Campus Directory

Pronouns he, him, his, his, himself

Division Arts Division

Department/College/Unit Art Department

Title Assistant Professor

Affiliation Faculty

Other UCSC Campus Affiliation Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems

Faculty Type Regular Faculty

Web Site

Primary Office Location Elena Baskin Building H
H8

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours Thursdays (by appointment)

Mail Stop Art Department

Biography, Education and Training

 Jorge Menna Barreto, Ph.D., is a distinguished Brazilian artist and educator who has dedicated over two decades to the practice and research of site-specific art. In 2014, he embarked on a postdoctoral research project at Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Brazil, where he collaborated with a biologist and an agronomist to delve into the intricate relationship between site-specific art and agroecology, with a particular focus on agroforestry. His commitment to advancing the field of site-specific art led him to complete a second postdoctoral research fellowship at Liverpool John Moores University, England, in 2020. The fruits of this research formed the basis of his work presented at the Liverpool Biennial in 2021. Menna Barreto brings a critical South American perspective to his investigation on site-specificity, backed by a record of teaching, lecturing, and extensive writing on the subject. His dedication extends to the translation of various authors from English into Brazilian Portuguese, including authors such as Miwon Kwon, Rosalyn Deutsche, Hito Steyerl, and Anna Tsing. Throughout his career, Menna Barreto has participated in numerous international art residencies, projects, and exhibitions. In 2016, he participated at the 32nd São Paulo Biennial with his award-winning project, "Restauro," which created a complex system of environmental restoration in collaboration with settlements of Brazil's Landless Workers' Movement (MST). The project further traveled to the Serpentine Galleries in London in 2017, where the artist collaborated with a wild edibles expert, a botanical illustrator, and local organic growers. During his residency at the Jan van Eyck Academie in the Netherlands in 2020-21, he co-launched a periodical named "Enzyme" in collaboration with fellow artist and designer Joélson Buggilla. In Geneva, Switzerland, Jorge has been an active collaborator in the MFA in Socially Engaged Art at HEAD - Haute École d'Arts Appliqués, where he is presently engaged in a research project focused on eco-pedagogy. Menna Barreto is currently working on a new project called Dehydrated Landguages, which relates climate, art and literature. Before joining UCSC in 2021, Menna Barreto was an associate professor in the Art Department at UERJ - Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. 

Research Interests

site-specificity, agroecology, agroforestry, global warming