Bárbara Wagner

Bárbara Wagner was born in Brasília, Brasil in 1980. Her photographic practice is centered on the ‘popular body’ and its strategies of visibility and subversion between the fields of pop culture and tradition. Being published in book formats since 2007, her works have been exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally and are part of the MASP and MAM collections in São Paulo. A monograph with an extensive selection of her photographs is published in "That which is beautiful must be seen" (Het Domein 2009). In 2012 Bárbara completed her MFA at the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem. She currently lives and works between Berlin and Recife, Brazil.

From 2011 onward she has been teaming up with artist Benjamin de Burca (Munich, 1975). Working collaboratively, Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca have shown in exhibitions, biennials and film festivals, including: the 33rd, 35th Panorama de Arte Brasileira, the 32nd São Paulo Biennial, the 20th Festival de Arte Contemporânea Sesc VideoBrasil (São Paulo, Brazil); the 36th EVA International (Limerick, Ireland); the 5th Skulptur Projekte (Münster, Germany); the 67th, 68th, 69th Berlin International Film Festival (Germany); and the 72nd Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland). Last year they took part in Manifesta, the European Nomadic Biennial.

In 2019, Wagner & de Burca represented Brazil at the 58th Venice Biennial, and unveiled solo presentations at Jumex Museum (Mexico City, Mexico) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, Holland). Their work can be found in collections such as: The Institute for Contemporary Art (Boston, USA), Kadist Art Foundation (France), Museu de Arte de São Paulo (Masp) and Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) (São Paulo, Brazil), Pérez Art Museum, (Miami, USA), an Arts Council of Ireland, among others. The artists are represented by Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Bárbara Wagner’s written MA thesis (2011): The Photograph between Documentary and Art

Learn more about Bárbara Wagner’s DAI-publication: Once Upon A Time In The West 

Watch teasers and excerpts of the films by Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca at their  Vimeo channel .

Text written in 2017 by Marianna Maruyama for DAI: “Wherever I go I try to understand a critical situation, especially the social and political [aspects] where I can investigate some issues and understand how it can become an image.”

Follow Bárbara's "Life after DAI" via Instagram