a M.A.L.A. - morada andarilha de livros de artista
It was born from the desire to provide a closer look at the multiple universe of artist books. In them, images, photographs, drawings, writings, maps, graphics, among other elements, occupy pages, outlining constructive spaces and visual narratives that challenge our usual understanding of conventional books. This leads us to the question: after all, what possibilities does the book offer as a support for artistic expression?
To try to answer this question, we designed an artistic residency focused on deepening creative processes and developing individual projects. It also aims to explore the themes underlying artistic production and build an axis that permeates these issues, providing guidance and references with the aim of expanding the visual poetic repertoire in its hybrid and interactive possibilities. This will enable the maturation of a personal language, integrated with content relevant to the sensorial and subjective reality of each participant.
All participants are encouraged to complete an artist's book, which is then transported in a "suitcase" to one or two international exhibitions. In the first edition, we had an exhibition in Mexico City, at the El Rule Cultural Center, during the Zócalo International Book Fair (FIL) in October 2024, and another in São Paulo, at the Página Gallery, in November 2024, and at the Adizza Prado Gallery, Ribeirão Preto, SP, in June 2025. In 2025, M.A.L.A. landed in Paris to hold two exhibitions: one at the Galerie Enseigne des Oudin and another at the Médiathèque Marguerite Duras, both in September. In addition to these international exhibitions, the exhibition also took place in Brazil: at the Mario de Andrade Library in São Paulo, between December 2025 and March 2026, and at the Rare Books Library (BORA) of Unicamp, in April 2026. Between September and November 2026, MALA will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then in São Paulo, at the Mario de Andrade Library, at the end of the year.
how it works
immersion week
The annual M.A.L.A. residency always begins with a five- to seven-day in-person immersion in São Paulo, at the start of the year, dedicated to experiencing the materiality of the book.
During this period, resident artists engage with various visual art techniques, such as printmaking, monotype, pochoir, among others, as well as bookbinding construction techniques, exploring everything from paper grain orientation to the construction of bindings involving sequence, volume, and spatial research.
The immersion week is led by coordinator Estela Vilela and invited artist-teachers.
online classes
Following the in-person immersion week, weekly online meetings begin for project presentations and discussions among all residents and mentors.
When the works reach a more advanced stage, around June, professor Paulo Silveira, a researcher of the artist’s book and key reference in the field, joins selected meetings, offering insights and feedback on each project developed throughout the semester.
At the end of this guidance period, artists finalize their books, which are sent to São Paulo for cataloguing, photography, and preparation for international exhibition.
international exhibitions
All books are then exhibited each year in a different country, in venues such as libraries, galleries, and cultural centers. We have been in Mexico City (2024), Paris (2025), and we continue to Buenos Aires (2026), always with the presence of coordinators and resident artists.
During the exhibition period, M.A.L.A. also organizes technical visits to libraries, museums, artist’s book institutions, and local artists’ studios, fostering exchange between artists and field practitioners.
exhibitions in Brazil
After the international exhibition, the collection returns to Brazil, accompanied by artist books invited from the host country of that year, incorporated into the “bag” project.
The first national exhibition takes place at the Mário de Andrade Library, the largest library in São Paulo, including talks and public conversations with guests and partners.
The edition then concludes with an exhibition at BORA – Rare Books Library of Unicamp (State University of Campinas), home to an important artist’s book collection. This marks the end of each edition’s exhibition cycle.
printed catalogue
In alignment with the culture of the printed book and the value of its material presence, we consider the existence of a physical catalogue essential.
The artist books that compose the exhibition, residents, invited artists, and international contributors, along with the entire learning journey and technical visits of M.A.L.A., are compiled and documented in the annual catalogue.
It is an authorial publication by M.A.L.A. Press, hand-bound, intended for residents, project partners, and other interested audiences.
creators
After a series of virtual meetings, intense exchanges of ideas and gradual maturation over time, we set MALA in motion in 2024! Monique Allain, a visual artist based in New York, Chica Boyriven, a visual artist based in Paris, Lili Pardini, a book creator based in Embu das Artes, and Estela Vilela, a bookbinder and artist based in São Paulo, have combined their experiences to offer an online and in-person artistic residency focused on the production of artist books.
The main objective of this residency is to stimulate exchange and foster exchanges between emerging and transversal themes that expressively manifest themselves in the universe that intertwines libraries, books, reading and contemporary artistic production. The growth of artists who, today, with greater access to production tools, are moving from digital to artisanal in a single project, betting on the artist's book as an expressive and catalytic language for their trajectories, is visible. Whether it is a photobook, an object-book, a visual poem, a zine, etc., regardless of the opacity and ambiguity of the definitions of the term, the artist's book has stood out as a unique and innovative form of expression in various cultures.
With the aim of establishing consistent and periodic exchanges, we created MALA, to which we wish many journeys, displacements, new perceptions and expansion of aesthetic possibilities, exploring different perspectives through multiple lenses.
M.A.L.A. 2026 edition
In the 2026 edition, M.A.L.A. lands in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, with a theme that is, in itself, an invitation to movement: Wander World. Inspired by the idea of being between places, of the sense of belonging that is created along the way, we will explore what it means to inhabit movement—between what is sought and what is found, between what is taken and what is left behind in the world.
M.A.L.A.2025 edition
In 2025 MALA has grown!
In this edition, we had 30 artists and launched a new hybrid format, with in-person immersion and online meetings! Crossing, crossed the Atlantic and landed in Paris.
M.A.L.A. 2024 edition
In the 2024 edition, M.A.L.A. started from a theme that transcends time, territories, and affections: displacement. Inspired by Guimarães Rosa, we investigate what we carry, leave behind, and transform into movement. We took our first M.A.L.A. to Mexico.
M.A.L.A 2027
inscrições
Are you interested in embarking on the next edition?
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