Facade of the A Gentil Carioca gallery, in Higienópolis. Photo: Filipe Berndt

ALetta Valente, Ana Linnemann, Arjan Martins, Hair, Ernest Net, Jarbas Lopes, João Mode, José Bento, Laura Lima, Marcela Canterbury, Maria Laet, Maria Nepomuceno, Maxwell Alexander, OPAVIVARÁ!, Renata Lucas, Rodrigo Torres and Vivian Caccuri. These are the names that make up Boom Boom Paticumbum Prugurundum, an exhibition that marks the arrival of A Gentil Carioca in São Paulo.

In 2021 the gallery turns 18 and, in celebration, expands its activities to the capital of São Paulo – now having two offices, one in downtown Rio de Janeiro, and one in the São Paulo neighborhood of Higienópolis. According to partners Márcio Botner, Ernesto Neto, Elsa Ravazzolo and Laura Lima, Gentil was born and expanded to capture and spread the diversity of art in Brazil and around the world.

The inauguration took place last Saturday, August 7, with the opening of Boom boom Paticumbum Prugurundum. Its title, inspired by the samba-enredo of Império Serrano from the 1982 parade, sets the tone for the show. The composition deals with the history and essence of carnival. And with the onomatopoeia – which gives the title to the song and, now, to the exhibition – it simulates the beat of the surdo, which gave rise to the samba rhythm we know today. “The phrase 'Bum bum paticumbum prugurundum' contains a treatise as important as the phrase 'I think therefore I am', by Master Descartes, as well as several other philosophies that define the West and, consequently, modernity. The language of drums and rhythms is as important as writing, but it is indescribable, because his speech is not intelligible by the mind, but by the body”, explains Ernesto Neto.

Guided by these questions, the exhibition seeks a ethos of corporeality, instead of relating to a Cartesian thought “so defining of the West”, as the curatorial text states. This can be seen in the arrangement of the works in the space of A Gentil Carioca, in which the subjectivity of the drum sound is sought. “The bodies of works and spectators visit the gallery space, reconfiguring the usual exhibition orthogonalities. It is inspired by the batuque meetings, in the carnival blocks, in the circles of people in the square for great resolutions, which determines a rhythm of another physicality or logic”, explains the curatorial text.

BUM-BUM PATICUMBUM PRUGURUDUUM
WHERE: The Gentle Carioca: Travessa Dona Paula, 108 – Higienópolis, São Paulo (SP)
WHEN: August 10th to October 9th, 2021
Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 19 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to 18 pm.
Scheduling of visits: sampa@agentilcarioca.com.br
The exhibition can also be accessed virtually, through the Online Viewing Room.

 


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