Retrospective arte!brasileiros: years of cultural resistance
As a new government democratically takes office, we say goodbye (at least formally) to a presidency whose legacy in the field of culture and the arts is nothing short of deliberately catastrophic. Cultural workers and journalists, academics, thinkers and artists themselves have been, without exaggeration, some of the targets of Bolsonaro and his team over the last four years; when they were not escaping the clutches of such misrule, they were indirectly exposed to its hatred, expressed in the lack of aid to these classes during the Coronavirus pandemic. With indignation, the arte!brasileiros followed the movements of this administration, keeping a critical eye and an active denouncement, but also trying to give voice, whenever possible, to the resistance initiatives that took place in the last four years. Bearing this trajectory in mind, we have put together below a list of our reports, articles and interviews that sought to fulfill this mission from 2018 to 2022.
2019
Reporting
Casa do Povo: a place where to remember is to act By Marcos Grinspum Ferraz
Institution
Founded in the 1940s by progressive Jews, Casa do Povo overcomes 30 years of crisis and consolidates itself as a prolific cultural center, an experimental space for the coexistence and performance of multidisciplinary artistic collectives and autonomous movements.
Selling and catching Cildo Meireles By Marcos Grinspum Ferraz
Exhibitions
A wide “poetic and historical anthology” of the carioca artist occupies the Sesc Pompeia, in São Paulo, with around 150 works that challenge the senses, invite interaction and point out the permanence of violence experienced in Brazil since the colonial period and the period of the dictatorship. military until today
Materials and exhibitions
IMS attests to the affection and defense of the Yanomami By Fabio Cypriano
Review
In 2019, the exhibition Claudia Andujar – The Yanomami fight was on display at IMS Paulista. In about 300 images, the exhibition portrayed the almost 50 years of the artist's commitment to indigenous peoples, at a time when the Bolsonaro government encouraged threats that put their condition in the Amazon at risk.
Occupation Herzog goes beyond political drama By Maria Hirszman
Exhibitions
Itaú Cultural dedicated the 46th edition of the Ocupação project, which portrays great figures of Brazilian culture, to journalist Vladimir Herzog, murdered by the military dictatorship in 1975
it was always them By Maria Hirszman
Exhibitions
Exhibitions “Women's Stories” and “Feminist Stories”, at MASP, mapped the artistic creation of female authors in different historical moments. “Women's Stories” brought together almost 90 works by 50 authors, produced between the 2000th and 30th centuries. “Feminist Stories: artists after XNUMX” added works by XNUMX authors who started their artistic practices already in this century and who, in a way, incorporate activist practices.
Voices on cultural management By Writing
Cultural Management
Find out what Lucimara Letelier, founder and director of the Vivo Museum say; Renata Bittencourt, executive director of Instituto Inhotim, and Claudinei Roberto da Silva, professor and curator, on issues surrounding cultural management
2020
Interviews
go and see by Miguel Groisman
Photography
South African photographer Gideon Mendel produces series around the world that denounce climate change and its impacts on human survival, offering a kind of testimony to those portrayed.
“We have a government that doesn’t like culture and we see the arrival of a certain fascism”, says Ricardo OhtakeBy Marcos Grinspum Ferraz
Institution
Former São Paulo culture secretary and director of the Tomie Ohtake Institute talks about the institution's virtual performance, the difficulty of raising funds and the need to build a country project that involves art, education and culture
“This is not the time to romanticize anything”, says Jochen Volz about artistic production in quarantineBy Marcos Grinspum Ferraz
Institution
In 2019, we spoke with Jochen Volz, director of Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. He spoke about his concern with the Coronavirus pandemic, the museum's digital performance, criticized the Bolsonaro government and stated that culture can be a source of inspiration in times of crisis.
Reporting
Indigenous perspectives point to another possible futureBy Marcos Grinspum Ferraz
Exhibitions
At a time when attacks on indigenous peoples in Brazil were increasing, some museums and major art institutions in the country turned to contemporary indigenous production in their programming.
Articles
Should the show go on? By Fabio Cypriano
Opinion
Still in the period of isolation from the pandemic, in 2020, Fabio Cypriano questioned whether it made sense to reopen museums without some kind of reflection on this forced pause
Deconstructing white hegemony in Brazilian arts is an effective action for changeBy Luciara Ribeiro
Opinion
Despite the national production being diverse in languages and authorship, we still maintain within it structures that naturalize the predominance of white authors and of European origin or descent.
What do we talk about when we talk about Afro-Brazilian art?By Claudinei Roberto da Silva
Opinion
If the history, memory, art and science of the excluded, the divergent and the peripheral are summoned to testify about the present moment, this denounces the emergence via insurgency of actors who demand protagonism, but also points to the exhaustion of a political model and economic, which in its throes threatens life on the planet
Is it time to destroy the monuments of exaltation to the pioneers?By Fabio Cypriano
Article
For Fabio Cypriano, history should not be erased or even pretend that it did not exist, as was done with the period of the military dictatorship in Brazil, but it is necessary to review these monuments and recontextualize them.
