This duplicity is often present in the game, a key act in many of Verena's works.

In wordplay, on the other hand, operations are less playful and more blunt incisions, precise displacements of language that inaugurate new spheres of interpretation, equally divergent. A deleted letter radically diverts the intended meanings, a verb ceases to be a verb; An object has its function subverted and gains new uses, poetic or practical. Behind the apparent simplicity of these procedures lies, however, a deeply detailed and precise concern for Verena Smit to articulate these paradoxes in the most potent way possible.

Formation

2010-2011 – One Year Program, General Studies, International Center of Photography, New York, USA.
2003-2007 – Bachelor of Photography, Senac, São Paulo.
2002-2006 – Bachelor's Degree in Social Communication with an emphasis on Cinema, FAAP, São Paulo.

Individual exhibitions

2018 – Together(E), Fringe Gallery, New York, USA.
2022 – PEACE, Please, F&AGLERY, MADRID, SPAIN.

Collective exhibitions

2021 – of the sacred and the profane Osorio, Brasilia, Brazil; Ministry of Solitude, Oswald de Andrade Cultural Workshop, São Paulo, Brazil.
2020 – Sitting, Reading, Writing, Praça Adolpho Bloch, São Paulo; You're seeing me, you're listening to me, Casa Niemeyer, online exhibition; Things We Said Today, Taide Program, Online Exhibition; Nobody will fall our flag, occupation through the city, São Paulo.
2019 – Amar in times of rage, Verve Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil; 14th International Biennial of Curitiba, Curitiba; We will be fine(?), Galeria Marília Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil; On the first day, on the ninth floor, Lamb Arts, São Paulo, Brazil; Tropical Mourning, Pasto Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2018 – Percepts and affections, Vai Espaço Independente de Arte, São Paulo, Brazil; Ways to return home, São Paulo, Brazil; Wall Auction IAB-SP: 75 artists, Central Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil.
2016 – Any sentence was better than silence, Casaplana, São Paulo, Brazil. York, USA; Salon Show, Greenpoint Gallery, New York, USA.
2011 – Capture and Release, International Center of Photography, New York, USA.
2008 – Feira, Sesc Vila Mariana, São Paulo, Brazil.
2007 – Lá e Cá, Portuguese Institute of Photography, Lisbon, Portugal.

Special Projects

2023 – Concrete Poetry, five facilities in downtown São Paulo, Brazil.
2022 – Cidade do Futuro, Neon installation with virtual reality in Anhangabaú, São Paulo, Brazil.
2021 – Love is a revolution, a flag installation on the tea viaduct, São Paulo, Brazil; Nalata Festival, gable painting in a building in the neighborhood of Pinheiros, São Paulo, Brazil; #Mullimundo, Muro Painted at the invitation of the André Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil.
2020 – Tudo Vai Pulsar, Collaborative Urban Art Project, São Paulo, Brazil; Contemporaries Vivara, installation of 10 billboards on the Cicloviada Marginal Pinheiros, São Paulo, Brazil; Cycle Path Rio Pinheiros, Neon Installation, São Paulo, Brazil; Mar 360°, São Paulo Street Art Museum, Neon in Empena, São Paulo, Brazil.
2019 – Poetic Acts, Artistic Interventions at CCSP, São Paulo, Brazil; Ora et Labora, cultural showcase installation in the São Bento subway, São Paulo, Brazil.

Awards / Residences

2018 – ANNEXB, New York, USA.
2011 – ICP Directors Scholarship.

Fairs

2025 – Spark, Vienna, Austria. ARPA, Sparte and Artrio.
2022 – Zona Maco, Mexico.
2021 – Artrio, Sparte, Latitude Art Fair, Artsy.