About
María Villa Largacha is a philosopher, curator, and educator. She holds a BA and MA in Philosophy from Colombia and an MA in Curating and Contemporary Art from Aalto University in Finland. Since 2009, her work has moved between public art, editorial projects, art education, and participatory pedagogy, connected by a persistent question: how to create conditions where people with different histories and positions can genuinely encounter each other’s perspectives.
In Colombia, she coordinated art education and artistic research programs at the Capital District Institute for the Arts (IDARTES), designed and led the Art Mediation Laboratory, and served as pedagogical curator for ArtBo International Art Fair. Between 2013 and 2016, she was editorial coordinator of Errata#, an international journal on contemporary art whose issues under her direction addressed critical pedagogy, performance and activism, geopolitics, human rights and memory, and environmental practices. Alongside her curatorial and educational work, she worked extensively as an editor across contemporary art, social science, literature, and children’s publishing. She also worked as research consultant and editor with the citizenship culture initiative Corpovisionarios, led by Antanas Mockus, and consulted for the National Creative Writing Workshops Network (RELATA) at the Colombian Ministry of Culture.
Moving to Finland, she continued to work at the crossing of education, art, and public engagement. She facilitated a workshop at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, designed a workshop for the Touch exhibition at EMMA, and curated and produced the Squirrel Nest podcast at Aalto University. She taught creative writing and curatorial practices at MA level, co-curated the Conversation Room with Ariel Bustamante, and coordinated the University-Wide Art Studies program at Aalto. She went on to co-curate the New Performance Turku Biennale (2022–25) and develop its 2025 Audience Ambassador program.
The Embodied Knowledge Workshop grew out of this trajectory. In 2017–18, she ran the Co-laboratory Study Group at Aalto University, a pedagogical research space that explored collective forms of learning through embodied and discursive practices. This led to the first edition of the EKW in 2019, which also became the basis for her MA thesis The Shape of Open: A Journal on Embodied Collective Experience (Aalto University, 2020, awarded the ViCCA Commendation on Research of Outstanding Worth). Since then the workshop has run in four editions across Helsinki and Turku, each adapted to its specific group and institutional context.
She is currently a doctoral researcher at Tampere University, where her research uses the Embodied Knowledge Workshop as a case study to investigate how embodied pedagogies can support adults in questioning assumptions about identity, difference, and coexistence.
Her publications include Make the Impossible Attainable: The Crafting of Yasen Vasilev’s Impossible Actions (2024), Venus, on the Threshold of the Screen with Janina Rajakangas (2023), Transdisciplinarity in Higher Education: Wicked Problems, Dreams, and Nightmares (2022), and Antipodes of Violence (co-edited with Antanas Mockus and Henry Murrain, Inter-American Development Bank, 2012).
laboratorio.mediacion@gmail.com
Phone
+358 401867086
Institutional Affiliation
Tampere University Doctoral Program in Education and Culture Spatial Socialization and Environmental Citizenship Research Collective (SPECS)
Profiles
Embodied Knowledge Workshop
For inquiries related to the Embodied Knowledge Workshop, including participation in upcoming programs and collaboration proposals, please use the email address above.
Degrees
- Kone Grant Researcher, Doctoral Program in Education and Culture, Tampere University, 2024—2028
- Master of Arts in Visual Cultures, Curating, and Contemporary Art (ViCCA), Aalto University, 2020
- Master of Arts in Philosophy, National University of Colombia, Bogota, 2005
- Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, National University of Colombia, Bogota, 2002
Current Employment
- Curator of Audience Engagement, Audience Ambassador project for New Performance Turku Biennale, Finland, 2025—2026
Previous Work Experience
- Embodied Knowledge Workshop — Pedagogical design and facilitation, 4 editions: Aalto University, PRAXIS MA University of the Arts, Kutomo Contemporary Art Space (Turku), 2019—2024
- Guest Lecturer, Introduction to Curating, PRAXIS MA at University of the Arts Helsinki, 2024
- Guest Lecturer, Modes of Writing; Field Ecologies Intensive; Curatorial Theory Expanded (ViCCA MA), Aalto University, 2023—2024
- Co-curator, New Performance Turku Biennale, Finland, 2022—2024
- Teacher, Creative & Academic Writing, Art and Media MA, Aalto University, 2022—2024
- Coordinator and University Teacher, University-Wide Art Studies (UWAS) Program, Aalto University, 2021—2022
- Co-curator, Conversation Room by Ariel Bustamante, Aalto University, 2021—2024
- The Squirrel Nest / Oravan Pesa Podcast, Aalto University — Curator and producer, 2018—2022
- Performative Narratives Workshop, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki — Art direction and facilitation, 2018
