Matilde dos Santos
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97200 Fort-de-France, Martinica
Brazilian historian and curator, living in Martinica, working at the intersection of art history and cultural studies with a focus on the notion of identity in performance art in the Caribbean, and a strong interest in life stories and collaborative work.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
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2013–Present | Independent curator
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Curator of the collective exhibition "de feu et de pluie " (of fire and rain) at Fondation Clément, Martinique, as part of the candidacy of the volcanic areas of northern Martinique and their tropical forests for UNESCO World Heritage. 16 artists, 400 M2, 6 artworks created for the exhibition, almost 70 artworks in total (including 40 drawings shown in an installation). Almost all of those 70 artworks were never shown on the Island before.
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Curator-coordinator of the artist residency on an industrial site, Homo-Sargassum, set up in Martinique by the Tout-Monde Art Foundation NGO based in New York, under an idea of ​​the Martinican artist Louisa Marajo, with the support of Rubis Mécenat , Sara and Holdex. Coordination and monitoring of residences of 5 Martinican artists (Nicolas Derné, Gwladys Gambie, Annabel Guérédrat, Ricardo Ozier-lafontaine, Henri tauliaut )on the Holdex site over three months and 4 artists from Jamaica (Camille Chedda, Oneika Russel, Jordan Harisson, Shelton Green) remotely. Establishment of exchanges in French and English between scientists, experts on Sargasso algae, and artists, but also meetings with students from the Caribbean Campus of the Arts and the St Pierre College, BA visual arts. Curator and scenographer of the restitution of the residency on the Holdex site.
Guest curator/mentor selected by the CATAPULT art Grant for the Caribbean to conduct studio visits with 6 of the 24 Stay Home Artist Residency awardees (Natusha Croes from Aruba, Reginald Sénatus from Haïti, Camille Chedda from Jamaïque, Gwladys Gambie from Martinique, Ada M Patterson from Barbados et Mireille Myrlande from Haïti.
Curator of "RESET” [solo show Ricardo Ozier-Lafontaine], Fondation Clément, Martinique, 25 May - 18 July 2018. Text of catalogue and conference.
Curator of « Livres sculptures » [solo show Habdaphaï], Salon International du Livre de Martinique, November 2013.
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Curator of « Porteur de Mots », [solo show Habdaphaï], Theodoro Braga Art Gallery, Belém, Para, Brésil, mai 2013.
Curator and producer of « Porteur de Mots » [Habdaphaï], Itinerant exhibition and performances: Alliance Française of Cap Haïtien & Sainte-Lucie, and the Haïti National School of Arts, October 2013.
Lecturer, Art History Department, University of Antilles, Schoelcher, Martinique
2020-2021 & 2021-2022
One course developed: History and Image for students in BA History, 1st year. Instructor of record each term. In addition to lectures, I led weekly discussions, kept office hours, graded exams and papers, and filed final course grades.
Invited assistant professor, Art History Department, Campus Caribéen des Arts, Fort de France, Martinique,
2014-2017
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Two seminars (16H) per semester. History of modern and contemporary Brazilian art One course for the BA visual art and design and one for the MA visual art and design.
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Cooperation officer at the Regional Council of Martinique:
2006-2007 | 2011-2015 |
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Follow-up of joint projects with Caribbean partners AEC and OECS (2006-2007).
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Head of a project of bilateral cooperation with the state of Para, Brazil (2011-2013).
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Technical support for the bilateral cooperation with the Caribbean countries (2011-2015)
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Technical support for the membership of supranational organisations such as OECO , AEC and CEPALC (2011-2015)
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the conception and launch of the mechanism for the placement of Martinican public officials in French diplomatic posts in the Caribbean and Brazil (2011-2013).
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In charge (2011-2015) of the executive administration of the Bruxelles office of the French outermost regions (Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, La Reunion, Mayotte, Saint Martin).
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In charge of international relations for international meetings organized by the Regional Council of Martinique: Investor's conference, Agricultural International fair, International book fair, Diaspora forum. (June - December 2013).
2007-2011 | 2015-2016
Contact point of the EU Fund INTERREG CARIBBEAN for the cooperation between French overseas departments and the Caribbean.
