We have lived through years of extreme trivialization of values, in the economy as well as in culture and society. Having failed to achieve a minimum level of stability in democracy for broad sections of the population, instead of finding solutions to balance social classes, the escalation is increasing, creating a model similar to the decades before the Second World War. The extreme right has been reborn and a social field has been created, a kind of anything goes: we have learned nothing, impunity is on the rise, a police officer throws a person off a bridge, another kneed an elderly woman. Psychopaths are elected, and six months later no one understands how this was possible.
The market (they call it farialimers, but they are also on other avenues) dictates the rules to the governments of the day, creates threats and a climate of terrorism, manipulating numbers through financial capital that relies on a media that supports them, even though they represent a tiny portion of the population, especially in the case of Brazil.
Education lacks money. Museums lack money. Governments have failed to fulfill their obligations, and public cultural spaces, despite the Rouanet Law, depend on the wheel of fortune. Their leaders are market professionals, with rare exceptions, with the aim of being able to raise money.
And this is out of control. Statutes are changed according to the needs of fundraising. Artists are exhibited at fairs and by galleries without knowing that they are being represented, as was documented in an extensive article in the magazine Piauí, O Homageado Oculto, by journalist Henrique Skujis. In the secondary market, works by important artists, which have come to light in the last ten years, are now fought over by gallery owners. There are no rules, neither of ethics nor of coexistence.
Even the capitalist world had to create rules to survive. CADE – Administrative Council for Economic Defense – created in 1965, first as an agency of the Ministry of Justice, and today a federal agency, works to guarantee free competition. It investigates and decides, acts in cases of mergers or acquisitions of companies, and monitors cases of economic abuse.
Why don't we have a CADE in the world of culture? A CADE in the art market. And not only that, a body that represents all the interests of different areas involved to defend, for example, specific laws for the visual arts that will be excluded from fairer taxation. (About this, it is important to read Visual arts go to the front, by Jotabé Medeiros).
Within this chaos, there are several national spaces that have been proving to be cutting-edge examples. In Ceará, a combination of public and private (state government + the Mirante Institute of Culture and Art) ensures top-quality investments for everyone, decentralizing efforts throughout the state. With excellent exhibition setups, supported by state-of-the-art technological equipment for the restoration and preservation of works, renovations of listed buildings, etc. In this edition, a long interview by Marcos Grinspum Ferraz with photographer and manager Tiago Santana, born in Carirí, director of the Mirante Institute, shows the difficulties and the path of obstacles.
Another major cultural circuit outside the mainland that has stood out is Paraná, led by the fierce Secretary of Culture Luciana Casagrande, who supports a policy of public investment alongside private sponsorships that have yielded enormous results, despite the cuts made by Bolsonaro and the pandemic. Also read in this edition the interview with Leonor Amarante about the revitalization of the MAC-PR headquarters.
It is about political will and the conviction that education and culture can help us survive barbarism. Without a doubt, part of this hysteria and lack of control ends up spilling over into the artists' own production and into the confusion of collectors, who are either very uninformed or unaware.
In 2019, Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, known for his provocative contemporary work, sold his work Comedian, a banana taped to a wall, at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair for $120. This amount was considered exorbitant at the time, but to everyone's surprise, the banana resurfaced at a Sotheby's auction and was sold for $6,2 million in cryptocurrency by its owner. Obviously, not a single cent went to the artist. The crowd applauded, produced thousands of images, and received thousands of likes.
This is not an appreciation of a work; it is pure speculation. The work has ceased to be a work and has become a simple commodity, a product launched on the stock exchange of impunity. We are not going to give a lesson on art history or the importance of the conceptual art movement since the 1960s. On the other hand, against the BANANAlization of art, we have decided to talk in this edition about two conceptual artists that we value. William Kentdrige and Renata Lucas, in texts by Fabio Cypriano, and Cildo Meireles, in an article by Eduardo Simões. Artists who have made their works not just a provocation, but an intrinsic and powerful reflection that has led them to a fundamental encounter with their audiences.
Enjoy this edition and let's have an excellent 2025! ✱
