Exhibition "Tropical Delirium - Retreat"

A comprehensive mapping of contemporary Brazilian visual production, which articulates different languages ​​and brings together approximately 130 artists From all regions of the country, it takes shape in the exhibition. Tropical Delirium – Retreat at Sesc Pinheiros, curated by Orlando Maneschy and co-curated by Keyla Sobral. With approximately 280 works, the exhibition proposes an immersion into the imaginary of a plural, multifaceted, and constantly reinventing Brazil, composing a mosaic that ranges from historical images to contemporary productions that focus on unique experiences in distinct territories and understandings of the world.

Tropical Delirium – Recanto constructs a narrative that articulates different artistic visual manifestations — from photography to video, including posters, wheatpaste posters, magazines, sculptures, paintings, and objects. The exhibition proposes a reflection on the role of images in constructing an understanding of the country and its multiple identities, through a curatorial process that brings together artists committed to their experiences, territories, and ways of life, including cultural perspectives from various regions of the country, alongside a diversity of contemporary voices.

The exhibition includes works by artists such as Anna Maria Maiolino, Ayrson Heráclito, Cildo Meireles, Claudia Andujar, Dalton Paula, Denilson Baniwa, Hal Wildson, Índigo Braga, Rosângela Rennó e Karim Ainouz.

“We seek to bring together artists who look at Brazil from their own territories, who use the image as a decisive element in the construction of discourses, highlighting an idea of ​​a diverse country,” says curator Orlando Maneschy. “The exhibition is an invitation to break with stereotypical views and to open ourselves to experiences that displace and transform us,” adds Maneschy.

Originally presented at the Pinacoteca do Ceará as part of the Solar Photo Festival, the exhibition arrives at Sesc Pinheiros as a traveling show, expanding access to a collection of works that challenge stereotypes and reveal a Brazil marked by symbolic disputes, affections, violence, resistance, and desires. In São Paulo, the exhibition features a new work by Keyla Sobral and an exhibition design tailored to the specific needs of Sesc Pinheiros.

A visual journey through multiple Brazils

The exhibition stems from the idea that the image, in its multiple forms of circulation—from album covers to GIFs, from photography to print that permeates daily life—is a central element in the construction of the Brazilian imaginary. Featuring artists from diverse backgrounds, the selection of works presents a country in construction and diversity, traversed by tensions between memory and present, without seeking a closed discourse, but open to reflection. In this journey, historical and contemporary images come together to revisit latent issues, suggesting continuities between past and present.

More than an authorial selection, Delírio Tropical – Recanto suggests a field of listening in which the works dialogue with each other and collectively construct a possible reading of Brazil, among many other plausible ones, which does not seek to be totalizing and even acknowledges absences and gaps. The curatorial process is organized as an articulation of these perspectives, and the result is a journey through a Brazil in which different bodies, identities, and narratives emerge not as representation, but as presence, activating other ways of seeing, imagining, and relating to the country.

The exhibition design guides the visitor through an immersive flow that begins in an almost ritualistic environment, evoking a break with crystallized views, and progresses through sections that address themes such as identity, memory, media, territory, and power. Along the way, works from different eras and contexts enter into dialogue, creating unexpected connections and activating new interpretations of Brazil.

The relationship between image and circulation is also highlighted in the exhibition, incorporating elements of everyday visual culture, such as magazine covers, record covers, and documentary records, which help to construct the Brazilian collective imagination. In this sense, Delírio Tropical – Recanto proposes not only to observe images, but to reflect on how they shape perceptions, narratives, and meanings.

The exhibition is part of Sesc São Paulo's institutional commitment to broaden access to contemporary artistic production and promote encounters between different audiences and cultural backgrounds. It is an invitation to the public to reimagine Brazil through its diversity, contrasts, and symbolic richness. The program also includes educational activities, guided tours, and training programs, expanding opportunities for dialogue with the public.

Service
Exhibition | Tropical Delirium – Retreat
From May 6th to October 13th
Tuesday to Saturday, from 10:30 am to 21 pm, Sundays and holidays, from 10:30 am to 18 pm.