In this text, Basbaum explores the constant vacillations that artistic projects like his entail, that is, projects that combine the psychological aspect of subjectivity and of personality with a somewhat objective theory about the reception of works of art. Investigations of this sort were akin to the resurgence of Conceptualism in the nineties, a tendency that Basbaum supported. The broader project “Você gostaria de participar de uma experiência artística?”—which Basbaum started in 1994—formed the basis for the artist’s doctoral dissertation at the Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo (ECA-USP). As of 2008, that project, which has lasted over two decades, encompassed 172 experiences. For more information on it, visit http://www.nbp.pro.br/.
Rio de Janeiro-based artist, critic, and curator Ricardo Basbaum (b. 1961) is a professor at the Instituto de Artes of the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). He emerged on the art scene in the eighties, and in the nineties, formed part of the Visorama group while also editing the magazine Ítem. He was the coordinator of Agência de Organismos Artísticos (AGORA), and later, of Espaço Agora-Capacete. He was one of the curators of Panorama de Arte Brasileira (2001), and his work was featured in the 2007 documenta in Kassel.
For documenta 12, Basbaum organized his submission into four distinct phases: (1) invitation to participate; (2) experiences of the viewer-participant; (3) display of those experiences on the website; and (4) installation-exhibition.
For another text by Basbaum that furthers the ideas expressed here, see “Migração das palavras para a imagem” [doc. no. 1110967].
