exhibition view, Jonathas de Andrade, Rodrigo Matheus, Beto Shwafaty, Tonico Lemos Auad
Wirz, da Cunha, Craveiro
Pablo Leon de la Barra, Alexandre da Cunha, Pedro Wirz
Pedro Wirz
Jonathas de Andrade, Rodrigo Matheus
Tonico Lemos Auad, Rodrigo Matheus
Tonico Lemos Auad
Rodrigo Matheus
Theo Craveiro
Tonico Lemos Auad
Alexandre da Cunha
Pablo Leon de la Barra, Nova Cartografia Tropical
exhibition view
Beto Shwafaty
Rodrigo Braga
Cris Faria, Tamar Guimarães e Marina Rheingantz
Marina Rheingantz
Tamar Guimarães, Carla Zaccagnini, Deyson Gilbert & Roberto Winter
Deyson Gilbert & Roberto Winter
Cristiano Lenhardt, Adriano Costa
Cristiano Lenhardt
Adriano Costa
Erika Verzutti, Adriano Costa, Marcellvs L.
Marcius Galan
Barbara Wagner
Paulo Nazareth
curators Kiki Mazzucchelli and Maria do Carmo Pontes
MYTHOLOGIES / MITOLOGIAS
Private view: 6 December 2011, 6pm to 9pm
7 to 21 December 2011/Monday to Saturday, 2pm to 7pm
Address: Cité Internationale des Arts/18, Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, 75004, Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 42 78 71 72
Blog: http://mythologiestheshow.blogspot.com/
ADRIANO COSTA / ALEXANDRE DA CUNHA / BARBARA WAGNER / BETO SHWAFATY / CARLA ZACCAGNINI / CINTHIA MARCELLE / CRIS FARIA / CRISTIANO LENHARDT / DEYSON GILBERT & ROBERTO WINTER / ERIKA VERZUTTI / JONATHAS DE ANDRADE / MARCELLVS L. / MARCIUS GALAN / MARINA RHEINGANTZ / PABLO LEÓN DE LA BARRA / PAULO NAZARETH / PEDRO WIRZ / RODRIGO BRAGA / RODRIGO MATHEUS / TAMAR GUIMARÃES / THEO CRAVEIRO / TONICO LEMOS AUAD
In the last decade, contemporary Brazilian art has achieved an international prominence that is unheard-of in its history. It has been in this period that some of the most renowned institutions in countries such as the United States, France and England have held retrospective individual exhibitions for historic artists such as Lygia Clark (Nantes, 2005), Cildo Meireles (London, 2008) and Hélio Oiticica (Houston and London, 2007). Contemporary Brazilian art was also the theme of important group exhibitions and festivals such as Tropicália, curated by Carlos Basualdo, which was presented in Chicago, New York and London (2006).
Growing international interest in Brazilian art was also apparent in the major international art fairs such as ARCO in Madrid and Frieze in London, which today feature several Brazilian exhibitors. The presence of Brazilian artists also increased noticeably among the European and North American galleries. In this same decade, Brazil reached an unprecedented economic stability, and is experiencing a period of economic prosperity as significant as that of the 1950s, whilst Europe and the United States are facing a period of crisis, which undoubtedly contributed hugely to the growing interest in Brazilian culture.
Today, Brazil is experiencing a development boom comparable to its growth in the 1950s and 60s. It was precisely in this period of significant cultural effervescence in the country that artistic movements, theories and expressions flourished in various fields of knowledge, which ultimately became representative of Brazilian culture as it is internationally known today: the architecture of Niemeyer and Bo Bardi, the artistic experiments of Clark, Oiticica and Pape, the Paulo Freire method of education, the bossa nova, among many others.
The exhibition ‘Mythologies’, which borrows its title from Roland Barthes’ renowned book, takes as a starting point issues relating to identity and cultural hybridism which are at the heart of Brazilian modernism, reflecting upon the processes that led Brazilian art to achieve international recognition today. In a ‘role-reversal’, Brazilian art is now ‘cannibalised’ by foreign artists who appropriate its symbolism, its strategies and its aesthetics.
The artists included in this exhibition have a particular interest in revisiting and reinterpreting the various mythologies and clichés associated with Brazilian culture, recapturing and updating concepts that are fundamental to our modernity, creating mythical images based on contemporary experiences or demystifying folkloric images and exploring the expanse and heterogeneity of the Brazilian territory. Thus, a body of works in Mythologies revisits and reinterprets our anthropophagic and abstract-geometric artistic legacy. Other works highlight territorial and geographical concepts, connecting with landscapes, architecture and specific characters from different places. There are also works that look more specifically at political and economic aspects, crossing the timespan that separates the two major periods of Brazilian development, 1950/60 and 2000/10.
