Carla Macchiavello
Associate Professor of Art History
Music and Art
EMAIL: cmacchiavello@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: F-1130X
Office Hours:
Phone: +1 (212) 220-8000;ext=3092
Carla Macchiavello Cornejo is an art historian and educator, born in Santiago, Chile, and based in NY. Her research centers on Latin American contemporary art with a decolonial approach; networks of solidarity and resistance against fascist, patriarchal, and colonial systems of power; and creative practices and experimental artistic pedagogies aimed at social and environmental change. She has published articles and catalogue essays on the works of Cecilia Vicuña, Juan Downey, Francisca Benítez, Carolina Saquel, Ernesto Salmerón, Elkin Calderón, Gonzalo Mezza, and the transnational histories of the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende (MSSA), including a monograph on the cultural relations between the MSSA and Cuba for the book Bajo una misma casa. Redes afectivas y solidarias entre Chile y Cuba (2023).
Since 2014, Carla is part of the editorial duo CM2 with Camila Marambio, coediting the periodical Más allá del fin/Beyond the End for Ensayos, a nomadic collective and research practice engaging in matters related to the political ecology of Tierra del Fuego. As CM2 she co-edited the book Turba Tol Hol-Hol (2023), a compendium of ecofeminist, environmental, and poetic thought from Latin America and Abya Yala that accompanied the Chilean pavilion at the 59th International Venice Art Biennale 2022, which centered on the protection of peatlands in Karokynká, Tierra del Fuego. Carla is also co-editor of Dismantling the Nation. Contemporary Art in Chile, with Florencia San Martín and Paula Solimano, a book that takes as its point of departure a radical criticism against the nation-state of Chile and its colonial, capitalist, heteronormative, and extractivist rule, proposing otherwise forms of inhabiting, creating, and relating in more fluid, contingent, ecocritical, feminist, and caring worlds.
Carla joined CUNY in 2015, after working as Assistant Professor in Art History at Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia (2010-2014). She received a PhD from Stony Brook University in 2010, and studied Aesthetics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. She is currently Associate Professor in Art History at Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY.
Expertise
Modern and Contemporary Art, Latin American Art, and Video and Performance Art.
Degrees
- Ph.D. Stony Brook University, NY, Art History and Criticism, 2010.
- M.A. Stony Brook University, NY, Art History and Criticism, 2005.
- B.A. Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, Aesthetics, 2001.
Courses Taught
- This introduction to Modern and Contemporary art history includes the study of painting, sculpture, architecture and other media by surveying the development and evolution of artistic styles using a global approach. Emphasis will be placed on groundbreaking artistic movements in context to their historical framework. Students will learn the importance of innovative practices, techniques and new avenues of exploration, by understanding the socio-political and cultural events that influenced artists to create groundbreaking works, which have led the way to Contemporary Art.
- This introduction to art history includes the study of painting, sculpture, architecture and other media by surveying the Paleolithic period through the Late Gothic period using a global approach. This exploration of art and architecture in terms of history, social context, meaning and style will promote a general understanding of the development of art and style in different cultures and the effects of cultural exchange on the arts. Discussions of techniques, media, composition, and figure representation will provide an understanding of key concepts in the arts.
- This capstone course for Art History Majors covers a range of topics relating to the pursuit of careers in the arts. Students will develop a topic and complete a comprehensive research paper for presentation. During the semester, students will take part in museum visits, gallery tours, and attend talks by professionals in the field of art history to develop an understanding of the opportunities for art historians. Prerequisite: Departmental permission
- This survey examines the art and architecture of Latin America from the pre-Columbian era to the present. The course begins with an analysis of pre-Hispanic iconography, styles, traditions, and techniques in Meso, Central, South America, and the Caribbean. The art of colonial Latin America will be explored to understand the cultural complexity that characterized Spanish colonialism. The development of Modern art in Latin America, following independence and nation building in the 19th century, will be discussed as a series of responses to the influence of international movements and ideas. The course culminates in the exploration of Contemporary Latin American and Latina/o art, including Chicana/o art. Museum visit required.
