Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Bruno Alves de Almeida (Brazil/ Portugal) is a curator and architect based in the Netherlands, currently Artistic co-Director and curator of the Luleå Biennial 2024 – Art & Architecture, in Sweden, curator and resident liaison of the Jan van Eyck Academie, and tutor of the Design Academy Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. His practice is rooted in site/context-specificity and transdisciplinary thinking, resulting in projects responding to timely issues, creating bridges between institutional and public spaces, and experimenting beyond customary formats and spaces for the presentation, production and experience of artistic practice. In São Paulo, Brazil, Bruno has spearheaded exhibitions and site-specific public commissions responding to key urban contexts. Through commissions to emerging and established Latin-American artists and architects, these projects have dissolved boundaries between exhibition spaces and the public realm, have reached wider and diverse audiences, while broadening the public discussion on pressing socio-political and urban issues. In the Netherlands, Bruno has worked closely with a multidisciplinary group of artists, designers, architects, curators, among others hosted by the Jan van Eyck Academie and the Design Academy Eindhoven. The projects he has curated have explored the agency of artistic practices in face of socio-ecological breakdown, and fostered debates and crossovers between the arts, design, the social and natural sciences, and institutions and policymakers beyond cultural spheres. Bruno has also collaborated internationally with institutions such as TATE (UK), Harvard Graduate School of Design, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Independent Curators International (USA), PACT Zollverein (Germany), 11th São Paulo Architecture Biennial, Pivô Art and Research (Brazil), among others. He is an alumnus of the De Appel Curatorial Programme, Amsterdam, holds a Master from the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, Switzerland, and a Bachelor from the Oporto Faculty of Architecture, Portugal.
Bruno is collaborating with Tate St Ives to support the development of its residency-based Artists Programme within the reimagining of Barbara Hepworth’s Palais de Danse. His research explores how cultural institutions can devise situated and socially engaged residencies that foster meaningful connections with their localities while addressing urgent global challenges and the shifting conditions of artistic practice. He is also working to develop international partnerships and networks. More information: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/brooks-international-fellowship-programme
Under the artistic direction of Aude Christel Mgba and Bruno Alves de Almeida, the biennial gathers artistic and architectural positions which respond to the drastic changes occurring in the built and natural environments of Norrbotten. It also emphasizes their connections to other geographies and communities worldwide. Through exhibitions, public space interventions, and events, the biennial sheds light on resilient practices and presents empowering alternatives emerging from contexts of profound transition and transformation.
Tutor of the course Studio for Reflection within the GEO DESIGN Master’s programme led by Formafantasma.
Curator and Resident Liaison running the institution´s research and public programme which spans exhibition and discursive formats. Advisor and liaison to the yearly-renewed cohort of 35-40 residents, comprised of artists, designers, architects, curators, and other practitioners in-between fields.
Participant of the De Appel Curatorial Programme 2018-19 co-curating the project Landscape with Bear (2019). Contributing author of the online publication Everything is New (2020) with the text ,The Jan van Eyck´s Stone of Folly'.