Exhibition “A Visionary Vertigo - Brazil: Never Again” and “Argentine memory for the world: the ESMA Clandestine Center”

O São Paulo Resistance Memorial, museum of the Secretariat of Culture, Economy and Creative Industry of the State of São Paulo, presents on September 7, 2024, at 11 am, the opening of two concomitant exhibitions: A Visionary Vertigo – Brazil: Never Again e Argentine memory for the world: the ESMA Clandestine Center.

The Argentine exhibition is a touring exhibition held by the ESMA Memorial Site Museum – Former Clandestine Center for Detention, Torture and Extermination, in Buenos Aires and explores the history of the building, since its occupation by the Armed Forces during the last Argentine dictatorship (1976–1983 ) until its recognition as UNESCO Intangible Heritage in 2023. Human rights violations committed against women during the period are also revisited based on the testimonies of survivors.

In parallel, curated by researcher and professor Diego Matos, the exhibition Uma Vertigem Visionária – Brasil: Nunca Mais is dedicated to the memory of the project of the same name, responsible for the most extensive research ever carried out by civil society on torture in Brazil during the Civil Dictatorship- Military (1964–1985).

With the two exhibitions, the Memorial explores the last Brazilian and Argentine dictatorships by presenting different processes of struggle and resistance carried out in both Latin American countries. Based on oral history, it places both exhibitions in dialogue to build a collective memory about periods of repression.

The opening will be attended by Mayki Gorosito, technical director of the ESMA Sítio de Memória Museum, and curator Diego Matos.

A Visionary Vertigo – Brazil: Never Again

In 400m², the exhibition rescues the memory of the Brazil: Never Again project, undertaken between 1979 and 1985. The initiative was responsible for systematizing and producing copies, clandestinely, of more than 1 million pages contained in 707 cases of the Superior Military Court (STM ), revealing the extent of political repression in Brazil during the period.

The history of the project and its developments is presented alongside testimonies from lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders involved in the project, whose names were kept anonymous for years: Paulo Vannuchi, Anivaldo Padilha, Ricardo Kotscho, Frei Betto, Carlos Lichtsztejn, Leda Corazza, Petrônio Pereira de Souza and Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh.

The archive of 707 court cases exposes the testimonies of political prisoners about the state apparatus's actions of repression, surveillance, persecution and torture. Copies of this content, which for years were kept safely in preserved collections in Switzerland and the USA, were repatriated and returned to Brazil in 2011, where they are currently under the protection of the Edgard Leuenroth Archive/Unicamp, in Campinas.

The project had support from the World Council of Churches and the Archdiocese of São Paulo, with the participation of Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns (1921–2016), archbishop of São Paulo, and Rev. James Wright (1927-1999), from the Presbyterian Mission of São Paulo. Central Brazil.

In addition to the archives of the Brazil: Never Again project, the exhibition presents works from the Alípio Freire Collection, under the protection of the Memorial da Resistência, created by former political prisoners such as Artur Scavone, Ângela Rocha, Rita Sipahi, Manoel Cyrillo, Sérgio Ferro, Sérgio Sister and Alípio Freire himself, during his stay in São Paulo prisons during the Dictatorship.

The exhibition also includes works of art by artists such as Carmela Gross, Regina Silveira, Artur Barrio, Antonio Manuel, Rubens Gerchman, Claudio Tozzi and Carlos Zílio, from the Pinacoteca de São Paulo Collection, and external works by Rivane Neuenschwander, Claudio Tozzi, Carlos Zilio. Rafael Pagatini will present a work commissioned for the exhibition, occupying a 100m² mural in the museum's external area.

The exhibition also sheds light on the present time, offering evidence of the importance of this debate today in perpetuating the State's permanent violence against its minorities and vulnerable populations.

Argentine memory for the world: the ESMA Clandestine Center

The place of memory, former headquarters of the Escola Superior de Mecânica da Armada (ESMA), was the largest clandestine center of the last Argentine civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983), where around 5 thousand people were detained or disappeared, including political activists , students and artists.

With two main axes divided into 210m², the exhibition presents the history of the building along with testimonies with different stories of struggle, taking a look at the past and connecting it to the present time and the demands for justice, truth and reparation.

The Patrimonio do Nunca Mais section contains an institutional video about ESMA and six panels with texts and images that discuss the history of the building. Being women at ESMA addresses the specific violence that women suffered during their kidnappings and detentions, such as motherhood during prison, solidarity among prisoners and the paths adopted for the victims' physical and psychological recovery.

The exhibition space also includes an occupation with documentary photographs from the Memoria Abierta collection, an alliance of Argentine human rights organizations that promotes memory about rights violations in the recent past, resistance actions and struggles for truth and justice, to reflect on the present and strengthen democracy. In order to present the visual memory of the period to the Brazilian public, the occupation brings records by photographers Daniel García, Eduardo Longoni and two images without defined authorship.

In addition to reinforcing the importance of oral history, the exhibition seeks to value the preservation and museumization of places with difficult memories – in close dialogue with the temporary exhibition dedicated to the Brazil: Never Again project.

Service
Exhibitions | A Visionary Vertigo – Brazil: Never Again e Argentine memory for the world: the ESMA Clandestine Center
From September 7th to July 25th, 2025
Tuesday to Sunday from 09am to 20pm, last entry at 19:30pm