Art Historian and Founder, Collezionista
João Correia is an art historian and researcher whose work interrogates world-making, the process by which art refracts and reconfigures subjectivities in the co-creation of emergent realities. His praxis sees art as integral to a complex global system, dissecting its dynamics, while advancing generative possibilities and favoring systemic reimagination over mere criticism.
These lines of inquiry evolved through a bachelor’s degree in art history and history at the Open University and a master’s degree with distinction in cultural leadership from the Royal Academy of Arts and Maastricht University, where strategies for synthesizing theoretical rigor with practical innovation surfaced.
In 2014, he founded Collezionista to explore how cultural leadership could inform collecting practices. In 2019, to expand awareness and access to contemporary art – inspired by world-making – he launched Olhar Contemporâneo, an educational initiative that engaged over 25,000 students and culminated in a 2024 book publication.
In 2025, alongside artist Eneri, he co-conceived (Un)Tradeable, a participatory artwork in the form of a conceptual think tank on the 70th floor of Manhattan’s World Trade Center. Spanning 2,500 square meters, it reclaims commodified space as a crucible for world-making – where boundaries dissolve in the pursuit of systemic reimagination.
Photo by: Lamberto Scipioni
