After studying art from 1983-1987 at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, Carla Guagliardi co-founded the art initiative Visorama with  her fellow artists. The artist initiative organized seminars, workshops and lectures on contemporary art at various cultural institutions in Brazil. During this time, Guagliardi completed a postgraduate degree in art and architectural history at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Since 1997, she has been commuting between Berlin and Rio de Janeiro.