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​Support to the STC (Guadeloupe) for the monitoring and execution of the program
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Assistance to project leaders outside and within the community - training, assembly, formatting, assistance with design, implementation and monitoring, including assistance with raising the costs of cooperation projects carried by the community or Martinican leaders
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Internal and external communication on the Program -Member of the technical committee; advice and advice to elected members of the monitoring and selection committee
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Management of the effort of the Martinica regional council to avoid the automatic de-commitment of the PO 2007-2013, from June to December 2015
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Participation in the writing of the PO and the DOMO 2007-2013 and the DOMO 2014-2020
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Scholarly and Professional Publications
Books
In collaboration with Barret, Jean-Baptiste (photographer). Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément. Paris, HC éditions, 2020.
Le Jardin des sculptures [audioguide] (2016), Fondation clément, 2020
« Mémoires battantes engagement social et transmission intergénérationnelle des expériences ». In Michelle Landry, Martin Paquet et Anne Gilbert (eds) Mémoires et Mobilisations, Presses Universitaires de Laval, Quebec, 2015
Exhibition Catalogues and texts
de feu et de pluie [catalogue exposition collective],, Fondation Clément, Martinique, 2021
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Reset, [catalog exhibition artist Ricardo Ozier-Lafontaine], Fondation Clément, Martinique, 2018
Luminosité secrète, [exhibition catalog artist Dora Vital], Villa Chantecler, Martinique,2018
ADN, [exhibition catalog artist Ronald Cyrille aka B Bird], Tropiques Atrium, Martinique, 2018
Entre Danse et Transe, [exhibition catalog photographers Guy Veloso et Daniel Dabriou], Saint John Perse Museum, Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe, 2017
Art recycle Circule ! [Catalog of a collective and itinerant exhibition of Martinican artists], Conseil général de Martinique, 2014
Web sites
Visual Arts art critic and writer for the International Association of Art Critics, Southern Caribbean Section, ; Active since 2013, more than 40 articles on Caribbean art. Also a writer for the Madinin’art, ( https://www.madinin-art.net/) webzine on art and spectacle. The entire list of articles may be consulted at , section what/articles. Articles wrotes in year 2020-2021 :
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"De feu et de pluie, une exposition volcanique" Lire →
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"Matilde dos Santos writes on CATAPULT awardee Natusha Croes for MADININ’ART" Lire →
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"Résidences d’Artistes à la Maison - visite de l’atelier de Natusha Croes (ARUBA)" Lire→
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"Matilde dos Santos writes on CATAPULT awardee Reginald Senatus for Madinin'art" Lire →
"Résidence d’artistes à la maison – visite de l’atelier de Reginald Sénatus (Haïti)" Lire →
"Matilde dos Santos writes on CATAPULT awardee Camille Chedda for MADININ’ART" Lire →
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"Matilde dos Santos writes on CATAPULT awardee Gwladys Gambie for MADININ’ART" read here
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"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Angela Bulloch" Lire →
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"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Miguel Chevalier" Lire →
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"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Catherine Ikam" Lire →
"Le jardin des sculptures – entretiens d’artistes : Pablo Reinoso" Lire ici →
"Le jardin des sculptures - entretiens d'artistes : Luz Severino" Lire ici →
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"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Vladimir Skoda " Lire ici →
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"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Hervé Beuze" Lire ici →
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"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Gilles Barbier" . Lire ici →
"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Christian Lapie". Lire ici →
