
Foto de Vicente de Mello
São Paulo, Brasil
Director of Programs at Collegium
Arévalo, Espanha · 2020 — presente
Member · ICOM
Member · CECA
Aldones Nino is a curator and researcher based in Spain, active within an international network that integrates exhibition curation, residency programs, and theoretical research in contemporary art history. He is currently Director of Programs at Collegium (Arévalo, Spain) and, over the past five years, has collaborated with Instituto Inclusartiz (Rio de Janeiro) in building institutional alliances for artistic residencies and exhibition projects.
At the helm of Collegium, he works to build a network of inter-institutional interactions aimed at expanding access to national and international public collection funds. His theoretical work explores the intersection of art, politics, and memory, with an emphasis on decolonial dynamics and the reconfiguration of art historiography. He serves as an academic reviewer for Res Publica. Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the International Committee for Education and Cultural Action (CECA). His research has been presented at conferences across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
In the editorial sphere, he has published the books Confrontation and Transformation: The Creation of Funarte and the Relationship Between Art and the State in Brazil in the 1970s (2025), Butler and Kafka (2016), and Breviary of Solitude (2018) by Editora Paisagens Híbridas, alongside numerous book chapters and critical essays.
Education
Ongoing
Post-Doctorate in Sociomuseology
Universidade Lusófona
Lisbon, Portugal
2023
Doctor in History and Art
Universidad de Granada — Escuela Internacional de Posgrado
Granada, Spain
Distinction: CUM LAUDE
2023
Doctor in Visual Arts
Escola de Belas Artes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Title: "Coloniality and Body: The Relationships between Power, Art and Decolonial Thought"
2018
Master in History, Politics and Cultural Heritage
CPDOC — Fundação Getúlio Vargas
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2019
Bachelor in Art History
Escola de Belas Artes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2013
Bachelor and Licenciate in Philosophy
Universidade São Judas Tadeu (USJT)
São Paulo, Brazil
Additional Training
"EntreOlhares Universitário" Training Program — Itaú Cultural (São Paulo, Brazil)
"What does slavery mean? (15th–21st century)" — Institut d'Études Avancées de Nantes (France)
Curatorial Immersion Program — Escola Sem Sítio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
International Curator Course — Gwangju Biennale Academy (South Korea)
"Gender and Culture Studies" — Escola do Olhar, Museu de Arte do Rio (Brazil)
"La Cooperación para el Desarrollo con Subsahariana África" — Universidad de Jaén (Spain)
Public Administration of Culture — UFRGS in partnership with the Ministry of Culture (Brazil)
Theses
Doctorate
Coloniality and Body: The Relationships between Power, Art and Decolonial Thought
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Doctorate
Coloniality and Body: The Relationships between Power, Art and Decolonial Thought
Universidad de Granada
Access text →Master's
Bachelor's in Art History
Folds in Time and Art Historiography: Approaches between Decolonial Thought and Contemporary Art
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Access text →Bachelor's in Philosophy
Human Nature and Vice: The Argumentation of Sadean Libertines
Universidade São Judas Tadeu
Access text →Articles
Between Silence and Healing: Folds in Time and Contemporary Art
Tinta Journal — University of Santa Barbara, California
Access text →Re-elaborating the Colonial Past: Congolese Art in the Epidemic Ignition of HIV
ClimaCom — Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Access text →Experience
2024
Curatorial Projects
Paths of Understanding History
IE Creativity Center · Segovia, Spain
A journey through the Collegium collection, in collaboration with IE University. The exhibition aims to allow the public and the university to reflect on the educational potential of art in developing critical processes in the face of the universality of knowledge.
In the Interior of the Sky
Instituto Cultural de México, Embassy of Mexico · Madrid, Spain
Inspired by the poem of Nezahualcoyotl, a pillar of pre-Hispanic thought. Brought together Mexican artists exploring themes such as geological age, intricate writing processes, self-representation, and territorial resonances.
Transmutation and Alchemy
Paço Imperial · Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Solo exhibition by Marcela Cantuária.
Beyond the West
Galeria Formato Cómodo — Festival Internacional Photo España · Madrid, Spain
Duo of Manauara Clandestina and Ventura Profana, part of the Festival Internacional Photo España.
