Exposição de Antonio Manuel (de 0 a 24 horas em todas as bancas de jornais) took place in 1973 when the artist placed an insert within a Rio de Janeiro newspaper of wide circulation. His project ---which was linked to an extensive discussion concerning mass culture guided by the artist--- clarifies his inquiries into the place that art should hold within industrial culture and also the artist’s role in this new panorama.
Antonio Manuel (n. 1947), who was born in Portugal and moved to Brazil as a child, became a noted artist within the Brazilian arts scene toward the end of the 1960s through work that was strongly participatory, politicized and in some measure (for the repressive military dictatorship of the time) “subversive,” in particular his work “flanes” [which were plastic irons that would leave an imprint on newspapers, which he would also intersperse with images and text), as well as such proposals as Eis o saldo. In 1970 the artist proposed his nude body as a work of art at the Salão Nacional do MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro). When his proposal was rejected, he undressed himself while among the other spectators on the day of the opening at the MAM-RJ. During that decade he also produced a series of films.
[As complementary reading, see the text by the artist in the ICAA digital archive: “Bode; A exposição de Antônio Manuel de zero às 24 horas nas bancas de jornais” (doc. no. 1110565). See also the following essays: “Antonio Manuel, the cock of the golden eggs”, by Décio Pignatari (doc. no. 1111097); “A arte abrange tudo. É uma experiência vital”, by Francisco Bittencourt and Manuel (doc. no. 1111094); and “Urnas quentes de Antonio Manuel”, by Hélio Oiticica (doc. no. 1280644)].