"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément, entretiens d’artistes : Christian Bertin". Lire ici →
"Le jardin des sculptures de la Fondation Clément – entretiens d’artistes : Thierry Alet" Lire ici →
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"CATAPULT – Résidence d’artiste à la maison – visites virtuelles d’atelier - Gwladys Gambie, Cicatrices incandescentes". Lire ici →
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"Catapult – Résidence d’artiste à la maison – visites virtuelles d’atelier - Camille Chedda, des ruines en construction" Lire ici →
"Femmes artistes noires brésiliennes et caribéennes : défier l’invisibilité » 28 janvier 2018 | https://aica-sc.net/2018/01/28/femmes-artistes-noires-bresiliennes-et-caribeennes-defier-linvisibilite/​
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« Art en relation: Li diab’là une performance de Christian Bertin » , 22 August 2017 | https://aica-sc.net/2017/08/22/lart-en-relation-li-diabla-une-performance-de-christian-bertin/
« Tout ce qui est neg n’est pas noir, discriminations racisées dans la performance en Martinique », 25 juin 2017 https://aica-sc.net/2017/06/25/tout-ce-qui-est-neg-nest-pas-noir-discriminations-racisees-dans-la-performance-en-martinique/
« La performance en Martinique, un peu d’histoire », 29 April 2017 | https://aica-sc.net/2017/04/29/art-performance-en-martinique-un-peu-dhistoire/
« Identités Caribéennes : Construction/déconstruction identitaire dans les œuvres de Tirzo Martha et Habdaphaï »,1 avril 2016 | https://aica-sc.net/2016/04/01/identites-caribeennes-constructiondeconstruction-identitaire-dans-les-oeuvres-de-tirzo-martha-et-habdaphai/
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conferences/invited lectures/presentations
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27 February 2021 | 3rd episode of the In the process series by AICA-SC, "a Woman's world" conception, organization and co-host of a zoom conversation between French-speaking artists & curators of the Caribbean,
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26 February 2021 | Panchayat: The Mas(s) in We: Reclaiming de People's Festival, Virtual Research & Arts Symposium, University of West Indies, Saint Augustine; Panel 5 "Resistance and restoration in Carnival performance",
Panelist | "Of the 7000 components, I am one"
18 February 2021 | Caribbean Culture Fund Round table on "Migration, Diaspora and the Arts of the Caribbean" - zoom meeting
Speaker | "Massive migration, assimilation, black consciousness: French black populations and the national French Republican narrative"
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30 May 2019 | Pop up sections, Tilting Axis 5, MACTE, Guadeloupe (a short summary)
9 Mai 2018 | “Gender studies” PHD Seminar, University of Antilles, Martinique (long version - 1-hour presentation)
Speaker | Paper presented : « Les corps intranquilles –performeuses noires brésiliennes et caribéennes »
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29 August 2018 | International conference of Francophone feminist research (CIRFF), University of Nanterre, Nanterre-France
18 January 2018 | International Association of Art Critics – southern Caribbean section, Tropiques Atrium , Fort-de-France
3 November 2017 | Symposium Politics and Poetics of Afro-Latin Visibility, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, (delivered in English)
Panelist/Speaker | Paper presented: « Femmes artistes noires caribéennes et brésiliennes : défier l’invisibilité, (Black female artists from Brazil and the Caribbean: challenging invisibility )
30 May 2018 | Study days on dance, gender and race, University of Antilles, Martinique
Speaker `paper presented: “Tout ce qui est neg n’est pas noir”,
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18 July 2017 | Table ronde La Rencontre, SERMAC (city service for cultural action), Fort de France,
Panelist | Paper presented : « Art en relation : errance et déambulation. Li diab’là une performance de Christian Bertin »
8 July 2017 | Clement Foundation, curator's conference in the scope of the exhibit Reset - artist Ricardo Ozier-Lafontaine
Speaker | Paper presented: « RESET : mémoire, guérison et réenchantement du monde »
7 April 2017 | Conférence doctorale 2017, University of Antilles, Martinique
Speaker | Paper presented :« Mémoires mouvantes : construction et déconstruction identitaire dans l’art performance de la caraïbe »,
29 January 2017 | Clément Foundation , Martinique. In the scope of the Exhibit Le Geste et la Matière, curated and co-organised by the Center Pompidou and the Clément Foundation - Pompidou 40th anniversary.
