Carmela Cucuzzella lives in Montreal, Canada, where she is an associate professor in Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University. She holds a university research chair in Integrated Design, Ecology, and Sustainability for the Built Environment.
She is a researcher and critical theorist in the realm of visual culture of architecture and design. She believes that art starts in science and philosophy and must take advantage of research and writing. Her work is grounded on a profound understanding of visual analogies and is the result of a long running meditation on critical themes. In her art lab, she considers the human body as the ultimate encounter of nature and culture.
Her academic work concerns visual analogies and she considers the human body to be the ultimate encounter of nature and culture. Carmela aims to better understand how designers and artists go beyond current injunctions of environmental norms to better support the critical creative exploration of the art and design process. She equally holds that research is best articulated around the needs of the community and develops collaborative design experiments for public spaces. Carmela’s artwork offers new ways to conceptualize human’s place through the recollection of mythological worlds. Carmela is an expert on the question of research-creation and the museological experience and she was guest editor in 2015 for the Muséologies Journal on this topic. Carmela’s artwork has been exhibited most recently at Inframince in 2015, and at the Grey Nuns in Montreal in 2016.
Carmela Cucuzzella, PhD., is an Associate Professor, Design and Computation Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University and Concordia University Research Chair in Integrated Design, Ecology, Art, and Sustainability for the Built Environment
Collective Exhibitions
4th Space Exhibition Venue, Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec, Cucuzzella, Carmela, Mohammed Ouf, 2019, Cities Cluster Research Exhibition, Oct 24, 2019- Nov 26, 2019
Bio-sphere Exhibition Space. 5th Floor
Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, June 5 – Oct 30, 2020, Civiliti + Cucuzzella, Carmela, 2019, MTL+, Sainte-Hélène
4th Space Exhibition Venue, Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec, Cucuzzella, Carmela, Andreas Athienitis, 2019, Cities Cluster Research Exhibition, January 2019
ArtBlend Gallery at Miami Spectrum, Miami, USA
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Unbind the Ipseity, December 2018
+ chapter in The Art Book, Art Blend, 2019, pp 34-35
Inframince Pop-up Gallery, Old Montreal, 511 Place D’Armes
Montreal, Canada, Cucuzzella, Carmela, Hammond, Cynthia, & Chupin, Jean-Pierre, 2016, vernissage Dec 15, 2016
Grey Nun’s Gardens, Montreal
within context of Association of Critical Heritage Studies Conference, Cucuzzella, Carmela (with performance by Hannah Materne), (2016), “Concealed Apertures: Ink Narratives”, ‘Un paradis sans pommiers’* Le jardin des Soeurs Grises, works curated by Cynthia Hammond & Shauna Jenson, at UQAM & Concordia University, https://vimeo.com/182042247, June 3, 2016
Swiss Architecture Museum (SAM), Basel, Switzerland,
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Chupin, Jean-Pierre, “A New Algorithm For Sustainably Creative Design”, Just Architecture, performance, October 18-20, 2012
Hochschule Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland,
Cucuzzella, Carmela, “Are ‘Environmental Certifications” Becoming The New Qualifier For ‘Good’ Architecture In Competitions?”, short film presented at Just Architecture, August 26-27, 2012
SIDIM, Place Bonaventure, Montréal
Québec, Cucuzzella, Carmela, 2005, « FLAT-INSERT chair », Salon International du design d’intérieur de Montréal, 2005, May
Saint-Étienne Design Center, France
Cucuzzella, Carmela, 2004, « TSUMA chair », Biennale Internationale Design 2004
SIDIM, Place Bonaventure, Montréal
Cucuzzella, Carmela, 2003, « TSUMA chair », Salon International du design d’intérieur de Montréal, 2003, May
Exhibition Organizations of Student Work
Concordia University, Atrium, Montreal
Cucuzzella, Carmela and pk langshaw Civic Common Grand Jardins Public Space Projects, presentations of student art and design work from DART 632 and DART335, exhibited April 18, 2017
Detroit Future City, Detroit
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Nature Inspired Environments, student work from Concordia University DART448 course, exhibited April 17, 2016
Detroit Future City, Detroit
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Nature Inspired Environments, student work from Concordia University DART449 course, exhibited April 21, 2015
Concordia University, Montreal
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Nature Inspired Environments, student work from Concordia University, exhibited April 1-15, 2014
SIDIM show at Place Bonaventure, Montreal
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Evans, Partick, and Zahedi, Mithra, (2012), Eco-Quebec Student Projects from Concordia University, Universite de Quebec a Montreal and Universite de Montreal, May 25-27, 2012
Hall Building, Concordia University, Montreal
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Sustainable Greenhouse Furniture Design, exhibition of DART448 student projects at Concordia University during the Sustainability Week event, March 18-23, 2012
Design Awards
FERDIE design award 2005
She has also had her work featured on television series as well as displayed in movie sets.
