Viera Levitt

Curator and photographer Viera Levitt settled in Rhode Island in 2006 following her Artslink Residency at RISD's Graduate Studies and an internship in the Photography Department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. After 3 years as the Director of the CCRI Knight Campus Art Gallery, she has, since September 2012, worked as the Gallery Director for the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. Her show at CCRI about its brutalist megastructure “We Talk About Architecture, Architecture Talks Back” won the 2011 New England Art Award in the Concept/theme show curator category. With her photographic exploration of Brutalism, Viera continues to reveal the hidden beauty of this architectural style often derided as gray, crude, soulless and austere. From 1996 to the present, she has curated or co-curated more than sixty exhibitions in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and in the USA and has lectured about contemporary art in Bratislava, Brno, Berlin, Rotterdam, Hiroshima, New Delhi, Caracas, Nairobi, as well as in Rhode Island

Artist Statement

"My photographs depict intimate, unnoticed visual experiences, unusual structures and architectural details and forms. I make no distinction between modern architecture or a safari. I think that a photographer can find interesting and haunting images or surprising geometric forms anywhere. My appreciation for unexpected juxtapositions in the combination of images comes from my curatorial experience. I enjoy combining and 'curating' seemingly disconnected visual elements. My perception of and appreciation for the world are often experienced through a lens and I enjoy sharing my unique vision and curiosity with others. In my work, I prefer 'straight' photography and chose not to manipulate my images in a computer."

Visit Viera's website www.vieralevitt.org or check out the video-slideshow Beauty in The Beast: Photography of Brutalist Architecture on YouTube.