Clarissa Tossin

Through installation, performance, video, sculpture and photography, Clarissa Tossin creates speculative works that explore questions of displacement, post-apocalypse, globalisation and the failures of modernity. Her upbringing in Brazil’s capital has developed Tossin’s concerns about urban utopia and economic inequality, with the exploration of the cultural and economic exchanges between the US and Brazil becoming the recurring theme in her practice. In her Made in L.A. (2014) work, the artist traced the multilayered connections between Brasília and Los Angeles, the former city being built between 1957 and 1960 as an urbanist promise of economic growth. Contextualised by lengthy research and collaborations with historians, archeologists and scientists, Tossin’s complex works incorporate materials such as Amazonian-native latex, recycled plastic, Amazon cardboard boxes and meteorite powder. Tossin’s practice is an ode to the intertwined afterfacts of geopolitics and colonial legacies amidst the reality of the decaying planet and speculative futures. Written by Goldsmiths CCA ...

Commonwealth and Council is a gallery in Koreatown, Los Angeles founded in 2010. Our program is rooted in our commitment to explore how a community of artists can sustain our co-existence through generosity and hospitality. Commonwealth and Council celebrates our manifold identities and experiences through the shared dialogue of art—championing practices by women, queer, POC, and our ally artists to build counter-histories that reflect our individual and collective realities.