Nuno Ramos, "Waiting for my wings", 2022, in the project "The Square", held at Casa de Vidro. Credit: Courtesy/Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel
Nuno Ramos, “Waiting for my wings”, 2022, in “The Square” project, held at Casa de Vidro. Credit: Courtesy/Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel

Until this Saturday (3/6), Casa de Vidro will receive the third edition of The Square, an artistic project by the Italian brand Bottega Veneta, which visited Dubai and Tokyo. The initiative – whose objective is to carry out a cultural activation in each destination, with local artists – is led by Matthieu Blazy, creative director of the brand, and was curated by Mari Stockler. It is noteworthy that, in São Paulo, the The Square gained a singularity: instead of being set up in a scenographic structure, as in previous editions, the former home of Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992), in Morumbi, was chosen by Blazy himself, a connoisseur and admirer of the architect's work, to house the project, which has works by almost 50 artists.

The invitation to Mari Stockler to assume the curatorship was made in February of this year. The first challenge, says Mari, was to understand what it would be like to set up the exhibition in a large space like Casa de Vidro. The curator then decided to create four routes in the internal and external areas of the house, raising questions about time, geometry and spirituality, tropical roots (with allusions to the neo-concrete movement, the importance of Salvador in Lina's trajectory and the origins of Tropicália), and, finally, a journey on the emergence of Bossa Nova.

The division into routes had a very practical purpose: Mari wanted to avoid that each environment had an accumulation of visitors, which would eventually jeopardize the understanding of her curatorial proposal and the observation of the works. Visits are also scheduled, so that there is not an excess of public at the same time.

For the selection of artists, the curator thought it important to mix established names with artists in the beginning of their careers, self-taught or with academic experience, in a cast that also reflected the diversity of production from different places in Brazil, not just from the Rio-São Paulo axis. Among the guests are Ibã Sales, Vivian Caccuri, Luiz Zerbini, Carlito Carvalhosa, Rosana Paulino, Cristiano Lenhardt and Leda Catunda. The show also features creations by Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, Augusto de Campos, Mestre Guarany and Surubim Feliciano da Paixão, among others.

“Lina was decolonial long before museology and curators reached this point of reflection. She saw intelligence in popular objects and, in that space, she placed, next to an 18th-century piece of furniture, a metal jug made from an oil can,” says Mari à arte!brasileiros, emphasizing that her gaze was formed from the production and thought of Lina Bo Bardi, revealed in exhibitions by the architect in the 1980s, such as Caipiras, Capiaus: Pau-a-pique, set up at Sesc Pompeia, one of his most emblematic architectural projects.

On the opening day, in a reference to the soirées that Lina hosted at her home, the project had chats with some of the guest artists, such as Lenora de Barros and Arnaldo Antunes, and mediators, such as Keyna Eleison, one of the curators of the first Amazon Biennial, in addition to a brief show by Alaíde Costa, accompanied by guitarist João Camarero. The meetings were recorded and will soon be available online, in a hotsite from the project.

To prepare for The Square, the curator says that she has read several books about the house and Lina, avoiding biographies, “a decision I took because they greatly demystify” the characters addressed. She read, instead, titles like Lina Bo Bardi – Built work, authored by Olivia de Oliveira and focused on the architect's projects that were executed; a book about Casa de Vidro produced by the Bardi Institute, several academic theses and even articles by Ecléa Bosi, Marcelo Ferraz and Frederico Morais, among others.

Another unique aspect of the Brazilian edition of The Square was the publication of a box with four books detailing the project. The editing was done in just three weeks, according to the curator. “I didn't want the project to look like an exhibition, with plaques identifying each work and respective artist. I wanted there to be fluidity between what was already in the house and what I was going to bring into it,” she says. The initial idea was to create just a brochure to name the works and their creators. But the brand ended up embracing the idea of ​​a more ambitious publication, which also brings together photos of the works on display, maps of the routes, articles and, of course, tells the story of Lina and her Casa de Vidro.

SERVICE
The Square Sao Paulo
Until this Saturday, 3/6
Curatorship: Mari Stockler – R. Gen. Almério de Moura, 200 – Morumbi, São Paulo (SP)
Visitation: this Friday (2/6) and tomorrow, from 10am to 16pm
Free entrance; schedule this website

 


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