Research and Projects
Current research: Networks of solidarity and resistance; Environmental Humanities and peatlands; Pop art and popular culture in the long sixties in Chile.
Publications
Selected publications
Books (co-edited and co-authored)
2023 Turba Tol Hol-Hol. Carla Macchiavello Cornejo and Camila Marambio (eds). https://turbatol.org/turba-book.html
2023 Dismantling the Nation: Contemporary Art in Chile. Florencia San Martín, Carla Macchiavello Cornejo, and Paula Solimano (eds.). Amherst University Press, 2023 (available open access). https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/9k41zh29x
2005 La crítica literaria del siglo XX: 50 modelos y su aplicación. Jaime Blume Sánchez, Clemens A. Franken, Carla Macchiavello. Santiago: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2005.
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals
2024 “Bogged.” Co-authored with Camila Marambio. LA ESCUELA_JOURNAL, no. 1, Hydrocommons Cultures: Art, Pedagogy, and Care Practices in the Americas. https://laescuela.art/en/calendar/news/la-escuela-journal-a-new-publication-on-artistic-research-and-learning
2021 “Rastros de una pedagogía inconclusa.” CAIANA. Dossier 18: Special Issue on Women, Feminism and Experimental Artistic Education. Web. http://caiana.caia.org.ar/template/caiana.php?pag=articles/article_2.php&obj=405&vol=18
2020 “Escrito en la neblina, tejido con el cuerpo: el impulso textil en una instalación de Cecilia Vicuña.” H-ART. Revista de historia, teoría y crítica de arte. Number 6 (2020): 100-129. Web. https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/doi/full/10.25025/hart06.2020.07
2020 “Weaving Forms of Resistance: The Museo de la Solidaridad and the Museo Internacional de la Resistencia Salvador Allende.” Arts. Number 9, Volume 1 (2020). Web. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/9/1/12/htm
2017 “Resistir/Existir: el ensamblaje como estrategia de resistencia en las palabrarmas de Cecilia Vicuña”. Meridional. Revista Chilena de Estudios Latinoamericanos. Number 9, Volume 20 (May-October 2017): 55-89. Print and web. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6123587
2015 “Caring, Curiosity and Curating Beyond the End,” Seismopolite. Journal of Art and Politics 11. Special Issue, The Politics and Art Scenes of Latin America (II). Summer 2015. Web. https://ensayostierradelfuego.net/field-notes/caring-curiosity-and-curating-beyond-the-end/
2014 “Appropriating the Improper: The Problem of Influence in Latin American Art,” ARTMargins 3, 2 (June 2014): 31-59. Print. https://direct.mit.edu/artm/article-abstract/3/2/31/17964/Appropriating-the-Improper-The-Problem-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext
2011 “The Power of Pink: Performing the Archive in the Works of Ernesto Salmerón,”e-misferica 7.2, After Truth. Web. http://hemi.nyu.edu/hemi/es/e-misferica-72
2011 “Unlikely Savages,” Oneart Platform for Contemporary Art from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Issue “Identity,” I-2011, http://www.oneart.org/journal/i-identity/unlikely-savages
2011 “Contaminaciones en el arte contemporáneo cosmopolita,” ERRATA 5, Migraciones y Desplazamientos (August, 2011): 42-60. Print. https://revistaerrata.gov.co/edicion/errata5-fronteras-migraciones-y-desplazamientos
2009 “A parar el match: política, deporte y arte,” Revista de Estudios Sociales 32 (April, 2009): 146-157. Web. http://www.scielo.org.co/pdf/res/n32/n32a11.pdf
Book Chapters and Essays published in Edited Books
2024 “Las cajas de Lesbia.” In Bajo una misma casa: redes afectivas y solidarias entre Chile y Cuba (Santiago: Ediciones MSSA, 2024), 12-173. https://www.mssa.cl/publicaciones/bajo-una-misma-casa-redes-afectivas-y-solidarias-entre-chile-y-cuba/
