About

Edson Pavoni (São Paulo, 1984) is an artist and technologist investigating human intimacy in its intersection with technology. His central question: will technology drive us apart or bring us closer together?

His practice spans architectural-scale installations, kinetic sculptures, digital platforms, AV performances, and satellite technology—using technology not as spectacle but as ritual, creating spaces where people can touch, grieve, remember, and belong.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pavoni created Memorial Inumeráveis—a collaborative platform that humanized Brazil's coronavirus victims through their life stories rather than statistics. Over three years, he eulogized more than 5,000 people through 10,000 conversations with grieving families. The project reached an estimated 1 in 34 Brazilians—over 6 million people—and transformed how Brazilian media covered the pandemic. Featured by CNN, Al Jazeera, Globo, El País, and others, the work also entered Brazil's Federal Senate proceedings as evidence during the COVID-19 Parliamentary Inquiry.

In December 2025, Pavoni launched Orbital Temple—the first artistic satellite from the Global South. The project proposes heaven as a borderless space where everyone belongs: anyone, anywhere, can send a loved one's name to orbit for free in over 50 languages. The satellite now circles Earth every 90 minutes, storing names in perpetuity. The work questions who controls access to transcendence—challenging beliefs about who belongs that have historically justified exclusion on Earth. 

Pavoni has shown at biennials including the 13th Mercosul Biennial (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and the IX International Biennale of Contemporary Art (Tashkent, Uzbekistan).

His works have been exhibited in New York, Beijing, Singapore, Dubai, Miami, Lisbon, and Rio de Janeiro, and presented at institutions such as the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art (Budapest), Inhotim Institute (Brazil), and the Design and Fashion Museum of Lisbon. He has received commissions from Google, Klabin, NuBank, Accenture, Jacob's Pillow Dance, and Endeavor, and contributed to projects for the 2016 Rio Olympics and the Inter American Development Bank.

He was recognized as one of the 50 most innovative Brazilian professionals by Proxxima Magazine (2016) and has received two consecutive IF Design Awards (2017, 2018). He founded the studio Spaces&Creatures in 2010.

He lives and works in New York.
CV

Individual Exhibitions

2025
Ok, Interactive kinetic sculpture and dance performance, in collaboration with Shamel Pitts, curated by Pamela Tatge, Jacob's Pillow Dance, Becket, MA, USA

Orbital Temple Witnesses, Miami Art Week, SCOPE, Miami, FL, USA

2024
Big, Immersive light installation featuring 16 interactive sculptures, Commissioned by Endeavor, New York City, USA

2023
What we cannot forget (O que não podemos esquecer), curated by Carollina Lauriano, Casa Cósmica, São Paulo, Brazil

2022
Sacred in Flux, together with Juliana Freire, Paã Architecture, São Paulo, Brazil

Landscapes of the Mind, in collaboration with Lyora Pisarro, New York, USA


Collective Exhibitions

2024
Featured Artist at Hangar-7826, Montreal, Canada

2023
Falling Leaves from Babel, UAR Group Show, curated by Julie McKim, Brooklyn, New York, USA

2022
13th Mercosul Biennial Porto Alegre, Brazil

IX International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

NTU Global Digital Art Prize Singapore, Singapore

Maranha, GPA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

INOVA Klabin, São Paulo, Brazil

The time of things (O tempo das coisas), curated by Edmilson Nunes, Centro Cultural Correios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2020
Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary

2018
Baró Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

Coletivo Amor de Madre, stand at SP Arte, São Paulo, Brazil

2017
Como se Pronuncia Design em Português: Brasil hoje, Design and Fashion Museum of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

Meca Festival, Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil

2016
Dubai Design District, Dubai, UAE

2015
The Love Project: Love Stories Sculpting Objects of Design, Baró Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil

Dubai Design Days, Dubai, UAE

2014
A Place to Departure, Simultaneously at Galeria Coletivo Amor de Madre, São Paulo, Brazil; and Caochangdi Art District, Beijing, China.


Permanent Exhibition

2019
Over the Face of New Waters, Accenture, São Paulo, Brazil.

2017
The White Mirror, Nubank, São Paulo, Brazil.


Residencies

2023
UA International Art Residency, Brooklyn, New York, USA


Performances

2025
Sound Hallucinations, AV Performance, Chem Studios, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Oxum, AV Performance, Grand Canyon Desert, Arizona, USA

Sound Hallucinations, AV Performance, Black Rock City, NV, USA

2024
Oxum, AV Performance, Rio Lindo Festival, Costa Rica

2023
What we cannot forget, in collaboration with Isabella Nardini, Casa Cósmica, São Paulo, Brazil
Awards

2022
Orbital Temple
Lumen Prize - Longlist Futures Award
NTU Global Digital Art Prize - Finalist

2021
Orbital Temple
CubeDesign Prize, promoted by INPE - Winner ArtSat Category

2018
Aura
Dia Awards - DIA Gold

The Love Project
Dia Awards - Dia Innovation Category

The Dancing Pavilion
IF Design Award - Gold Award

The Love Project
IF Design Award

The Dancing Pavilion
CODAwards


Know more

In Portuguese

Exhibition in São Paulo wants to keep alive the memory of the Covid-19 victims - Folha de São Paulo, 2023

Brazilian satellite to be launched by SpaceX will pay homage to the deceased - O Estado de São Paulo, 2022

Satellite at the Mercorsul Biennial has received over 2,7 thousand names to send to space - Zero Hora , 2022

Know the story behind the memorial that tells the stories of Covid-19 victims in Brazil - GQ Brasil, 2020

Artist creates collaborative site to honor Covid-19 victims - Casa Vogue, 2020

Quarantine changes traditional mourning rituals - Veja São Paulo, 2020

Platform wants to show that Covid-19 deaths go beyond statistics - SINPRODF, 2020

Inumeráveis Memorial honors coronavirus victims in Brazil - Portal dos Jornalistas, 2020

UFAL e Sociedade interviews about Inumeráveis - UFAL, 2021

The lives behind the Covid's numbers: two projects bring stories of the pandemic - CNN Brasil, 2020

To not look out for memory is a horrible idea. Understand why we urgently need a memorial for Covid victims - DRAFT, 2022

Designers from São Paulo create an interactive artwork that connects their city to China - Folha de São Paulo, 2014



In English

OHM & Orbital Temple: Spirituality Meets Longevity at SCOPE Miami - Khaleej Times, 2025

Orbital Temple – Reclaiming the Space Imaginary - Creative Applications, 2025

A Window on the Wall: Art, Technology, and New Imaginaries - UP Magazine

Rio 2016 Olympics The Dancing Pavilion - ArchDaily, 2016

A Place to Departure - Linda Hollier, 2015

Learning from Dubai… - Damn Magazine, 2015

Love project by Guto Requena & D3 translates emotional data into 3D objects - designboom, 2015 

Circle of Trust - Creative Applications, 2011

Texts

Curatorial text - by Carollina Lauriano, 2023

What we lived during the pandemic should still be in the space of the scream - Ana Claudia Quintana on the exhibition What we cannot forget, 2023