Biography
Zé Kielwagen is a Brazilian artist. His artwork is best described as transmedia, with the prevalence of sculpture, performance and video. He has exhibited worldwide at venues such as que Queens Museum and Open Source Gallery in NYC, the Ghetto Biennale of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the Marinmuseum of Karlskrona, Sweden, the Museum of Natural History of Paris, the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, and others. He has received international recognition through awards such as the Literary Expression Prize, by the University of Joinville, Brazil; Best Experimental Film Awards, from the Horn Film Festival, Israel, and the Buenos Aires Film Festival, Argentina; Best Documentary Award from the Brighton Film Pride Festival, United Kingdom; and the Excellence in Diversity Award from Michigan State University.
Before coming to Oberlin, Kielwagen had a decade of experience in higher education and research. He taught art and design at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, University of Joinville in Brazil, and others. His academic background includes studies in design, history and theory of art, and studio arts. He has been an invited speaker and critic at numerous art and education institutions worldwide, such as the University of Skövde, Sweden, the University of Joinville, Clark University in Massachusetts, and the Florestan Fernandes National School in Brazil.
Beyond his creative and academic pursuits, Kielwagen has a history of community engagement and political activism. He acts as a producer and curator, with a record of numerous exhibitions and programs focused on art activism and the use of public space. In 2009 and 2010 he worked with the LGBT+ movement in his hometown Joinville, helping organize and fundraise for its first Pride Parades. He is currently working with the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), or Movement of Landless Rural Workers, which fights for agrarian reform in deep Brazil.