2023 “Speciesms.” In Future Souths: Dialogues in Art, Place and History. Essays by: Verónica Tello, Dylan A. T. Miner, Zoe Butt, Rolando López, Edgar Alejandro Hernández, Carla Macchiavello, Walter D. Mignolo, Rachel O’Reilly and Ruth Simbao, and contributions from James Nguyen, Salote Tawale, Chandra Frank, Katherine Carl, Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, Angela Mitropoulos, Jennifer Biddle, Fernando do Campo, and Jean Sylvain Tshilumba Mukendi. London and Melburne: Third Text Publications and Discipline. http://thirdtext.org/future-souths
2023 “Labor the word, spill the sound, unleash the tongue: Cecilia Vicuña’s palabrarmas”. Cecilia Vicuña. Word Weapons. Edited by Jeanne Gerrity and Anthony Huberman (California: Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art and RITE Editions, 2023). https://www.riteeditions.com/editions/62b277b88826374174ab5ba7
2022. “Fibras resistentes: Sobre el/los/algunos Museos de la Resistencia.” In Museo Internacional de la Resistencia Salvador Allende 1975-1990, 28-72. Santiago: Museo de la Solidaridad. https://www.mssa.cl/publicaciones/museo-internacional-de-la-resistencia-salvador-allende-1975-1990-mirsa/
2021 “¡A liberar! En torno a las palabrarmas de Cecilia Vicuña”. Veroír el fracaso iluminado (Madrid: CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo de la Comunidad de Madrid, 2021). https://ca2m.org/en/publications/cecilia-vicuna-seehearing-the-enlightened-failure
2019 “To liberate! About Cecilia Vicuña’s Palabrarmas,” in Cecilia Vicuña: Seehearing the Enlightened Failure, ed. Miguel López (Rotterdam, Netherlands: Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, 2019), 71-90. https://ca2m.org/en/publications/cecilia-vicuna-seehearing-the-enlightened-failure
2019 “Red invisible real: entretejiendo video, danza y archivos en torno a Video Trans Americas’ De-briefing Pyramid.” In Cuerpo y Visualidad, ed. Jennifer McColl. Santiago: Metales Pesados, 2019. https://edicionesmetalespesados.cl/product/cuerpo-y-visualidad-reflexiones-en-torno-al-archivo/
2018 “El darwinismo chileno: apropiaciones al sur del sur en el arte chileno de los noventa.” Ensayos sobre artes visuales. Prácticas y discursos de los años ‘70s y ‘80s en Chile, vol. VI, 43-129. Santiago: LOM, 2018. https://lom.cl/products/ensayos-sobre-artes-visuales-a-la-intemperie-recomposiciones-del-arte-en-los-anos-90-en-chile-volumen-vi?srsltid=AfmBOorxNRnRFp2qROU4aVRMVYpnMY186r8BFC3ukKLaeZhkazkAWRla
2016 “Stay at Your Own Risk: Disturbing Ideas of Community in Two Projects by Elkin Calderón.” In Sabotage Art: Politics and Iconoclasm in Contemporary Latin American Art, edited by Sophie Halart and Mara Polgovsky, 168-187. London: I.B. Tauris, 2016. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/sabotage-art-9781350276611/
2016 “A Case of Collective Resistance: Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende.” In A los artistas del mundo/To The Artists of the World. Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende. México/Chile, 70-94. México: Editorial RM, MUAC (Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo), 2016. https://www.mssa.cl/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Folio-046-A-los-artistas-del-mundo.pdf
2015 Sylvia Juliana Suárez and Carla Macchiavello. “Solidarity, Visual Arts, Networks and Revolution: A Brief Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of the Chile-Cuba Meridian in the Context of Latin American Art.” In Redes Intelectuales. Arte y política en América Latina, ed. María Clara Bernal, 523-548. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, 2015. https://librosimpresos.uniandes.edu.co/product/redes-intelectuales/?v=5b61a1b298a0
2013 “A Flag is a Weave.” In 40 Años: Museo de la Solidaridad Por Chile. 1971-1973: Fraternidad, Arte y Política, 293-308. Santiago: Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, 2012.
2013 “Solidarity Times: A Conversation with Dore Ashton.” In 40 Años: Museo de la Solidaridad Por Chile. 1971-1973: Fraternidad, Arte y Política, 312-317. Santiago: Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, 2012.