Dialog generation By Writing
Article
Curator and artist Claudinei Roberto da Silva writes about the relationship between Sidney Amaral and Rosana Paulino: “When I was alive, Sidney Amaral was very close to Rosana Paulino, whom he called 'godmother'; shared aesthetic ideals and the belief in the transgressive and transforming power of education”.
2021
Interviews
Paralysis of the Secretary of Culture must have tragic results for the country's cultural sector, says Cris Olivieri By Marcos Grinspum Ferraz
Interview
For the lawyer, a specialist in cultural policies, obstacles to the operation of the federal incentive law must break institutions and cultural agents; In this context, Olivieri celebrates the implementation of the Aldir Blanc Law and its innovative model for the country
Paulo Mendes da Rocha: Brazil's last great modern architect By Marcos Grinspum Ferraz
Architecture
After his death, the arte!brasileiros recalled an interview given by Paulo Mendes da Rocha in 2016, in which the architect made it clear that, more than a specialist, the architect must be a thinker of the world, attentive to human needs and desires
Reporting
The [non] market of inclusion: ableism in the world of the artsBy Giulia Garcia
report
In Brazil, more than 12 million people have some physical or intellectual disability. In conversation with arte!brasileiros, artists reflect on the dilemmas of including people with disabilities in the art world and talk about ableism and accessibility in aesthetic experiences
Will robots be the artists of the future?by Miguel Groisman
report
Is the debate about creativity and Artificial Intelligence obsolete? Art realized by AI generates reflections, far from being dystopian, on the nature of creativity, the importance of the human experience in creation and the ethical barriers of technological development
Materials and exhibitions
Words in the world of things By Maria Hirszman
Exhibitions
First open exhibition at the Portuguese Language Museum, Língua Solta was curated by Moacir dos Anjos and Fabiana Moraes and put works of contemporary art in dialogue with objects, posters and other elements of everyday life
Museu Paulista: a privileged place to rethink history By Maria Hirszman
Institution
After extensive renovations, Museu Paulista, in Ipiranga, reopens in 2022 with physical and conceptual adaptations, establishing new correlations between past and present that do not perpetuate watertight visions and consolidated discourses of power
Articles
Matarazzo City, contemporary art and neoliberalism By Writing
Article
Based on the luxurious real estate development that was being built in São Paulo, curator and researcher Pollyana Quintella points to the dangerous use of contemporary art based on neoliberal logic, questions the capitalist model that claims to “defend” diversity and discusses the precariousness of relations between I work
Black Encyclopedia': a book of many hands, minds and lives By Writing
Article
Organized by Flávio dos Santos Gomes, Jaime Lauriano and Lilia Schwarcz, Enciclopédia Negra confronts the historiography that denies visibility to the contributions of black people; publication also unfolds in an exhibition at the Pinacoteca
2022
Interviews
Paradise has to be defended” (Sebastião Salgado) by Miguel Groisman
Exhibitions
“Amazônia”, an exhibition by Sebastião Salgado, who was at Sesc Pompeia, reveals the records of years of the photographer's exploration of the Amazon region. Salgado hopes that the exhibition will put the forest and its people in the spotlight, in a plea for their protection.
Reporting
Contact with art provides respite for the population deprived of liberty by Miguel Groisman
report
Activities related to art and culture promote positive transformations in those who go through a hostile prison system, but the challenge of guaranteeing the right to culture of the population deprived of liberty remains great
Materials and exhibitions
The cangaço yesterday and today by Miguel Groisman
Book
Book "Bled memories: life and death in the times of the cangaço", by Ricardo Beliel, brings together photos and testimonies recorded by the journalist over the years touring the northeastern hinterland
Bishop's work and his lineages by Miguel Groisman
Exhibitions
Exhibition on display at Itaú Cultural, in São Paulo, brings a broad selection of Arthur Bispo do Rosário’s creations and illuminates his connections with contemporary Brazilian art
The Modernity in question By Maria Hirszman
Exhibitions
Exhibition "The Parable of Progress" reviews the myths and legacy of the Independence of Brazil and Modernism, based on contemporary artistic production
Articles
Extremist Crusade: How Cultural Denialism Works in MuseumsBy Jotabê Medeiros
report
In actions by Ibram and Iphan, bolsonarismo invests against the most important Afro-religious collection in the country, under the custody of the Museum of the Republic, in Rio, and threatens to disrupt the entire National Museum System
Aesthetic moment and the ethical time of democratic reparationBy Christian Dunker
Article
From different historical occurrences and concepts of psychoanalysis, Christian Dunker discusses the idea of infinite mourning - common to cases of collective losses - and talks about the need for reparation
Exuberant visuals in a critical toneBy Fabio Cypriano
Article
Raio-que-o-parta: fictions of the modern in Brazil”, at Sesc 24 de Maio, presents almost 650 works by 200 artists and places Semana de 22 in the decolonial debate
EXCLUSIVE: Ministry of Culture comes with new secretariats and fine-tooth comb in the Bolsonaro administrationBy Jotabê Medeiros
Institution
Executive Secretary Marcio Tavares, number 2 in the portfolio he assumes in January, says that Lula's government focuses on diversity and is preparing a 'dispatch' to interrupt paralysis in the sector
