Curator
London
Carolina Lio Rodrigues is a London-based curator and director of Looking Forward Art Projects C.I.C., working across contemporary art, ecology and socially engaged practice. Since 2022, she has curated and produced Slow Disasters, Andrew Merritt’s long-term project exploring artistic responses to environmental change, and since 2020 she has been a co-curator of Visible, an international platform for socially engaged art developed by Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto.
Her projects, exhibitions, and public programmes have been presented at institutions including the University of Luxembourg; the Museum of London Docklands; EAC Montevideo; the Hong Kong Arts Centre; and Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice, among others. She has been a Guest Researcher at MACBA Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, an Associate Researcher at Sheffield Hallam University, and a curator in residence at Fire Station in Dublin, the Goethe Institute in Sofia, and USF Bergen. She has consulted for institutions including the Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou and the Baja California Cultural Institute in Tijuana.
Her writing has appeared in publications by Springer Nature and Nero Editions, as well as in various academic journals. She holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London, and completed CuratorLab, the post-master’s programme at Konstfack University in Stockholm.
Current work:
→ Founder and Director, Looking Forward Art Projects, London (2019–ongoing) – Link
→ Co-curator, Visible, Cittadellarte–Fondazione Pistoletto (2020–ongoing) – Link
→ Senior Lecturer and Unit Leader, Istituto Marangoni London (2020–ongoing)
→ Curator and Producer, Slow Disasters, UK/MX/ZA (2022–ongoing)
→ Co-Lead and Curator, AHRC/Future Observatory's Design Generator project Field Hospital (2026–2027)
CLICK CURATORIAL RESIDENCY
SOFIA, BULGARIA
At the beginning of March 2018 I applied for CLICK Curatorial Residency and a month later I was selected for this programme initiated by Art Affairs and Documents Foundation in partnership with Goethe-Institut Bulgaria and Credo Bonum Gallery. Further supported by the Sofia Culture Directorat, CLICK allows international curators to spend a period of 5 weeks researching in Bulgaria and to present an exhibition or other outcome. My residency happened in the months of October and November 2018.
Art Affairs and Documents Foundation was founded by curators Vessela Nozharova, Vera Mlechevska, Dessislava Dimova and Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva. The programme is coordinated by Stefka Tsaneva, representative of Goethe-Institut Bulgaria. The Selection Committee also included: Emile Ouroumov (independent curator) and Snejana Krasteva (curator, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow).
Goethe-Institut, Sofia
Ergin Cavusoglu, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Vikenti Komitski, Stefan Nikolaev, Nedko Solakov, Krassimir Terziev, Alexander Valchev
My Sofia Art Map
Studio Visits
Luchezar Boyadjiev
Pravdoliub Ivanov
Martin Penev
Dimitar Solakov
Nedko Solakov
Presentation
Bulgaria and Sofia, Recent History, Politics and Society Recounted Through Paradigmatic Art Projects
Exhibition Catalogue
Catalogue of the show "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" curated at the Goethe-Institut, Sofia
Link
Maria Vassileva's Issuu profile with pdf of a selection of articles and publications
Link
Krassimir Terziev on the film and video in Bulgarian visual art
Other Artists I Come Across
Rada Boukova
Vikenti Komitski
Maria Nalbantova
Stefan Nikolaev
Voin de Voin
Link
Broadly considered the the most recognisable Bulgarian gallery internationally, the gallery works with professional artists who have international careers, and who belong to a wider European artistic scene - well-established figures such as Nedko Solakov, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Stefan Nikolaev, Luchezar Boyadjiev, as well as younger artists Kamen Stoyanov, Rada Boukova and Valio Tchenkov. The gallery also supports the development of the next generation of artists such as Lubri, Voin de Voin, Vikenti Komitski and Martina Vacheva.
Link
"Open Art Files: Topics, People, Spaces, Files in Bulgarian Contemporary Art" is a project that seeks to popularise Bulgarian contemporary art in Bulgaria and abroad. On the website is possible to accede a database of Bulgarian contemporary art, as well as curatorial visits, presentations and exhibitions.
Link
Marie Bromander and Sebastian Rypson on monuments and cultural amnesia in Bulgarian Contemporary Art
