Gabriel Borba Filho

Gabriel Borba Filho has been acclaimed as a trailblazer in Brazilian video art. His artistic complexity often falls victim to misinterpretation; he's been categorized variably as a politically-minded video artist, an existential conceptualist, and a visual poet. 

Biography of Gabriel Borba Filho

Gabriel Borba Filho was born in 1942 in São Paulo, Brazil. He holds a degree in Architecture from the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo at the University of São Paulo.

The artist began exploring video in the early 1970s. He actively engaged in the experimental atmosphere of the Museu de Arte Contemporânea at the University of São Paulo under Walter Zanini's leadership. Additionally, he served as an assistant to philosopher Vilém Flusser. Furthermore, Borba Filho played a pivotal role in founding the Cooperativa Geral Para Assuntos da Arte (General Co-op for Artistic Matters) in 1974 and the Cooperativa de Artistas Plásticos de São Paulo (Plastic Artists Co-op) in 1978.

In 1979, he clinched the first Forma de Desenho Industrial prize. Additionally, during the early 1980s, he held the position of Director of the Fine Arts Division at the CCSP (Cultural Centre São Paulo). In the mid-1980s, he served as a cultural consultant at EMPLASA (São Paulo Company of Metropolitan Planning). Until 2012, he was the Director of the Exhibition Design Division at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea of the University of São Paulo.

Gabriel Borba Filho has amassed a robust body of work within a relatively short timeframe spanning from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. This intense yet still somewhat underappreciated oeuvre holds significant relevance in comprehending the diverse spectrum of conceptual art in Latin America.