2e1 was established in 2010 by Carolina Paz. It initially offered study groups and mentoring programs for artistic projects. The creation of 2e1 was guided by an idea, a desire to socialize and generate knowledge related to contemporary artistic practices.

In 2012, 2e1 presented its first exhibition and the "Fachada" (Façade) project, in which several artists were able to experiment with their ideas and share their creative processes.

Since 2013, 2e1 has worked with artists, critics, and curators from various cities in Brazil and around the world.

Several special projects were created, such as the artistic residency “Nômade 2e1” (Nomad 2e1) and the international art exchange program “In the care of…” Also in 2013, the in-depth training program in visual arts called “Vitamina” (Vitamin) was initiated, offering courses in Sound Art, Painting, Career Management, Art History, Installation, and Performance.

Photo: Cristina Suzuki, Val Schneider, José Bento Ferreira, Carolina Paz, Renata Huber, Sheila Ortega, and Juvêncio Vilhena on an meeting in 2014.

Concluded in 2014, the “Vitamina” project was responsible for implementing synchronous and asynchronous distance education tools. These tools made it possible for artists located in different regions of Brazil and worldwide to access the content and discussions generated in the in-person meetings.

Coletivo 2e1 became a network of practice, experimentation, coexistence, and creation of knowledge in visual arts.

Photo: Lara Perl’s open studio invitation at our first studio space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY

We moved to New York in 2018. At the time, 2e1 was still a valid format, so we wanted to preserve it. We decided not to adapt it but to keep it as a document, a digital archive, and created Uncool Artist.

Initially, it functioned as a newsletter, a blog, and a YouTube channel. Uncool Artist debuted with an email about letters that featured Sol Lewitt and Eva Hesse in the first week of September 2018.

We offered free classes, organized an artist residency, strengthened connections that we had brought from São Paulo, and began to form a new community.

In early 2019, we launched our first 100% online courses as Uncool Artist: Ser Artista Hoje; Lygia Clark, Uma Poética Viva; Paulo Freire e A Práxis Artística; Escrever É Preciso; A Arte que Fazemos Na América Latina; Espinosa e a Filosofia do Afeto.

In an overwhelming year for all humanity, we sought to become stronger and more united. The number of  participants in our projects grew.

We:

- Offered free training in creative distance learning with the Corpo Ensinante (Teaching Body) course

- Launched our training program in art, ILAP (in Portuguese)

- Launched our first online exhibition space at Clube da Uncool

Now ILAP speaks English and runs in parallel with its Portuguese language version.

For DO write [right] to me, Uncool Artist invited artists from its community (U.S. and Latin America) to think through their artworks about the idea of remote communication, asking questions, proposing action, reflection, and dialogue.

The result was exhibitions in Chelsea (NYC, NY) and Miami Art Week (Design District, MIA, FL)  that spoke to our time by interrogating wholeness, remoteness, isolation, and the use of technology to maintain human connection, while reviving the Mail Art network that was extremely important during the 60s and 70s in Latin America.

At the end of the pandemic, we reopened and expanded our artist residency project in NYC in 2022.

The DO write [right] to me, went to São Paulo. We had a blast!

10 artists from our community produced the installation circuit "FOR A CEILING OF OUR OWN" in an incredible project by Uncool Artist carried out on the shores of Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro.

We started 2023 by acquiring a new space, and hosting up to seven artists in our residency program.

We opened our own social network for our participants and it became our online hub for all of our activities. 🙂

In the first half of 2024, we expanded our residency program again, relocating it to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Following the residency expansion at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, just across the street, we opened our first storefront gallery.

In its first months of life, our gallery was the space for six individual and group exhibitions

In a natural process developed throughout the year, the International Lab of Art Practices officially became what it was born to be: our best online artistic residency experience with an option also for artists who wish to opt for the In-Person Studio Practice in NYC.

With shifts to the studio program model, we identified the need for an exhibition space within the Brooklyn Navy Yard, closer to our resident artists and their day to day practice.

At the same time, Uncool Gallery required a more experimental setting, one that allowed us to test curatorial formats and modes of engagement with greater flexibility.

After significant shifts in the international political landscape and ongoing affordability challenges for artists and art spaces in NYC, we decided to close the in studio program and redesign the residency as a full year online immersion, with the possibility of Uncool Gallery representation for one or two years, plus an IRL solo show.

Following the decision to conclude the in-studio program, Uncool Artist opened its physical space, Uncool Gallery, to a new curatorial structure designed to support artists financially and professionally. In August 2025, the Solo Show Open Call launched with its first edition presented by Jessica Caldas, followed by Ailyn Lee’s solo exhibition in Fall 2025. By the Winter 2026 edition, the project surpassed one hundred applications.

Within a single semester, the Uncool Gallery Solo Show Open Call emerged as a central curatorial branch of Uncool Artist, developing into a stable and forward-looking resource that artists can rely on over time.