As an exploratory artist committed to continuous learning, I venture beyond the conventions of the "black box" and "white cube," embracing spaces that challenge and (re)shape my work. Navigating risk, displacement, and uncertainty are part of this process, yet also opportunities for artistic experimentation and innovation.
Photo: a. r. laub, Berlin, July 2025

Short Bio

Nathalie S. Fari (b. 1975, São Paulo) is a German-Brazilian performance artist and artist-researcher exploring the entanglements of human bodies, specific places, and digital media. Moving across live action, screen performance, performed photography, and site-specific work, she investigates how these entanglements shape the ways we experience, inhabit, and make sense of the world. Her practice translates these embodied and place-based encounters into novel forms of contemporary storytelling.

She holds a degree in Art Education from the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado University (1998), a Master of Arts in Space Strategies – Exploratory Art in Public Contexts (2009) from Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin and a Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Practices (2024) from The Artistic Faculty University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Additionally, she has completed trainings in acting and experimental theatre at the TUCA theatre school (1994) of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo and at the renowned Centro de Pesquisa Teatral Institute (1995) under the direction of Antunes Filho. 

After moving to Berlin in 2004, Nathalie founded atelier obra viva, a production label dedicated to fostering cross-disciplinary and international dialogue among artists and researchers. Committed to exploring issues around embodiment, site-specificity and documentation, atelier obra viva has spearheaded numerous performance projects and educational programmes in diverse contexts, ranging from historical sites to public spaces and cultural institutions. One notable example is the Body Mapping Lab (2016–17), which Nathalie designed at Teufelsberg, a former American spy station during the Cold War. This initiative brought together an interdisciplinary group of artist-researchers and participants to engage in a series of experimental exercises aimed at mapping, sensing and documenting the site’s complex history and spatial attributes.

Since 2018, Nathalie is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she has been committed to artistic research, developing her own projects as well as creating  documentation concepts and mediated expressions for other artistic research projects. She is currently designing a postdoctoral project on the intersection of embodiment, mobile media and AI in urban public spaces.  

Brazilian-born Nathalie S. Fari is one of the few artists whose work consists mainly of creating site-specific performances. Her pictorial and atmospheric actions take place in diverse environments, such as the white cube, niches, apartments and shop windows. Her simple and quiet movements aim to counteract the increasing abundance of attractions and possibilities in contemporary society and thereby open space for new thoughts.

Constanze Corb

Curator (Nov, 2009)
Nathalie's approach to creating performances could be described as nomadic: she develops new performances with great agility in ever-changing locations. With her strong physical presence, she draws on her experience as a nomad to respond spontaneously and effectively to the location of the performance.

Maren Strack

Performance Artist & Researcher (May, 2008)
Nothing is more alive than life itself, even in the arts. Nathalie S. Fari has found this within herself: her own body is the piece of art that enables her to become a work of art. Unlike Marina Abramovic, who focuses on suffering and pain, Fari's work hints at a lustful passion for her own flesh. Those waiting for theatre, dance and the performing arts will be amazed by this human statue, and those hoping for finished images will be set in motion by her.

Michael Laages

Journalist and Critic (May, 2006)