Regina Vater Papers, 1967-2009

Biographical Sketch

Regina Vater was born in 1943 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her father was a physician, the grandson of an immigrant from Weimar, Germany who emigrated to Parai in the 19th century for the rubber business. Her mother was a poet from a family of Portuguese descent in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Vater grew up in Copacabana, Ipanema, just south of Rio. She found her love of art and poetry early in life, and although she had formal artistic training in her early teens, she did not identify with the academic approach her instructor took. Instead she found her own inspiration in her mother's eclectic library. There she read everything from Greek mythology and philosophy to Milton, from Vick Baum and Krishnamurti to American literature. With an interest in classical and contemporary literature and philosophy, she spent much of her early youth incorporating these themes into her art and poetry.

As Vater's father realized art was more than just a hobby, he attempted to steer her towards a future in a more stable profession: the medical field. Vater compromised and went to the National University of Rio to study architecture. She did not enjoy her time at school and continued to work on her artistic career. When Vater was presented with the opportunity to participate in her first show, she dropped out of architecture school and pursued art full-time.

In her youth, Vater was also heavily influenced by the Brazilian intelligentsia who made Ipanema their home. Vater would visit the bars and cafés the intelligentsia frequented and participate in the free exchange of ideas, culture, and art. She often refers to her time spent with the group of intellects as her "university." It was a time when she began to develop her own creative direction and voice.

Vater's first solo show in 1964 opened the doors to what would become a successful career. In the 1970s she worked as a freelance writer for several cultural magazines in and around Rio. She interviewed artists such as John Cage and Joseph Beuys who would later become friends and colleagues. In 1970 she held her first installation titled "Magi (the) CEAN" and also entered her photography collection in the Salon of Modern Art. In 1972 she won the award for the Travel Exhibition of Modern Art, which led her to her New York début in 1973.

For much of the early 1970s she lived in New York, Paris, London, and Lisbon before returning to Latin America in 1975. Back in Brazil, Vater continued her exploration in film installation, an interest she began during her time in Paris. She participated in numerous solo and group exhibits throughout Latin America, New York and Europe. In 1979, she débuted as a curator in New York in what was the first and most comprehensive Brazilian avant-garde exhibit in the city at that time. Following her success as a curator, Vater received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1980 and moved to New York where she continued to work on installations in photography, film, video, book art, and visual performance. Her work continued to bring Latin American art to the forefront of the American art scene. In 1985, she moved to Austin Texas where her husband was invited to teach at the University of Texas. Since then, Vater has participated in local shows such as the First Texas Triennial and has been involved in the prestigious Art Pace Foundation in San Antonio. She has lectured across the United States, Europe and Brazil and has taught classes and seminars on video art. Vater has produced videos for Austin Access Cable Television, all of which have been shown around the world. Her work and installations have been showcased in museums and galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York); Bien de Sao Paolo; Figueiredo Gallery; the State Art Gallery and Museum of Modern Art (London); Avant Garde Festival; Woulf Rosenwald Gallery (Philadelphia); Mexic-Art Museum (Austin); and The Konimklljk Museum (Antwerp); among others.

Vater's installation work and poetry focuses on the dialogue between divine intervention and cultural manifestation. She is heavily influenced by her native Brazil. Themes revolving around Greek mythology and African-Brazilian mythologies play heavily into her work, as does metaphysical philosophy. While Vater has experimented in many different media throughout her lifetime, she is most known for her installation artwork.

Note on References: Much of the information on Vater's personal and professional life was drawn from an interview conducted by Cary Cordova for the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institute on February 23 and 25, 2004.

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Scope and Contents Note

This collection consists of correspondence, clippings, newspapers, photographs, printed materials, artist's notes, and photo slides that document the life and work of artist Regina Vater. The Personal and Biographical series consists of materials relating to Vater's personal life. This includes her curriculum vitae, artist statements, biographical sketches, and personal notes.

The Correspondence series (1960s-2000s) contains personal and professional correspondence relating to Vater's applications for teaching jobs, and installation work.

The third series, Creative Works, Exhibitions, and Installations, contains Vater's lectures, pedagogical materials, concrete poems, editing work, storyboards, artist books, and video works, all of which convey her interest in melding myth, history, ecology, and social activism in her work. Drawings and screen sketches for video installations as well as photos of completed works are also included. This series includes 1" x 1.5" folded prototype of Sounds Good and Cameo Feast, as well as a full size prototype of Sounds Good.

Exhibitions and Installations material contains documentation of Vater's participation in various exhibits, most notably her shows created during her residency at Artpace (1999), in San Antonio, Texas. Also included is documentation, sketches, writings, poems, and collages relating to The Book of Hope (1999), a limited edition text she designed and edited while at Artpace. This series also contains Vater's installation sketches and notes to curators on the coordination of her installations, as well as material from her participation in exhibits in Antwerp, Cleveland, and Kansas City.

Printed materials in this series include newspapers, newspaper clippings, and articles referring to Vater and her work. A copy of Vater's children's book, Uma Amizade Bem Temperada, and brochures and programs from Vater's shows and installations, are also included in this series.

The Collected Material series includes articles, clippings, and interviews relating to other artists or new techniques, brochures and programs from exhibits and shows, and other materials directly or indirectly related to Vater's creative process. This series includes 10 folders of Suplemento Literário, a Brazilian literary publication, as well as other newspapers from Brazil and throughout the United States. Also included is a subseries of undated and "undescribed" photography.

Videos include a number of video art pieces, including "Homosapiens," "Latin American Visual Thinking," "We Are All Made Here," and others. Videos in Umatic format require digitization prior to viewing and can only be accessed by special request.

The Oversized Items (1993-2008) series contains a large poster of an installation Vater created for her 1994 ArtPace exhibit, an undated poster titled "Da casa dos Mendes", and assorted newspapers (1993-2008).

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Access is unrestricted, but some materials, including Umatic format video and materials on computer disks, require reformatting before they can be used and are available by special request only.

Use Restrictions

Standard copyright restrictions apply.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Regina Vater Papers, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin.

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Box and Folder Inventory

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