@taylvan
Co-founder of the Sacatar Foundation and the Instituto Sacatar which, since 2001, jointly oversee the longest-running artist residency program in Brazil, having hosted 500+ artists from 70+ countries for fully-funded 8-week residencies in Bahia, Brazil.
Omid Asadi, an Iranian artist who came to Sacatar through a partnership with Factory International (Manchester, UK) gave a wonderful interview about his time in Itaparica, check it out:
factoryinternational.org/artist-devel...
Michael Lowenthall, a Sacatar Fellow in 2008 and 2022, is launching his new book, "Place Envy".
The work was profoundly shaped by his experiences at Sacatar and Itaparica.
Read more about it and see launch dates and locations at:
sacatar.org/en/michael-l...
I am pleased that the MacDowell residency β the oldest and among the most prestigious on Earth β has initiated its MacDowell Global initiative with an exchange of artists with Sacatar. The exchange is scheduled for later this year.
@macdowell1907.bsky.social
Carnaval is over. Today is the non-day, Ash Wednesday, when nothing happens. Tomorrow some sort of normal will resume. I am in Bahia for another 12 days. Then off to Paris for two months. I plan to come back to meet the March-April group of Sacatar Fellows before the end of their 7-week residencies.
Carnaval in Bahia. Carnaval in Brazil. You should wish you were here!
Instagram, the big lie. Since I posted about Instagram being a bot-driven scam twelve days ago here, Sacatar's shuttered Instagram feed --- where we have posted nothing since January 8, 2025 --- has 200 new "Followers." Who could those Followers be but self-serving Meta-Bots? All things must pass.
O presente dos eguns, no dia dois de fevereiro, na ilha de Itaparica.
Instagram's lord sides with Trump. Deny him further growth. Get off Instagram now.
If you are still on Instagram, let it go. It should be called Insta-scam. Your "followers" are probably mostly imaginary and I assume the 1500 new "followers" our former account has since we posted our last post, explaining why we were leaving Instagram for good.
After leaving Instagram, the number of people who seek Fellowships to come to the Sacatar artist residency in Brazil has barely dipped, and we still receive far more applications than we can host, turning down 90-95% of applicants.
We quit Instagram a little over a year ago. Since then, without posting once, our Instagram account went from 9000 Followers to 10,500 Followers. We did not post once. Which leads me to assume 1,500 Followers are bots.
Meta is doing President Donald Trump yet another solid in the wake of his federal immigration agents shooting dead two American protesters in the street, by censoring a site that identifies them.
We quit Instagram. You should too.
For those living in the United States, it is your sacred duty to be pissed off as hell.
Can America recover? So far, the evidence for recovery is very slim. After all, the fundamental values of the Constitution are considered "fake and gay" by the mafia in power.
Bahia, Brazil, should serve as a model, despite its many injustices, as a place that celebrates diversity and harmony and generosity with other human beings. The United States once aspired to these values. But no longer under the current blatantly fascist regime.
While Minneapolis struggles beneath the weight of heavily armed, disrespectful and violent federal goons, at Sacatar we celebrate the great diversity to which all members of our community β local, national, and international β contribute with generosity and goodwill.
We wrap up the 2025 residency season with Open Studios on Friday. Other events on Wednesday and Sunday. Details at sacatar.org
Good luck to us all; We have our work cut out for us to make this year a happy one, but I believe we can.... with setbacks to be sure.
The tech-bros are not our friends. Be careful with what you place before them.
Sook Jin Jo was the first artist to arrive in Bahia through Sacatar's first Open Call. Here is a link to her recent work in Latin America.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FErl...
The current president of the United States is insane. This is not hyperbole.
www.thebulwark.com/p/the-psych-...
Here's an opportunity for an artist from anywhere in the world to spend a month at a residency in BogotΓ‘.
www.esraro.com/post/extensi...
Some sober words about the thinking behind the creation of Thanksgiving, which was to suppress the consolidation of oligarchies. It was a rebuke of the influential slave-holding class... 150 years on, oligarchs threaten the nation again.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-2...
Sacatar alum Melanie Baker:
@sacatar-instituto.bsky.social
OPEN CALL: LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
The Pastrana Foundation and Delfina Foundation welcome applications from contemporary visual artists based in Latin America for a residency in London from 21 September to 13 December 2026.