Publications
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Sherif Goubran (editors) (upcoming 2020), “Designing Sustainable Architecture from Performance to Poetics”, Vernon in review (confirmed 8 authors, confirmed scientific committee)
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2015), Muséologies, invited special guest editor for edition on “Curatorial Challenges of Research-Creation”, Volume 8, numero 1, invited guest editor
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (upcoming 2020), « L’être et le néant » de l’architecture durable, in Critique en Architecture, InFolio, accepted, (eds) Louis Martin and Denis Bilodeau (accepted)
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (upcoming 2020), “Sustainable Architecture as Facticity, as Potential, and as Perceived”, in Scales of Sustainable Design in Architecture, (eds) Carmela Cucuzzella and Sherif Goubran (accepted)
Cucuzzella, Carmela, Chupin, Jean-Pierre, and Hammond Cynthia, (upcoming 2019), “Eco-Didacticism in Art and Architecture: Raising Awareness by Design”, Cities Journal, (accepted)
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2019), “The Eco-Didactic Turn in Architecture and Art for the Public Realm”, in On the Potential of Didacticism in Architecture/Du potentiel du didactisme en architecture, Carmela Cucuzzella, Cynthia Hammond, Sherif Goubran, Chanelle Lalonde (editors), LEAP Research Notebooks, Potential Architecture Books, Vol 3
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2019), “Eco-Didactic Art in the Public Realm”, Sustainable City, 13th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability, October 1-3, Valencia, Spain
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2019), “Eco-didacticism in Public Art and Design as Response to the Anthropocene”, paper presented at the Projet journée d’étude: imaginaires, esthétiques et expériences de l’anthropocène, Université de Lyon, November 28, 2019
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2018), “A Discreetly Bold Environmental Architecture”, in Chevalier Morales Architectes: Références Croisées, Potential Architectural Book, p.25-28
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2018), “The (Im)Possibility of an Autonomous Environmental Architecture”, in Entre hétéronomie et autonomie : penser l’architecture entre discipline et profession, (eds) Louis Martin and Jonathan Lachance (invited guest editors), LEAP Research Notebooks, Potential Architecture Books, Vol 2, pp. 62-69
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2017), “Culture as Leverage for Urban Resiliency: Foundation for a Research Program”, presented in Concordia University Interdisciplinary Summer Institute (CUISI), May 29-June 2
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2017), “Packard Plant, Detroit: Imaginaries of a City Within a City”, in On the Potential of Abandoned Large Urban Structures, (editors) Jean-Pierre Chupin and Tiphaine Abenia, LEAP Research Notebooks, Potential Architecture Books, pp. 70-75
Shrivastava, Paul and Cucuzzella, Carmela (2017), “The Art of Regenerative Regional Development”, in Culture and Dialogue, special issue on Japanese Culture, 5, pp. 62-97
Cormier, Anne, Jean-Pierre Chupin, Cucuzzella, Carmela, David Theodore, (2017), “Is Research-Creation Design Thinking?”, World Design Summit, Oct 19, 2017, Palais de Congres, Montreal, Canada
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2015), “Research-creation as a Curatorial Challenge: An Interview with John Zeppetelli”, Muséologies, special edition on Curatorial Challenges of Research-Creation, (guest editor) Carmela Cucuzzella, Volume 8, numero 1, pp.129-141
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2015), “Introduction: Curatorial Challenges”, Muséologies, special edition on Curatorial Challenges of Research-Creation, (guest editor) Carmela Cucuzzella, Volume 8, numero 1. pp.11-31
Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2015), Panel Discussion on Arts, Community, and Sustainability, animated by Baron Tymus (Fullbright Fellow) on Nov 24th, (other panel members: Liz Miller, Peter Stoett, and Ricardo Del Farra, Montreal
Organization of Artist Talks
2019 (Nov 21)
Round Table at 4th Space: “Eco-didacticism in the City”
Organized by Carmela Cucuzzella
(Nov 21) Carmela Cucuzzella, Cynthia Hammond, Jean-Pierre Chupin + presentations by graduate students of the ideas-be research chair
2018 (October) Lieux et rituels de l’utopie et de la dystopie – Partie 1
(October 25-27), held at ENSAV, Versailles
Co-organized with Paolo Amaldi, Jean-Pierre Chupin, Carmela Cucuzzella, Susanne Stacher,
Sept 2016- April 2017 Reimagining the City Lecture Series
Nov 2016-Feb 2017 at Concordia University http://www.ideas-be.ca/reimagining-the-city-talks.html
co-organized with Cynthia Hammond
2017 (Feb) College Arts Association (CAA)
“The configuration of arts-based disciplines in face of a carbon challenged future”
Feb 14-18, 2017 (conference held in New York) http://conference.collegeart.org/
Co-organized by: John Calvelli and Carmela Cucuzzella
2016 (Nov) Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC) conference
“Arts-based disciplines in face of a carbon challenged future”
Oct 27-30, 2016 (conference held in Halifax, NSCAD) http://www.uaac-aauc.com/en/uaac-conference
Co-organized by: John Calvelli and Carmela Cucuzzella
2015 (Nov) Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC) conference
“Design Critique in the Age of Environmentalism: The Plurality of Perspectives on Criticism”
Nov 5-7, 2015 (conference held in Halifax, NSCAD) http://www.uaac-aauc.com/en/uaac-conference
2014 (October) Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC) conference
“The Tensions and Synergies of the Aesthetics of Design for Sustainability”
October 26, 2014 (conference held in Toronto, OCAD) http://www.uaac-aauc.com/en/uaac-conference
2013 (October) Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC) conference
“Contradictions of Sustainable Design Practice”
October, 2013 (conference held in Banff) http://www.uaac-aauc.com/en/uaac-conference
2012(May) – 2012(Nov) Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC) conference
“Design for Sustainability by Design” http://www.uaac-aauc.com/en/uaac-conference
Nov, 2012 (at Concordia University, Montreal) hosted by Concordia University
2011(July) – 2011(Nov) Conference crossing Art, Technology and Science
Balance/Unbalance International conference organization, Concordia University, Nov 4-5, 2011 http://balance-unbalance2011.hexagram.ca/
RESIDENCIES
Sabbatical:
Invited Professor, October-November 2017 at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Versailles ENSAV, during which I conducted doctorate reviews, master project critiques, development of collaborative research project, seminar presentations