As such, ‘Mythologies’ does not propose a generational selection that seeks to exhaustively identify a ‘new contemporary Brazilian’ art brought together in a group show. On the contrary, the exhibition aims to include works by artists from different generations and geographical regions that cover topics related to one of the hundreds of mythologies associated with Brazilian culture. An attempt was also made to create a heterogeneous group that included artists from the various regions of the country as well as those living abroad - a group that is constantly expanding and whose work is becoming increasingly important for an understanding of Brazilian art today.
This project is supported by the Brazilian Embassy in Paris.
Curator: Kiki Mazzucchelli
Kiki Mazzucchelli is an independent curator and critic. She is currently developing research for her doctorate at the TrAIN research centre, at the University of the Arts in London, with a project that examines the legacy of certain exhibitions that, in the last decade, were fundamental to the expansion of Brazilian art on the international circuit. In 2011 she co-curated the exhibition “As ruas e as bobagens” with Moacir dos Anjos (Itaú Cultural, São Paulo). This year, she edited the series of publications “The poster as expended exhibition space” and the artist’s book “4,000 Disparos”, by Jonathas de Andrade, both funded by the Biennial Foundation and the Ministry of Culture. She curated, among others, “Brasília Teimosa” (ICA, London, 2008), Barbara Wagner’s solo exhibition; the group show “OIDARADIO” (Paço das Artes, São Paulo, 2008), the first art radio station in Brazil, co-curated by Nick Graham-Smith; and “Ressaca Tropical” (Santander Cultural, Recife, 2009), a solo exhibition by Jonathas de Andrade. In 2009, she was the resident curator at the Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, in Bogotá. She was a member of the group of critics at the São Paulo Cultural Centre (2008-2010) and at the Paço das Artes (1999-2000). She has lectured at various institutions, including the Henry Moore Foundation (Leeds), the Royal College of Arts (London) and the National University in Bogotá. She has written essays on the works of artists such as Alexandre da Cunha, Carla Zaccagnini, Erika Verzutti, Marcius Galan, among many others. Her texts appear in various publications, including Artecontexto, Cadernos do Videobrasil, Flash Art and Tatuí.
Assistant curator: Maria do Carmo Pontes
Maria do Carmo Pontes holds a degree in film (FAAP, São Paulo, 2006) and an MFA in Curating (Goldsmiths College, London, 2011). From 2007 to 2009 she worked at Galeria Fortes Vilaça, in São Paulo. In 2010, she worked as a curatorial and editorial assistant at the 29th São Paulo Biennial. She is one of the authors of artist Raul Mourão’s monograph ‘Mov’ (2011) and is a London correspondent for this artist’s blog.
MYTHOLOGIES / MITOLOGIAS
Private view: 6 December 2011, 6pm to 9pm
7 to 21 December 2011/Monday to Saturday, 2pm to 7pm
Address: Cité Internationale des Arts/18, Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, 75004, Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 42 78 71 72
Blog: http://mythologiestheshow.blogspot.com/
ADRIANO COSTA / ALEXANDRE DA CUNHA / BARBARA WAGNER / BETO SHWAFATY / CARLA ZACCAGNINI / CINTHIA MARCELLE / CRIS FARIA / CRISTIANO LENHARDT / DEYSON GILBERT & ROBERTO WINTER / ERIKA VERZUTTI / JONATHAS DE ANDRADE / MARCELLVS L. / MARCIUS GALAN / MARINA RHEINGANTZ / PABLO LEÓN DE LA BARRA / PAULO NAZARETH / PEDRO WIRZ / RODRIGO BRAGA / RODRIGO MATHEUS / TAMAR GUIMARÃES / THEO CRAVEIRO / TONICO LEMOS AUAD
In the last decade, contemporary Brazilian art has achieved an international prominence that is unheard-of in its history. It has been in this period that some of the most renowned institutions in countries such as the United States, France and England have held retrospective individual exhibitions for historic artists such as Lygia Clark (Nantes, 2005), Cildo Meireles (London, 2008) and Hélio Oiticica (Houston and London, 2007). Contemporary Brazilian art was also the theme of important group exhibitions and festivals such as Tropicália, curated by Carlos Basualdo, which was presented in Chicago, New York and London (2006).
