Portrait of Darcy Ribeiro, 1995, exhibited at UTOPIA BRASILEIRA, at Sesc 24 de Maio
Portrait of Darcy Ribeiro, 1995. Photo: Bob Wolfenson

“The Brazilian utopia is simple: food, house, school and medicine” reads on the wall of Sesc 24 de Maio. The phrase is from Darcy Ribeiro, anthropologist, educator, historian and Brazilian essayist who would complete his centenary in 2022. In commemoration of the date, Sesc São Paulo inaugurates Brazilian utopia, an exhibition that highlights the current thinking of this intellectual, presented in his various facets of public action.

“More than a tribute, more than something memorialistic, I wanted to bring the power and relevance of many of the things he said, especially if we think about what we are experiencing in the country today. In my opinion, Darcy Ribeiro is extremely current and this is an exhibition about Brazil”, says curator Isa Grinspum Ferraz.

In interview with arte!brasileiros, she adds: “In a sense, we have reached rock bottom. Today there is tremendous social inequality, as Darcy said: the ethical nerve of society has been broken”. For the curator, in this context, it is necessary to return to a maxim of the thinker: “It is necessary to know Brazil in depth to be able to invent the Brazil that we want”.

Thus, the exhibition allows us to walk through the nation's past, present and future, guided by the perspective and trajectory of one of its most important intellectuals. “We had the Darcy Ribeiro Foundation as a fundamental partner, which brings together all of his files – documents, correspondence. So we were able to dive into that material and find pearls. And I worked with him for ten years, so I knew his thinking very well. Not with the academic depth, but with this coexistence”.

A arte!brasileiros visited the exhibition and talked with Isa Grinspum Ferraz. Check out:

The exhibition brings together photographs, correspondence, documents, films made by the anthropologist with the indigenous people in the 1940s, pieces from his personal collection, works of contemporary art, books, music, an unprecedented installation developed by Eryk Rocha and Marcelo Ferraz and small excerpts from their writings. “I selected very strong passages, which are almost manifest about Brazil”, highlights the curator.

Brazilian Utopia – Darcy Ribero 100 years is on display until June 25, 2023 at Sesc 24th of May🇧🇷 Visits are free of charge, from Tuesday to Saturday, from 9 am to 21 pm, and on Sundays and holidays, from 9 am to 18 pm.


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