“I have a feeling that things will connect at some point.”
In this interview, Artist Carla Zaccagnini reflects on the unpredictable nature of discovery—both in life and in art. She begins with a memory: a story of someone tasting a peach for the first time as an adult. What seems like deprivation transforms into a reflection of the beauty of encountering the world anew.
Zaccagnini’s artistic practice thrives on uncertainty. She sets ideas in motion, embracing the unknown and allowing the process to lead to unexpected revelations. From her comparative study of national anthems—revealing hidden commonalities between nations—to a silent film series inspired by personal stories of cash and migration, her work investigates the structures that shape our realities.
For many years, she has been developing research-based projects investigating how invisible power structures or struggles are made visible; what forms they assume when becoming visible; and how these forms are present in our daily lives and imagination. Thus, by recontextualizing existing objects, analysing recurrent images, and deconstructing persisting narratives, the artist questions the limitations and bias of language and representation, and the fallibility and partiality of perception and understanding, challenging naturalized ways of thinking, telling, seeing, and depicting and opening the possibility for other ways of imagining and acting in the world.
Whether tracing the militant strategies of suffragettes who attacked paintings or reimagining impossible bottles, her work challenges dominant histories, inviting us to consider what is preserved, what is erased, and what is yet to be discovered.
Carla Zaccagnini (1973) is a visual artist and writer, sometimes a curator, and the Professor of the School of Conceptual and Contextual Practices, at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, since its foundation in 2017. She was born in Buenos Aires, raised in São Paulo, is now based in Malmö and working in Copenhagen. This in-between position –both in terms of geographic (dis)placement and in relation to the fields of art making, writing, curating and education– defines her vantage point, her way of seeing, and her (broken) language. Zaccagnini’s conceptually driven practice is a continuous process of inquiry, which can solidify in a variety of material results –from printed text to film, sculptures, and installations.
Zaccagnini has exhibited in institutions such as CRAC Alsace (Altkirch, 2022), Kadist (San Francisco, 2021), Havremagasinet Länskonthall (Boden, 2020), Museu de Arte de São Paulo (2019), Röda Sten Konsthall (Göteborg, 2018), LACMA (Los Angeles, 2017), Kunsthal KAdE (Amersfoort, 2016), Malmö Konsthall (2015), Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2015), Guggenheim Museum (New York, 2014) and MNCA Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2014). She has had solo shows at Krognohuset (Lund, 2024), Amant (New York, 2022), MUNTREF (Buenos Aires, 2019), Museo Experimental el Eco (México DF, 2018), SixthyEight Art Institute (Copenhagen, 2017), Museu de Arte de São Paulo (2015) and Van Abbemuseum (Eindoven, 2015), among other institutions.
Zaccagnini’s work is represented by Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, and 2112 Gallery, Copenhagen, and is featured in the collections of Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Malmö Konstmuseum, Tate Modern (London), Solomon Guggenheim Museum (New York), MUSAC (León, Spain), Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, among others.
Recent publications include Cuentos de Cuentas (Berlin: K. Verlag, 2022), Brasil: país do futuro, um livro sobre o livro. (Valencia: Editorial Concreta, 2016), and (Elements of Beauty. São Paulo, 2012).
Carla Zaccagnini was interviewed in her studio and in the artist-run space Fuxia 2 in Malmö, Sweden, by Signe Boe in May 2024.
Producer and editor: Signe Boe
Camera: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan and Signe Boe
Editor-in-Chief: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025 Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling.
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