Growing international interest in Brazilian art was also apparent in the major international art fairs such as ARCO in Madrid and Frieze in London, which today feature several Brazilian exhibitors. The presence of Brazilian artists also increased noticeably among the European and North American galleries. In this same decade, Brazil reached an unprecedented economic stability, and is experiencing a period of economic prosperity as significant as that of the 1950s, whilst Europe and the United States are facing a period of crisis, which undoubtedly contributed hugely to the growing interest in Brazilian culture.
Today, Brazil is experiencing a development boom comparable to its growth in the 1950s and 60s. It was precisely in this period of significant cultural effervescence in the country that artistic movements, theories and expressions flourished in various fields of knowledge, which ultimately became representative of Brazilian culture as it is internationally known today: the architecture of Niemeyer and Bo Bardi, the artistic experiments of Clark, Oiticica and Pape, the Paulo Freire method of education, the bossa nova, among many others.
The exhibition ‘Mythologies’, which borrows its title from Roland Barthes’ renowned book, takes as a starting point issues relating to identity and cultural hybridism which are at the heart of Brazilian modernism, reflecting upon the processes that led Brazilian art to achieve international recognition today. In a ‘role-reversal’, Brazilian art is now ‘cannibalised’ by foreign artists who appropriate its symbolism, its strategies and its aesthetics.
The artists included in this exhibition have a particular interest in revisiting and reinterpreting the various mythologies and clichés associated with Brazilian culture, recapturing and updating concepts that are fundamental to our modernity, creating mythical images based on contemporary experiences or demystifying folkloric images and exploring the expanse and heterogeneity of the Brazilian territory. Thus, a body of works in Mythologies revisits and reinterprets our anthropophagic and abstract-geometric artistic legacy. Other works highlight territorial and geographical concepts, connecting with landscapes, architecture and specific characters from different places. There are also works that look more specifically at political and economic aspects, crossing the timespan that separates the two major periods of Brazilian development, 1950/60 and 2000/10.
As such, ‘Mythologies’ does not propose a generational selection that seeks to exhaustively identify a ‘new contemporary Brazilian’ art brought together in a group show. On the contrary, the exhibition aims to include works by artists from different generations and geographical regions that cover topics related to one of the hundreds of mythologies associated with Brazilian culture. An attempt was also made to create a heterogeneous group that included artists from the various regions of the country as well as those living abroad - a group that is constantly expanding and whose work is becoming increasingly important for an understanding of Brazilian art today.
This project is supported by the Brazilian Embassy in Paris.
Curator: Kiki Mazzucchelli
Kiki Mazzucchelli is an independent curator and critic. She is currently developing research for her doctorate at the TrAIN research centre, at the University of the Arts in London, with a project that examines the legacy of certain exhibitions that, in the last decade, were fundamental to the expansion of Brazilian art on the international circuit. In 2011 she co-curated the exhibition “As ruas e as bobagens” with Moacir dos Anjos (Itaú Cultural, São Paulo). This year, she edited the series of publications “The poster as expended exhibition space” and the artist’s book “4,000 Disparos”, by Jonathas de Andrade, both funded by the Biennial Foundation and the Ministry of Culture. She curated, among others, “Brasília Teimosa” (ICA, London, 2008), Barbara Wagner’s solo exhibition; the group show “OIDARADIO” (Paço das Artes, São Paulo, 2008), the first art radio station in Brazil, co-curated by Nick Graham-Smith; and “Ressaca Tropical” (Santander Cultural, Recife, 2009), a solo exhibition by Jonathas de Andrade. In 2009, she was the resident curator at the Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, in Bogotá. She was a member of the group of critics at the São Paulo Cultural Centre (2008-2010) and at the Paço das Artes (1999-2000). She has lectured at various institutions, including the Henry Moore Foundation (Leeds), the Royal College of Arts (London) and the National University in Bogotá. She has written essays on the works of artists such as Alexandre da Cunha, Carla Zaccagnini, Erika Verzutti, Marcius Galan, among many others. Her texts appear in various publications, including Artecontexto, Cadernos do Videobrasil, Flash Art and Tatuí.
Assistant curator: Maria do Carmo Pontes
Maria do Carmo Pontes holds a degree in film (FAAP, São Paulo, 2006) and an MFA in Curating (Goldsmiths College, London, 2011). From 2007 to 2009 she worked at Galeria Fortes Vilaça, in São Paulo. In 2010, she worked as a curatorial and editorial assistant at the 29th São Paulo Biennial. She is one of the authors of artist Raul Mourão’s monograph ‘Mov’ (2011) and is a London correspondent for this artist’s blog.
most photos by Theo Craveiro, courtesy Kiki Mazzucchelli
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