The Rio de Janeiro State Culture Secretariat presents the contemporary art exhibition artevida (“artlife”) this summer at venues throughout the city of Rio. The multi-site exhibition examines the interplay between art and life in the period from the 1950s to the early 1980s, taking art from Brazil, and particularly Rio de Janeiro, as a point of departure. Curated by Adriano Pedrosa and Rodrigo Moura, the exhibition is grouped in four thematic sections and connects art practices through different concepts, references and contexts, challenging the idea of a singular, Eurocentric and encyclopedic art history. artevida (corpo), artevida (arquivo) and artevida (parque) will open June 27. On July 19, artevida (politica) and a second section of artevida (arquivo) will open, and a new work by the Benin-based artist Georges Adéagbo commissioned for the artevida (parque) exhibition will be unveiled. All of the installations will remain on view through September 21.

“We are very proud to present artevida, an international art show specifically thought out for Rio de Janeiro, that in this edition seeks to explore connections between our artists and movements and the international scene – albeit the least obvious and known – in countries from Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and our neighbors in the Americas.” said Adriana Rattes, Rio de Janeiro State Secretary of Culture. “artevida is a project devised to be a yearly event that will help stimulate reflections on art and strengthen Rio’s already fertile art world.”

Curator Adriano Pedrosa stated, “For artevida, Rodrigo Moura and I decided not to approach the exhibition as a comprehensive overview or to trace the geneaology of Brazilian artists. artevida is more fragmented than monolithic, provisional than definite. In the search for other more plural, open and diverse narratives that develop dialogues between works and documents, the exhibition has a focus on artists from the Global South, as well as on women artists.”

According to curator Rodrigo Moura, “The visual arts are woven into every aspect of life in Rio de Janeiro. When we were presented with the opportunity to create an exhibition during the World Cup, Adriano Pedrosa and I agreed that the entire city should be our canvas to express the interrelated relationship of art and society rather than trying to contain Rio’s cultural dynamism within a single, traditional art venue.”

An Exhibition In Four Parts

artevida (corpo) and artevida (política) comprise the two main sections of the exhibition and include a total of more than 250 works by 87 international artists, grouped according to the formal practices and topics at the heart of Brazil’s avant-garde movements. The exhibition’s other two sections, artevida (arquivo) and artevida (parque), showcase archival material from two South American artists and outdoor works of sculpture and installation.

Presented at the Casa França-Brasil, artevida (corpo) considers the self-portrait, the cut, and the body in transformation, exploring the organic line as an alternative to the orthodoxy of geometric abstraction. Influences include works by the Brazilian Neo-Concretists such as Lygia Clark’s Bichos and by artists of Gutai, the Japanese avant-garde movement of the 1950s and 60s.

artevida (política) gathers works made under or in resistance to oppressive political regimes. On view at the Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM), this section acknowledges the deep connection between politics and art during Brazil’s military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. Brazilian art is presented alongside works from Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Turkey, Lebanon, Croatia and South Africa that call attention to topics such as the Vietnam War and the effects of colonialism. Works include Cecilia Vicuña’s early 1970s portraits of revolutionaries, Sue Williamson’s 1980s depictions of South African women who were involved in the fight for freedom, and Gülsün Karamustafa’s Sketches for the “History of Working Class in Ottoman and Turkish History.”

Paulo Bruscky, a Brazilian artist and a Fluxus member, is the subject of artevida (arquivo) at Biblioteca do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, which features his mail-art works, among the 60,000 archival documents collected by the artist. The second part of artevida (arquivo), opening at Biblioteca Parque Estadual, includes works from the archive of Argentinean artist Graciela Carnevale and historical material tied to the Grupo de Arte de Vanguardia de Rosario (Rosario Avant-Garde Art Group) of the late 1960s.

artevida (parque) will be on view at Parque Lage inside the Escola de de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Cavalariças, and on the grounds surrounding the school, and will feature the re-fabrication of Japanese artist Tsuruko Yamazaki’s 1956 Red (Shape of Mosquito Net) and three wearable sculptures from Brazilian artist Martha Araújo’s early 1980s series Hábito/Habitante. These works will be joined by a new site-specific commission by Benin-based artist Georges Adéagbo, known for his found-object installations. Created specifically for the mews in Parque Lage, the work reflects on the relationship between Africa and Brazil and the French photographer Pierre Verger’s documentation of the African diaspora.

Visitor Experience

artevida is accompanied by a comprehensive exhibition guide. An academic conference is scheduled for September 5-6 at Biblioteca Parque Estadual in Rio de Janeiro. A fully illustrated catalogue with installation images will be published following the exhibition.

artevida is commissioned by the Rio de Janeiro State Culture Secretariat, organized by curators Adriano Pedrosa and Rodrigo Moura and produced by Endora Arte Produções Ltda. The exhibition has been made possible through support by sponsors Itaú and Petrobras.

A catalogue will be published following the exhibition and a conference will be held on September 5-6 at Biblioteca Parque Estadual do Rio de Janeiro.