Curatorial Coordination
Rituals of the Everyday
Collegium · Arévalo, Spain
Production and education director. Exhibition curated by Clara Kim. Through poetic and concrete gestures, the artists explore questions about how we understand the contemporary world through past times, questioning how a radical renegotiation of our relationship with the natural and social worlds can transform our perception of reality.
2023
Project Coordination
Instituto Inclusartiz
Instituto Inclusartiz · Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
From 2020 to 2023, served as a research and curatorial projects advisor, responsible for institutional relations and directing initiatives related to art, education, and the environment.
Curatorial Projects
Time Is an Illusion
Collegium · Arévalo, Spain
A collective exhibition reflecting on how culture can be influenced by different conceptions of history and temporalities. It questions the idea that time can be objectively quantified and explores the complexity of establishing divisions between past, present, and future. Featured works from the MACBA, MNCARS, MUSAC, and CA2M collections.
Curatorial Coordination
Fold, My Loves!
Collegium · Arévalo, Spain
Production and education director. Exhibition curated by Chus Martínez, based on the development of six site-specific projects by Spanish artists. A reflection on art's capacity to generate and multiply affections in the rural environment.
Artistic Residencies
Between Times — Second Cycle
Collegium · Arévalo, Spain
Coordination and accompaniment of the second cycle of the Between Times Artistic Residency, with Xadalu Tupã Jekupé, an indigenous artist who works with urban art and the tension between indigenous and Western culture in cities.
Publications
Contemporary Art and Rural Context
A Palavra Solta
Text addressing the rural context and the challenges of directing curatorial projects in a medieval town with just over 8,000 inhabitants.
The Algorithmic Era: Artificial Intelligence in the Reconfiguration of Artistic and Curatorial Practices
Critical essay
The 35th São Paulo Biennial: Between Poetics and Precarization
Critical essay
2022
Curatorial Projects
History between Persistence and Critique
Collegium · Arévalo, Spain
A collective exhibition structured around three thematic centers questioning hegemonic narratives and claiming artistic practice as a legitimate form of elaborating discourse. It addressed teaching as a system capable of articulating or disarticulating the status quo, and the weight of religions in the contemporary world.
Substance — SUBSTANCES
Collegium · Arévalo, Spain
Production and education director. Exhibition curated by Patrick Charpenel. Managed loans with collections such as the Pinault Collection and the Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection, and galleries such as Pace and Continua.
Every Night
Farol Santander · Porto Alegre, Brazil
Solo exhibition by Vicente de Mello.
Proposals for Re-enchantment
Sesc Pompéia · São Paulo, Brazil
Solo exhibition by Marcela Cantuária.
Mirror — Labyrinth
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil · Brasília, Brazil
A collective exhibition based on the Sérgio Carvalho collection, focused on production from the Brazilian Central-West.
Project Direction
Museographic Project of the Church of San Martín
Arévalo, Spain
Responsible for managing different teams in the adaptation of the deconsecrated church, built in the 12th century and declared a Spanish national monument, into a cultural center for contemporary art exhibitions.
Artistic Residencies
Between Times — First Cycle
Collegium · Arévalo, Spain
Coordination and accompaniment of the first cycle of the Between Times Artistic Residency, with Ayla Tavares, a Brazilian ceramicist who worked in collaboration with the Hernandez Brothers — responsible for a traditional ceramic production center.
Publications and Lectures
Folding Chronologies: Art as a Space-Time Fissure
A Palavra Solta, edition #30
Sérgio Carvalho Collection — This Source Is for the Use of All Who Are Thirsty
Select Magazine, nº 56
Insurrection Before Annihilation: Sparks of a New Time
Amarello, edition #41
Education as Deviation from Colonial Ways of Inhabiting the World
LA ESCUELA — Siemens Stiftung
Artist-led platform for radical learning and collective creation in public spaces, founded by artist Miguel Braceli.
Collegium and Arévalo. Contemporary Art and Heritage in Castilla y León
Hispania Nostra
Conference held with Hispania Nostra, a non-profit association that has been working since 1976 in the defense and promotion of cultural and natural heritage.