(Rio de Janeiro, 1969) is a Brazilian performing and contextual artist. He started his career in Political Sciences and then drifted to dance-making and convivial works. Ciríaco works internationally in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East on projects, artistic collaborations and workshops.
In his projects he dialogues with the historical, material and affective context one is immersed within in any given situation. In terms of art forms, Ciriaco’s work moves from multimedia staged conceptual work, through to urban walks and convivial open-air projects. His works tend to involve the spectator in a shared production of both present and presence.
He has been present in major national and international festivals, galleries and venues (San Art Gallery/Saigon; Tanz im August/Berlin; Paris Quartier d’Été, Galerie Michel Journiac/Paris; Battersea Arts Centre/London; Taipei Digital Art Center/Taipei; Prague International Festival; Casa Encendida/Madrid; Bienal de Danza del Caribe/Havana; Alkantara and Culturgest/Lisbon; CENEART/Mexico City; Panorama/Rio; Metropolis/Copenhagen; Constelaciones, Buenos Aires; Serralves Museum, Porto, among others). He has been artist-in-residence at PAR-Programa Artistas en Residencia (Montevideo); Les Récollets (Paris), Casa Encendida (Madrid), Alkantara and ZDB Galeria (Lisbon); BCS (Taipei), Al Mamal Foundation (Jerusalem) and Tokyo Wonder Site (Tokyo). He was the artistic director of Manifesta! (Rio) and guest curator for the festival ENTRE Lugares (Rio | London) with Chelsea Theatre. In 2012, he was part of Rio Occupation London, the Brazilian Artistic Mission under London Cultural Olympiad with the project where the horizon moves at V22, in partnership with Battersea Arts Centre.
He’s been acting in urban space projects and landscape projects: Where the horizon moves (Guimarães Capital Européia da Cultura and London Cultural Olympiad); Here whilst we walk (premiered at Alkantara festival, Lisbon 2006 and seen in over 30 cities) and Neighbors (Casa Encendida, Madrid 2009), in collaboration with Andrea Sonnberger (Aus); in museum projects: In the middle of what we see (Veículo de Intimidade | Hoje, Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, 2016); A room of wonder (Tokyo Wonder Site/Tokyo and Largo das Artes/Rio); in conversational pieces: Drifting (Rio, Taipei, São Paulo, Lisbon and Porto) in partnership with António Pedro Lopes (Pt); and in dance projects: Gentleness of a giant (Negócio / Galeria ZDB, Lisbon, 2016); Those who walk on the ground, who climb trees, who bear wings (Galpão das Artes/Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, 2014); Eles vão ver (They shall see) (Panorama, Rio de Janeiro, 2010); Nada. Vamos Ver (Nothing. We shall see) (SESC São Paulo and Culturgest, Lisbon, 2009); Still – sob o estado das coisas (SESC São Paulo, 2007), among others.
As a lecturer, he has held talks at San Art Gallery (Vietnam) Tokyo Fine Arts University (Jp), V&A Museum, Chelsea Theatre (Uk), Ramallah Fine Arts University (Palestine), Opéra de Lyon (Fr), Fnac Lisbon (Pt), Museo Reina Sofia, Casa Encendida (Spain), Taipei Digital Arts Center (Tw), Itau Cultural, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Panorama Festival (Br), Teatro Solis, (Uruguay), Bilbao University (Sp), among others.
Since 2009, Ciríaco collaborates with Fernanda Eugénio in site-specific projects and workshops in Portugal, Brazil, Vietnam and more recently in the USA. In 2015, they started the project Steaming Cities in New York, hosted by the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics/New York University (April 2015).