Speaker | Paper presented : “Le Geste et la matière : de l’abstraction au nouveau réalisme",
12-15 October 2016 | Table ronde – AICA en el Caribe, XLIX Congrès de l’AICA, La Havane, Cuba,
Panelist | Paper presented : « Aica Caribe del sur, una sección espéciale » (delivered in Spanish)
2 October 2016 | Clément Foundation, Martinique. In the scope of the Exhibit Armature. Artist Hervé Beuze
Speaker | Paper presented : « Hervé Beuze, Armature – Une histoire de l’homme »
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16-22 February 2016 | Turning Tides: Caribbean Intersections in the Americas and Beyond Conference, Port of Spain, UWI, co-organized by the University of West Indies and the Trinity College, Connecticut, USA. Trinidad,
Panelist | Paper presented: « Shifting memories: identity and auto fictions on Caribbean performances” (delivered in English)
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15 December 2015 | CEREAP (Center for studies and research in aesthetics and visual arts) Conference co-organized by the
CRILLASH, ESPE de Martinique,
Panelist | Paper presented : « Sois marginal, sois Héros, Hélio Oiticica et la contre culture »
28 May 2015 | 40ème Annual conference of the Caribbean Studies Association, Nouvelle Orléans,
Panelist |Paper presented: « Tirzo Martha and Habdaphaï performances: witnessing the ephemeral existence of a space defined by changings, transitory moments and precariousness” (delivered in English)
15 March 2015 | CEREAP conference - L’Art dans la Rue , ESPE de Martinique,
Panelist | Paper presented: « L’art au-delà de la toile » (on street artists and pixo artists from Brazil)
12 March 2015 | Colloque international interdisciplinaire - Poétique et politique de l’altérité, Fonds St Jacques, Martinique,
Panelist | Paper presented : « Identités caribéennes : le jeu de miroirs. Construction/déconstruction identitaire dans les œuvres de Tirzo Martha et Habdaphaï. »,
13 January 2014 | Séminaire, Campus Caribéen des Arts, Ecole des Arts Visuels de Martinique,
Speaker | Paper presented : « Biennale de Sao Paulo et autres lieux de monstration »,
23 April 2013 | Conférence du CEREAP, Art et folie, ESPE de Martinique, co-organized by the CRILLASH
Panelist |Paper presented: « Art et folie : le cas Bispo »,
EDUCATION
PhD, History of Art, Université des Antilles, expected 2022
Dissertation: “Mémoires mouvantes : construction et deconstruction identitaire dans la performance dans la Caraïbe – étude de cas sur la Martinique depuis la fin des années 80”. (Moving Memories: identity construction and deconstruction in Performance Art in the Caribbean – a case study in Martinique from the late 1980)
Advisor: Professor Gilbert Elbaz
MA, Linguistics, Université des Antilles-Guyane, 1994
Thesis: “Typologie des modèles narratifs” (Typology of Models of Narrative Analysis)
Advisor: Professor Jean Barnabé
with highest honour
MA, Linguistics, Université Diderot (Paris 7), 1991
Thesis : “Logique des prédicats et traduction automatique : le cas de la négation (portugais/français)”
Advisor: Professor Francis Corblin
with highest honour
BA in Linguistics, Université Diderot (Paris 7), 1990
BA and Teaching certificate in History, Universidade Federal Fluminense, 1986
Grants/Fellowships/Awards/jury
CNPq scholarship, January 1984- July 1986
A governmental Brazilian fund for a personal undergraduate research project: “A estoria é uma so” (the story is always the same) about how do we tell History in History manuals for second-degree schools in Brazil (1830-1985).
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Member of the jury of the Ministry of Culture of France, decentralized commission for visual arts of Martinique. 2018-2019
Member of the jury of the CinéMartinique festival 2"-31 October 2020; Serie documentaires.
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languages
French-Portuguese bilingual (mother tongue Portuguese)
Spanish and English: Fluent (reading and speaking)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
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International Association of Art Critics – southern Caribbean section (AICA-SC) member since 2013, secretary since 2020
Museu da Pessoa (Person Museum), a Brazilian virtual museum that collects and diffuses personal stories, and developed and teaches the social technology of memory. (founder member in 1991)
SERVICES
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President Association Brazil - Martinica (ABRAMA) – cultural exchanges Martinique/Brazil | 2010-2017
Member Association Carouge – protection of the birds of Martinica | since 2000
LEISURE
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Cinema (created and managed a film-club in high school at 16 years old), dance, literature, exhibits, sailing (crossed the Atlantic 3 times on a sailing boat: July-August 1988, October 1990, November 1991)
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references
This website is my portfolio, references are available upon request.