By Giuliano de Miranda
Nestled among sculptures, gardens, and the sea, the Casa do Governador Cultural Park has established itself as one of the most unique initiatives in Brazilian contemporary art. Bringing together works by important artists, temporary exhibitions, educational programs, and a curatorial approach that transforms the landscape into part of the aesthetic experience, the space has become a benchmark for integrating art, nature, and audience development into a single cultural project.
The proposed experience breaks with the traditional model of closed museums. Visitors encounter gardens, paths, trees, and the sea horizon integrated with the artworks. The landscape becomes a constitutive element of the artistic experience itself, as each walk produces new framings, new relationships between light, vegetation, and sculpture, ensuring that no visit is the same as the previous one.
Over the past few years, the Park has amassed a collection featuring artists from Espírito Santo and key figures in Brazilian art, fostering a constant dialogue between local production and the national contemporary art scene. This interaction broadens repertoires, strengthens the visibility of artists from Espírito Santo, and integrates the state into a landscape that has historically concentrated its main cultural institutions between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
According to the curatorial director, Omar Salomão, the visitor's experience is the main focus of the project: “You walk among the trees and, suddenly, you find a sculpture. At another moment, it reappears under a different light, in a different framing. The visitor is always in motion, and the work itself also changes according to this movement; in this context, walking becomes part of the aesthetic enjoyment. On this journey, the visitor slows down, observes the landscape, perceives the change in light, and establishes relationships that would hardly be possible in a conventional exhibition environment. Contemplation happens in movement, bringing art, architecture, and nature closer together.”
This concept also guided the formation of the permanent sculpture collection. Without restricting the collection exclusively to regional production or concentrating it solely on established artists from other states, the Park has built a collection capable of fostering encounters between different generations, languages, and research in contemporary art.
One of the highlights of this impressive art collection is... Magic Square #3, Invention of Color, PenetrableThe exhibition features the work of Hélio Oiticica, one of the central figures in 20th-century Brazilian art. Its presence broadens the dialogue between the art production of Espírito Santo and one of the most important legacies of Brazilian contemporary art, reinforcing the Park's vocation as a space for exchange, research, and the circulation of ideas. According to the curator, this coexistence of artists from different backgrounds and trajectories expands the public's possibilities for interpretation and contributes to placing the production created in Espírito Santo within a broader dialogue with Brazilian contemporary art.
Another important core is the Gallery CabinetThe gallery is an exhibition space housed in the former office of the residence that is now part of the Park. Dedicated to temporary exhibitions, the gallery expands the institution's curatorial possibilities by presenting not only completed works, but also creative processes, research, and artistic experimentation. In some exhibitions, the public follows stages of the artists' work, getting closer to the paths that precede the creation of the works and broadening their understanding of contemporary art.
More than just assembling a high-quality collection, however, the Park seeks to build a lasting relationship with its visitors. According to the curator, large events, concerts, and inaugurations are important, but they don't define the success of a cultural institution. The real challenge lies in making people return to the space simply out of a desire to be there. This transformation, he says, is already beginning to happen. This change becomes even more evident in the way different audiences have begun to occupy the space.
In the first few months of operation, many visitors approached the sculptures with a certain caution, unsure of the language of contemporary art. Over time, this relationship became more spontaneous. Children roam freely through the gardens, families return frequently, and groups of visitors begin to recognize the works and artists, incorporating the Park into their cultural itineraries.
“The park creates a different kind of time,” observes Omar Salomão. “By interrupting the city’s fast pace, it invites people to walk without haste, observe, converse, and discover.”
The building of this daily connection is also reflected in the programming developed throughout the year. For the artistic and cultural coordinator of the Park, Mirella Schena, the institution's identity lies not only in large exhibitions or special events, but in the continuity of actions that bring different audiences closer to contemporary art. "Our main pillar is education," she says.
Based on this principle, the Park structured the Free School of Arts, a program that brings together guided tours, workshops, lectures, meetings, activities for schools, and seminars. The initiative seeks to offer ongoing educational experiences, transforming cultural mediation into a central part of the institution's proposal, and not just a complementary activity to the exhibitions.
According to Mirella, the goal is to continuously expand these actions, creating opportunities for visitors of different ages to develop a lasting relationship with the space. The proposal includes longer courses and new partnerships with educational and research institutions, strengthening the educational dimension of the Park. The visitor experience is no longer limited to contemplating the sculptures but begins to stimulate observation, reflection, and dialogue about contemporary artistic production. This educational dimension is accompanied by ongoing conservation work on the collection. Currently, the Park houses approximately thirty works, twenty-eight of which are permanent, distributed throughout gardens and open areas. Exposed daily to sea spray, winds, and the climatic variations characteristic of the Espírito Santo coast, the sculptures undergo specialized monitoring and maintenance, ensuring their preservation without interfering with the visitor experience.
Cultural institutions seek to bring contemporary art closer to new audiences, and the Park demonstrates that this connection can be built through everyday experience. Visits become part of the routine for residents, students, researchers, and tourists, transforming the space into a permanent meeting place for art, landscape, and knowledge.
In Espírito Santo, this combination has transformed the Casa do Governador Cultural Park into a national reference for contemporary outdoor art, a space for meeting, discovery and lingering, where art is part of the daily experience of its visitors.