- Creative Time Summit, New York / Stockholm — Audience engagement strategy and facilitation, 2014
- Curriculum Design and Coordination, Art Mediation Laboratory, IDARTES, Bogota, 2013
- Pedagogical Curator and Coordinator, ArtBo International Art Fair, Bogota, 2012
- Coordination of Art Education and Artistic Research Programs, IDARTES, Bogota, 2011—2012
Other Education and Expertise
- President Nestor Kirchner Fellowship, The New School of Public Engagement, New York / Universidad de San Martin, Argentina, 2013
- Diplomate Program Works of Memory, Between Art and Politics, Jorge Tadeo Lozano University / Center for Memory, Peace, and Reconciliation, Bogota, 2013
Research Outputs
- “Contours and Pitfalls of Embodied Subjectivity. On Judith Butler’s Notion of Agency” — Presented at Judith Butler Master Class at SKY with Adriana Zaharijevic, Helsinki University, 2024
- “Make the Impossible Attainable. The Crafting of Yasen Vasilev’s Impossible Actions” — Solitude Blog, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, 2024
- “Amasijo, Acorns, Aurajoki. A recipe that calls for a river” — Invited Artists at Saari, Kone Foundation, Finland, 2023
- “Venus, on the threshold of the screen” (with Janina Rajakangas) — NO NIIN magazine, Helsinki, 2023
- “Transdisciplinarity in Higher Education: Wicked Problems, Dreams, and Nightmares” — NO NIIN magazine, Helsinki, 2022
- “On Giving Voice, on Choosing Silence” — In We Need to Talk, with Orlan Ohtonen and Teo Ala Ruona, 2018
- “Un puente no es un puente hasta que alguien lo cruza” — In Agitese antes de usar, Teoretica, Costa Rica / Buenos Aires, MALBA, 2015
- “Meaningful Experiences and Art Mediation Laboratories” — Observatory of Latin America, The New School of Public Engagement, New York, 2014
- Experiencias y herramientas de mediacion del arte contemporaneo — IDARTES, Bogota, 2014
Research Advisory / Evaluation of MA Theses
- “Somatic Practices in Visual Communication Design” — Evgeniia Markevich, Advisor, Aalto University, 2024
- “Visualising Biodiversity in Finland from Alternative Perspectives” — Ulla Eronen, Evaluator, Aalto University, 2024
- “Somatic Discourse in Contemporary Dance” — Anna Kozonina, Evaluator, Aalto University, 2023
Awards and Honours
- Kone Foundation Grant for Doctoral Research: Cultivating Coexistence. On the conditions of possibility of unlearning, 2025—2028
- ViCCA Commendation on Research of Outstanding Worth (CROW award) for MA thesis The Shape of Open. A Journal on Embodied Collective Experience, Aalto University, 2020
- President Nestor Kirchner Fellowship, The New School of Public Engagement, New York / Universidad Nacional de San Martin, Buenos Aires, 2013
Other Academic Merits
- Editorial Coordinator, Errata# Visual Arts Journal, IDARTES, Bogota, 2013—2016 — International journal on contemporary art debates in Colombia and Latin America (issues #10, #13, #14, #15, #16)
- Editorial Coordination, Seguros Bolivar Contemporary Art Collection (with Jose Ignacio Roca and Alejandro Martin), 2013—2014
- Coordination of Visual Arts Academic Events, IDARTES, Bogota — International Colloquiums of Errata# Journal, International Conference on Art Theory and History, Congress in Emergent Latin American Research in Contemporary Arts, 2011—2013
- Member of the Jury, International Art Residences Program, Ministry of Culture of Colombia, 2010
- Editor, works of Prof. Jesus Martin-Barbero on communication, culture, and politics in Latin America, 2008—2010
Scientific and Societal Impact
- INSEA Congress, roundtable Intervening, Serving, and Engaging (with Kevin Tavin and Virginia Commonwealth University), Aalto University, 2018
- NC Gallery Panel on Art Mediation (with Sofia Olascoaga and Fito Conesa), ArtBO, Bogota, 2015
- Ephemeral Museum of Oblivion, curatorial grant for Regional Art Salons, Ministry of Culture of Colombia (with Cristina Lleras and Soledad Garcia), 2014
- Corpovisionarios / Citizenship Culture Office of Antanas Mockus — Research consultant and editor of publications for the Inter-American Development Bank, 2008—2011
- National Creative Writing Workshops Network (RELATA), Ministry of Culture of Colombia — Consultant and researcher, 2009
Editorial Work
- Editor, exhibition catalogues, Collection of Essays on Colombian Art, and National Essay Award on Art History, Theory and Criticism — Fundacion Gilberto Alzate Avendano, Bogota, 2012—2013
- Editor, David Consuegra. Pensamiento grafico, National University of Colombia, 2012
- Editor, The Last China Closet by Clara Sanchez (book and exhibition), 2010
- Editorial Coordination, Collection of Indigenous People Literature of Colombia (8 volumes), Ministry of Culture, 2010
- Editor and Art Pedagogy Consultant, Bank of the Republic of Colombia Museums (online exhibitions and handouts), 2009—2010
- Freelance Editor/Copyeditor, international fiction and nonfiction publishers (Norma, Planeta, Santillana), 2006—2008
- Junior Editor, Children’s and Young Readers’ Books, Editorial Norma Latin America, 2003—2006
- Editorial Coordination, Saga Philosophy Students’ Journal, National University of Colombia, 1999—2001