Artists in the exhibition

Georges Adéagbo, Helena Almeida, Eleanor Antín, Rasheed Araeen, Martha Araújo, Artur Barrio, Lynda Benglis, Oscar Bony, Geta Brătescu, Paulo Bruscky, Heidi Bucher, Teresa Burga, Luis Camnitzer, Graciela Carnevale, Antonio Caro, Ricardo Carreira, Rosemarie Castoro, Cengiz Cekil, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Judy Clark, Lygia Clark, Olga De Amaral, Iole De Freitas, Antonio Dias, Emory Douglas, John Dugger, Eugenio Espinoza, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Esther Ferrer, Gego, Anna Bella Geiger, Carlos Ginzburg, Mathias Goeritz, Beatriz González, Tomislav Gotovac, Ion Grigorescu, Zarina Hashmi, Sanja Iveković, Gavin Jantjes, Birgit Jürgenssen, Gülsün Karamustafa, Bhupen Khakar, Jürgen Klauke, Běla Kolářová, Rachid Koraïchi, Edward Krasiński, Nicola L., Seung-Taek Lee, Wesley Duke Lee, Carlos Leppe, Anna Maria Maiolino, Antonio Manuel, Dóra Maurer, Cildo Meireles, Ana Mendieta, Marisa Merz, Nasreen Mohamedi, Abdul Hay Mosallam, Saburo Murakami, Senga Nengudi, Maurício Nogueira Lima, Hitoshi Nomura, Hélio Oiticica, Yoko Ono, Clemente Padín, Margarita Paksa , Gina Pane, Lygia Pape, Letícia Parente, Luis Fernando Pazos, Claudio Perna, Wanda Pimentel, Julio Plaza, Liliana Porter, Charlotte Posenenske, Alejandro Puente, Aref Rayess, Yvonne Rainer, Juan Carlos Romero, Lotty Rosenfeld, Martha Rosler, Zilia Sánchez, Hassan Sharif, Teresinha Soares, Annegret Soltau, Jo Spence, Nancy Spero, Mladen Stilinović, Jiro Takamatsu, Atsuko Tanaka, Eduardo Terrazas, Cláudio Tozzi, Goran Trbuljak, Keiji Uematsu, Ulay, Josip Vaništa, Regina Vater, Mohsen Vaziri-Moghaddam , Carlos Vergara, Cecilia Vicuña, Franz Erhard Walther, Sue Williamson, Nil Yalter, Tsuruko Yamazaki, Horacio Zabala, Carlos Zilio.

Complete exhibition information for each venue is below.

artevida (corpo)

Casa França-Brasil
Opening June 27, 11am
On view through September 21, 2014
Rua Visconde de Itaborai, 78, Centro - Rio de Janeiro
www.casafrancabrasil.rj.gov.br
Tel. +55 (21) 23325120
Tuesday - Sunday from 10am to 8pm, closed Monday
Admission: Free

artevida (arquivo)

Biblioteca Parque Estadual
Paulo Bruscky
Opening June 27, 1pm
On view through September 21, 2014
Avenida Presidente Vargas, 1261, Centro - Rio de Janeiro
www.cultura.rj.gov.br/espaco/biblioteca-parque-estadual-bpe
Tel. +55 (21) 23327225
Tuesday - Sunday from 10am to 8pm, closed Monday
Admission: Free

Biblioteca Parque Estadual
Graciela Carnevale
Opening July 19, 4pm
On view through September 21, 2014
Avenida Presidente Vargas, 1261, Centro - Rio de Janeiro
www.cultura.rj.gov.br/espaco/biblioteca-parque-estadual-bpe
Tel. +55 (21) 23327225
Tuesday - Sunday from 10am to 8pm, closed Monday
Admission: Free

artevida (parque)

Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage
Opening June 27, 3pm
On view through September 21, 2014

Georges Adéagbo’s work, Cavalariças [mews] do Parque Lage
Unveiling July 19, 7pm
On view through September 21, 2014

Rua Jardim Botanico, 414, Jardim Botanico - Rio de Janeiro
www.eavparquelage.rj.gov.br
Tel. +55 (21) 32571800
Palacete:
Monday - Thursday from 9am to 7pm
Friday - Sunday from 9am to 5pm
Cavalariças:
Daily from 10am to 5pm
Admission: Free

artevida (política)

Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro
Opening July 19, 5pm
On view through September 21, 2014
Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, 85, Parque do Flamengo - Rio de Janeiro
www.mamrio.com.br
Tel. +55 (21) 22404944
Tuesday - Friday from 12pm to 6pm
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 11am to 6pm
Admission: R$14

Related images
  1. Martha Araújo. Registro fotográfico da performance/instalação "Hábito Habitante", 1985. Photograph, 18 x 22 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Jaqueline Martins, São Paulo, Brazil.
  2. Sanja Iveković. NOVI ZAGREB (Ljudi iza prozora), 1979. Photograph, 80 x 110 cm. Courtesy of the artist.
  3. Regina Vater. Tina América, 1976. Black and white photograph, 37.5 x 37.2 cm. Private Collection, São Paulo, Brazil.
  4. Cecília Vicuña. Lenin, 1972. Oil on Canvas, 56.5 x 51.4 cm. © Cecilia Vicuña, England & Co Gallery, London. Photo: England & Co Gallery, London.
  5. Dóra Maurer. Seven Twists, 1979. Photograph (silver print) from series of 6 images, 20 x 20 cm (each). Collection of Zsolt Somlói and Katalin Spengler, Budapest.
  6. Sue Williamson. A Few South Africans: Virgina Mngoma, 1984. Photoetching/screenprint collage. 70 x 64 cm (108,5 x 80 cm com moldura). Courtesy of the artist and Goodman Gallery.