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About

In everything we do we believe in challenging the established art world by freeing artists from it.

 We believe that artists are its most important actor and must have complete freedom and access to the means of production-distribution to continue creating meaning in a material-emotional-spiritually sustainable way.

We exist because we believe that independent artists working together are essential in transforming the contexts we live in.

“Don’t worry about the cool. Be uncool and do!”

Paraphrasing Sol Lewitt to Eva Hesse.

MISSION

To keep strengthening ourselves as the community of the most exceptionally independent artists by fostering exciting and meaningful art projects.

VISION

To be the most exciting and reliable option for artists worldwide seeking to generate independent, sustainable, and context-sensitive art projects.

VALUES

– Welcoming diversity and respect for life
– Intense and intensive production of critical thinking
– Affective, generous, and active listening
– Empowerment and agency
– Enthusiasm, proactivity, and action
– Community-based learning experiences

Uncool Artist promotes diverse opportunities for artists, by artists. We nurture bonds that expand beyond the platforms and collective support in creating, managing, and executing significant projects while empowering unique individuals.

We aim to produce critical and creative knowledge in the form of art that seeks to empower subjectivities, create new communities, and transform social structures to be more inclusive, embracing human diversity.

Uncool Artist is a result of more than 20 years of experience in online education in Brazil that has been applied to the contemporary art field since 2010. Uncool Artist offers customized remote and in-person learning experiences with the most up-to-date technologies and methodologies to create a prolific environment for its participants.

Our Team - Independent partners

Carolina Paz

UA Founder and Director

Alexandre Nix

UA Operations

Daniela Avellar

UA Associates

Mariana Battistelli

UA Communications

Ana Roman

UA ILAP

PARTNERS

Our History

2010-2012
2e1 is founded
We began as Coletivo 2e1 in São Paulo

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.

2013
2e1 expands
2e1 expands

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.

2014-2017
The online shift
The online shift

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

2018
in NYC
Hello NYC

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.

2019
First courses
First courses

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.

2020
ILAP and online exhibitions
The pandemic hits

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

Jan-2021
ILAP IN ENGLISH
ILAP in English

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

Sep-Dec 2021
DO WRITE TO ME
1st USA Group Shows

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.

Jan 2022
DO WRITE TO ME - SP
Growing our NYC Residency Program

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

Apr 2022
DO WRITE TO ME - SP
São Paulo here we are!

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

Sep 2022
DO WRITE TO ME - SP
Rio met Uncool Artist

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.

Jan 2023
Residency expansion
Second Residency expansion

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

Apr 2023
New platform
UA Online

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

Get Involved

Uncool Artist serves as an art communities generator, encouraging critical discussions and executing meaningful projects in contemporary art.

We seek to offer opportunities in art in an accessible way to people from various parts of the world.

As an artist-run organization, our work needs resources to grow and support new creative minds. Give us your support if you believe in quality and exciting, consistent, and inclusive arts production!

To learn more about Uncool Artist, our ideas, and our projects, contact us at info@uncoolartist.com.