Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Alicia Candiani is a visual artist, architect and independent scholar. Candiani roots her professional practice on three strategies, which she develops together: her artistic work, curatorial practices and the generation-direction of artistic projects in collaboration with artists and communities around the world. In this context, she delivers lectures and seminars, publishes her writings, and provides advice and mentorship in the fields of printed and digital media, photography and design in Contemporary Art, with special focus on Latin America and out of the mainstream regions. Her essays and articles have been published nationally and internationally.
She was a tenured professor at the National University of Córdoba in the Departments of Printmaking and Art History and has been guest artist/scholar at numerous universities and artistic institutions around the world, including UNESCO; Pilar i Joan Miro Foundation, University Castilla-La Mancha and National Chalcography/Royal Academy of San Fernando in Spain; Academy of San Carlos, National Printmaking Workshops and University of Guanajuato in Mexico; AGALab in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Shanghai Art and Design Institute, China; Academies of Art & Design in Lodz and Wroclaw in Poland; the Library of Congress of the Nation in Washington DC, University Indiana in Pennsylvania and in Bloomington, State University of New York in New Paltz, University of Kansas in Lawrence and Kansas City Art Institute, Montclair State University in New Jersey, Boston University, Wyoming University, Ohio University, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, University of Connecticut, University of Tennesse in Knoxville; Iowa State University and Rutgers University, among others in the USA. She has been invited to be part of the award and selection juries of the main print biennials of the world, being International Print Biennial ROC2016 in Taiwan (2016) and the Krakow Graphic Triennial in Poland (2015), where she also served as president of the international jury, among them. She is on the IAPA International Advisory Council (International Academic Print Alliance) based at the Central China Academy of Arts in Beijing and has been appointed Theodore Randall International Chair Expanded Media in NYSCC at Alfred University, New York, USA during the Spring Semester 2018.
Candiani´s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since 1977, participating in many of the main biennials and exhibitions of contemporary art, obtaining numerous awards and recognitions in international exhibitions in Croatia (2017), Spain (2014, 2008 and 1993), United States (2009), India (2004), Bosnia & Herzegovina (2002), Russia (2001), Macedonia (2000), Bulgaria (1999), Japan (Sapporo and Kanagawa 1998), Puerto Rico (1995). In Argentina, she has been selected by the National Academy of Fine Arts as one in up ten best artists working in print media in her country in 1998, 2000 and 2004. The same academy included a review of her practice in the General History of Argentine Art, Vol XI: 1960-2000. In 2009 she received the Turner Award for Excellence in Visual Arts by University of California in the United States and in 2016 the “Honorary Member of the Council” Award given by the SGC International in recognition of the impact that her leadership “has have on our community together with her ability to inspire others to continue his career in printmaking”. She has been artist-in-residence in China, the US, Belgium and Canada. Her works are in public collections in Argentina, China, Spain, Italy, France, Norway, Taiwan, Belgium, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, Rumania, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Poland and the United States.
Candiani is the founder and current director of Proyecto’ace / International Artist-in-Residence Program and is the President of the Fundación’ace para el Arte Contemporáneo, a non-profit organization that houses the project. She graduated in Fine Arts -with focus on printmaking – and in Architecture and Urban Design of the National University of Cordoba, Argentina. She did postgraduate studies on Latin American Art and Art Criticism at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and specialized in innovative printmaking and digital imaging techniques at Iowa State University in the United States.