Mariana Gusso Nickel

Mariana Gusso Nickel is an artistic researcher, member of the de-Haunted Collective, and editor at Simulacrum Magazine. She has recently graduated from the Master of Art and Performance Research Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her research is inspired by the fields of life-writing, social performance studies, and psychoanalytical theory, and it is an exploration of how different notions of loss, desire, and memory coalesce around certain objects and narratives in her life. She is currently writing, writing, and writing about the Anthropophagic Movement in Brazil, making (it) work with her teeth aligners, and co-organising the exhibition re-Membering Phantoms at The Grey Space in the Middle (Den Haag, 14-17/09/2023) with Lore Pilzecker.

Academic formation

Master of Art and Performance Research Studies 2021-2023

Artistic Research track

University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

  • Thesis: "Re-membering the feast: Anthropophagia and the flesh of words"

  • Cum laude

International Bachelor of Art and Culture Studies 2018-2021

Part of the Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab (RASL) Dual Degree

Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

  • Sociology minor at the University of Amsterdam 2020-2021

Bachelor of Fine Arts 2018-2021

Part of the Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab (RASL) Dual Degree

Willem de Kooning Academy, the Netherlands

  • Culture Studies minor 2020

  • Honours program

Exhibitions, publications and other activities

re-Membering Phantoms upcoming: 14-17 September 2023

  • Exhibition and symposium co-organised with Lore Pilzecker // de-Haunted Collective

  • The Grey Space in the Middle, Den Haag

A Seat for a Table, a Sun for the Sky 2023

  • Graduation exhibition of the Master of Art and Performance Research Studies - University of Amsterdam

  • De Appel, Amsterdam

A and The Hand 2023

Gusso Nickel, M. (2023, June). A and The Hand. Simulacrum Magazine: MIMESIS., 31(3). https://www.simulacrum.nl/shop/p/mimesis

Wrecking Circulations 2023

  • Exhibition with Lore Pilzecker // de-Haunted Collective

  • Ijzerblok, Rotterdam

Simulacrum Magazine 2022-present

  • Editor and Social Media curator

  • www.simulacrum.nl

  • Amsterdam

Oozing the Wound 2022

  • Exhibition with Lore Pilzecker and Marieke Peeters // de-Haunted Collective

  • Ijzerblok, Rotterdam

Artistic Research Midterm Exhibition 2022

  • Curriculum component for the Master of Art and Performance Research Studies

  • NEVERNEVERLAND, Amsterdam

The ‘no’ 2022

Gusso Nickel, M. (2022, January). The “no”. A and the a’s. Simulacrum Magazine. INTIMACIES Issue., 30(1). https://www.simulacrum.nl/shop/p/intimacies

Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab 2021 2021

  • Group exhibition by Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Dual Degree’s graduates of 2021.

  • De Achtertuin, Rotterdam

Willem de Kooning Academy graduation show 2021

  • Graduation show for the 2021 class

  • Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam

Myth-book 2021

  • Artist book. First edition as part of the Religion Virus library collection, under the curation of [M] Dudeck. Second edition in a private collection.

Ruins 2021

  • Collective publication by the Honours Class of the Visual Culture minor from the Willem de Kooning Academy. The book presents a collection of our speculative responses to Federico Campana’s call for artists to leave fruitful Ruins for the Post-Future.

Virtually Anything 2020

  • Virtual exhibition created by participants of the Monday Meetings collective, exploring alternative forms of collective organisation during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Monday Meetings 2019-2020

  • Hosted weekly encounters of the Monday Meetings artistic research group, organised by Juan Beladrich, between September 2018 and February 2020.

PUNCTIONARY: The dictionary of puncepts 2019

  • “What is a puncept?”, introductory chapter for Punctionary, a collective publication made by the third year students from the Honours Program of the Willem de Kooning Academy, speculating on the notion of “theory-fiction”.

TALK with Theory-F(r)iction: PUNCTIONARY Publication Presentation 2019

  • Book launch

  • Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, Friday 20 December 2019

Jocale 2019

  • Costume design and production for the performance Jocale, organised as a collaboration between artists linked to the Willem the Kooning Academy and Codarts.

  • Codarts, Rotterdam

Draagvaas (“wearable vase”) 2018

  • Finalist design for Cor Unum’s 2018 Design Competition, now part of their collection.

  • Cor Unum, Den Bosch