Malasartes, the art magazine that was published in Brazil in the mid-1970s, appeared just three times during the period 1975 to 1976. It was a critical, irreverent journal that featured essays and reviews by critics and artists (most of them from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), and translations of international art articles that were considered relevant at the time. It also republished material that had already appeared in other Brazilian publications, and ran movie and experimental poetry reviews. The magazine’s goal was to contribute to the debate on Brazilian contemporary art from an independent perspective, siding with no particular movement, in order to analyze the function of art as part of Brazilian culture.
Malasartes, the magazine published in Rio de Janeiro whose editorial board included art critics such as Ronaldo Brito, produced a “Manifesto” [see doc. no. 1111318] as an opening statement by the group of artists who wanted to have a say in the way their works were handled in the art circuit. This manifesto could also be viewed as one of the first challenges to the idea of the art critic as “curator”—who is portrayed in the document as a mere organizer of exhibitions that suit the market. On that subject, there was another article published in Malasartes, “A velha arte agora” [doc. no. 1110593], in which the participating artists protest, in particular, against the influence wielded by Roberto Pontual in his curatorial role.