Europalia in Belgium

Im glad to present Controlled Dream Machine in Europalia, Belgium.


Art in Brazil (1950 -2011)

In the late 1940s, there was a growing demand for a system to determine what was and what was not modern in Brazilian art. Modernism could not provide the answer ; it had become too local and no longer provided any conventions or aesthetic definitions.
In 1952, the Grupo Ruptura was established in São Paulo and with their rationally structured, geometrical abstract works, these artists distanced themselves from the regional, obligatory Brazilian iconography and social critique of the Modernists. The Grupo Ruptura called itself the first Brazilian avant-garde movement.
This exhibition traces the evolution of Brazilian art from the 1950s until the present day and is the first exhibition in Europe to address this from a Brazilian and not a predominantly Western perspective.
There are four chronological modules in the exhibition : the 1950s, the decade 1960-70, the 1980s, and the 1990s until today. These modules are interspersed with sections that explore the work
of specific artists in more detail, including Alfredo Volpi, and the Brazilian context – for example, the role of architecture in the period of the dictatorship (1964-1985) – in which the art developed.

The 1950s : (Neo-) Concretism
Ronaldo Brito & Vanda Klabin, curators
It was not long before the Neoconcretists distanced themselves from the overly rational and dogmatic Concretism and returned to freedom of experiment. The artists include, amongst others, Helio Oititica, Alfredo Volpi and Lygia Clark.


The 1960s-70s : Dictatorship
Guilhermo Bueno, curator
From 1964 to 1985, Brazil suffered under a dictatorship. Heavy and violent censorship was a distinguishing feature both in society and the arts, but at the same time it created an artistic movement that drew
energy from the continuous struggle for freedom of expression and experimented with sidestepping the barriers.

The 1980s : The return to painting ?
Guilherme Bueno, curator
The 1980s are seen as the return to painting as a reaction to the end of the dictatorship. This module shows the importance of this discipline : not only did a new generation of painters emerge, but artists from previous generations also returned to painting. At the same time, other disciplines such as sculpture, drawing, video and performance grew in importance.

The 1990s - today : Construction and deconstruction in Brazilian art
Sonia Salcedo, curator In the art of the last two decades, the space becomes the core of the process and place a term between the real and the imaginary. From analog to digital, mixed poetics converge to the idea of 'delimites' between art and space of experience.Chelpa Ferro, Eliane Duarte, Ricardo Aleixo, Marcelo Solá...



Curators :
Ronaldo Brito (The 1950s)
Vanda Klabin (The 1950s), art historian
Guilherme Bueno (The 1960s-70s & 1980s), Director of the Contemporary Art Museum Niterói, Rio de Janeiro
Sonia Salcedo (The 1990s-2011)


12.10.2011 > 15.01.2012
Centre for Fine Arts (entrance rue Royale)

Rue Royale 10, B-1000 Brussels

Tue›Sun : 10:00>18:00
Thu : 21:00
closed : 25.12.2011 & 01.01.2012


http://europalia.be/programme/expositions-12/article/art-in-brazil-1950-2011-1564