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Daniël Nijboer meets Gilberto Gil Reporter/television-director Ernst-Daniël Nijboer travels through Brazil for research of his television documentary on Contemporary Brazilian Art and reports for Europe-Art Contemporary art from Brazil booms like an art power-plant MADRID - The greatest attraction at the ARCO 2008 Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid definitely was the collective presentation of special guest country Brazil. The representative selection of the very best of Brazilian art presented by some 32 galleries thrilled art critics, the public and collectors. "Refreshing, divers and rich", a British collector described the art presentation after viewing the different stands spread out over three enormous exhibition halls. But also "surprising" was frequently heard to describe the quality of contemporary art coming from this Latin American country, which is emerging rapidly, surely not only in terms of its economy. 
"Surprising... I can easily imagine that", said Gilberto Gil, the Brazilian Minister of Culture. "In the past decennium a lot has happened in the area of art within the borders of our country, but the outside world has hardly noticed. With this collective presentation my country has definitely placed itself in the world arena of international contemporary art", says the world famous musician, who as Minister of Culture is the perfect cultural ambassador himself, considering his enormous popularity and respect in his own country. Moacir Dos Anjos and Paulo Sergio Duarte, the responsible curators, who are both affiliated with the important museums of Rio and Recife, deserve the most credit for the impressive Brazilian presentation, with which they have succeeded in bringing together a representative mixture of established and emerging artists from Brazil. Besides well-known names such as Ernesto Neto, Tunga, José Bechara, Daniël Senise and renowned photographer Vik Muniz, the curator-duo also impressed the public with artwork from upcoming artists such as Lucia Laguna, Rodrigo Andrade, video-artist Mariana Manhaes and photographer Cao Guimaraes. "With this collective we want to settle with the Brazilian clichés and introduce a modern view of what is going on in Brazil. Contemporary Brazilian art is the result of the on-going ethnic blending and intercultural exchange that is characteristic of our society. This permanent conjunction of national and foreign genealogies gives our art a hybrid nature that is much wider in scope than is usually appreciated from the outside", curator Dos Anjos explains. International Boost Thanks to Madrid the Brazilian contemporary art scene is getting a 'boost' in the international art arena. The early founders of the modern art movement from the fifties and sixties, such as the avant-gardists Lygia Pape, Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clarke, are now being succeeded by a new generation of artists who receive high praise by collectors and art critics alike. Against the backdrop of the fast emerging economy of this BRIC-country (Brazil, Russia, India and China) it's interesting to see how and in what manner art will anticipate this development. Contrary to Chinese and Russian art, where political and rebellious issues often form a central artistic theme, in contemporary Brazilian art there is no movement in which a social and political past must be resolved or redeemed. Curator Duarte: "Brazil has disconnected itself long ago from her colonial past. One can see that in the generation of today. Art then is characterized by the poetic translation of the rich diversity of our country. The exhibited works are a living testament to the consolidation of a global contemporary art in the Brazilian context, and of the internationalization of our collections and institutions". FEEL Brazil Under the title 'Feel Brazil' a collective presentation of Brazilian Contemporary Art will take place in Amsterdam and Düsseldorf next year. (Daniël Nijboer) |
Lucia Laguna
José Bechara
Rodrigo Andrade
You can find more information about all of the participating Brazilian artists at ARCO on the website of the Ministério da Cultura of Brazil. |