2011 “Vanguardia de Exportación: la originalidad de la avanzada y otros mitos chilenos.” In Ensayos sobre artes visuales. Prácticas y discursos de los años ‘70s y ‘80s en Chile, 85-116. Santiago: LOM Editores, 2011. https://lom.cl/products/ensayos-sobre-artes-visuales-practicas-y-discursos-de-los-anos-70-y-80-en-chile?srsltid=AfmBOopIlJ-BiypbaPteGC2EJvNlkq3vKhMckeJPI8wtrf6_rfdNaucK
Chapters in Online books
2016 “Fibras Resistentes: Sobre el/los/algunos Museos de la Resistencia.” In Museo Internacional de la Resistencia Salvador Allende 1975-1990, 28-72. Santiago: Museo de la Solidaridad, 2016. https://www.mssa.cl/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Catalogo_razonado_mirsa_espanol.pdf
2015 “Experimentos en solidaridad y resistencia.” In Fondo del Archivo del Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, 9-17. Santiago: Museo de la Solidaridad, 2015.
Articles and Interviews in Journals and Online Research Projects
2023 “Francisca Benítez: acción directa.” Artishock revista (August 2023). https://artishockrevista.com/2023/09/06/francisca-benitez-accion-directa/
2022 “Estéticas turbias: Conversación entre Carla Macchiavello y Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol.” Cuadernos de Arte 25 (November 2022): 69-91.
2021 “Moving Desire Forward: A Multiplicity of Strings.” Folded Life. Talking Textile Politics. An online research and exhibition project. Johann Jacobs Museum, Zürich, Switzerland. May 2021.
https://foldedlife.johannjacobs.com/cecilia-vicuna/contextual-material/macchiavello-text/
2020 “Becoming (un)educated.” Más allá del fin 3.5 (2020): 39-42.
“Editorial.” Más allá del fin 3.5 (2020): 1.
https://ensayostierradelfuego.net/category/periodical/
2019 “Brief Notes About Dust, Twirls, and Some Horses.” Discipline 5/Más allá del fin 3 (2019): 117-120.
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cultural y las Artes (FONDART), 2024. Director of project of promotion and publication of book Arte pop y cultura popular en los largos sesenta en Chile, co-edited with Soledad García.
Cycle 54 PSC-CUNY Research Award. 2023.
Cycle 52 PSC-CUNY Research Award. 2021.
Scholarly Incentive Award, BMCC CUNY, 2020.
Henry Wasser Award for Outstanding Assistant Professors 2018/2019, CUNY.
Book Completion Award, 2019, CUNY.
Clark Summer Fellow. The Clark Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. July 2018.
Cycle 48 PSC-CUNY Research Award. 2017.
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cultural y las Artes (FONDART). Director of Project: Museo de la Solidaridad, 40 anos (Museum of Solidarity, 40 Years: Catalogue Raisonne, exhibition, conferences), Santiago, Chile. 2012.
FAPA, Research Grant (2011-2014), Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia.
Fondo concursable de la Direccion de Asuntos Culturales de la Cancilleria de Chile (DIRAC), Travelling Art Exhibition Project “Juan Downey: A traves de sus viajes,” Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 15-July 30 2006; San Jose, Costa Rica, November 30, 2006- January 18, 2007.
17thAnnual Hispanic Heritage Month Academic Award, Stony Brook University, NY. 2007.
Dialogues Across Differences Grant, 2006. Exhibition “Acts of Translation, New Art from Chile,” Stony Brook University.
Dialogues Across Differences Grant, 2006. Exhibition “A Mantra for Peace,” Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University.
Tinker Field Research Grant, LACS (Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center), Stony Brook University, NY. 2004.
Additional Information
If you want to learn more about peatlands, listen to the rumors of Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol and visit its webpage: (español). https://turbatol.org/rumores.html
and in English: https://turbatol.org/rumors.html
Collected publications:
https://bmcc-cuny.academia.edu/CarlaMacchiavello
More on Ensayos:
