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Os carimbos de Carmela
1978In this essay, Walter Zanini expresses his opinion of Carmela Gross’s work, highlighting that after supporting in spirit a precise constructive phase, her artistic research has come to a threshold between sign and writing. In her previous works, [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110666 -
Dos carimbos à bolha
1968Aracy Amaral believes that the focus on daily life and reality undertaken by US Pop art woke up young Brazilian artists to the myths and symbols of the consumer society. In her opinion, the Brazilian hall at the IX Bienal de São Paulo shows that [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110665 -
Carmela, projeto para novo céu
1981The journalist Miguel de Almeida interviews the Brazilian artist Carmela Gross in regards to her drawings series titled Projeto para a construção de um céu. The artist explains that her purpose is to discuss the meaning of the work in relation to [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110663 -
[O MAC acolheu o público...] = [The MAC has welcomed the public...]
1972Walter Zanini introduces the exhibition Acontecimentos, held by the Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC) at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP). He notes that the silent atmosphere was disturbed by the reading of a communiqué from the artist Lydia [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110662 -
Simulacros
1984This brief essay, by Wolfgang Pfeiffer, is the introduction to Simulacros, the exhibition of works by Regina Silveira. Pfeiffer describes it as “serious, honest work, with unusual scope, based on extensive research in the field of visualization [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110656 -
A arte postal na busca de uma nova comunicação internacional
1985Walter Zanini asserts that Mail art is one of the most widespread international avant-garde art forms. It is characterized by the casting aside of the object and downplaying the anonymity of contemporary art. Zanini points out that new structures and [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110591 -
Tendências do livro de artista no Brasil
1985Written jointly by Cacilda Teixeira da Costa and Annateresa Fabris, this overview of the trends in artists’ books discusses two discrete strains: books with a broad approach based on the interaction between art and literature; and low-budget books [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110590 -
Questionário para um ‘Livro de Artista’
1985A question-and-answer type questionnaire through which the artist Nelson Leirner raises the question about whether (or not) his book is an artist’s book [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110589 -
Introdução
1974The critic and curator Walter Zanini introduces the exhibition Prospectiva ‘74, and presents a broad overview of the languages used by the new media. He places the works based on multiple channels of technological communication on a level with [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110588 -
[O meu interesse pelo livro de artista...]
1985In this essay Antonio Dias explains his interest in producing artist’s books, and lists some of his publications. He indicates his preference for projects that require a great deal of knowledge about printing techniques, and mentions his [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110586 -
As novas possibilidades = The new possibilities
1977The art critic Walter Zanini introduces the exhibition Poéticas Visuais, which he describes as an opportunity to see the work of artists who work in multimedia. He stresses the considerable involvement of other countries in the event in order to [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110585 -
[Em 1973 pensávamos numa JAC futura de etapas constantes ao longo dos meses...]
1974In this text, Professor Walter Zanini presents the exhibition 8ª Jovem Arte Contemporânea held in 1974. He states that the exhibition is conceptual at its core, which means it is oriented toward ideas. He believes that the work of the artists [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110584 -
Notas de um processo em processo sem intenção de lápide
1978The Brazilian artist Regina Vater describes how works of art are “idealized.” She explains that her work explores the articulation of the word and its mental image in an attempt to criticize the manipulation of “art” in the commercial world. [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110548 -
Ho rio 18 julho 1978 CG
1978Hélio Oiticica’s introduction to the work of Regina Vater takes the form of a visual poem; he discusses her exploration of extreme experimental situations which seek to solve the dead end question concerning “the why” of a [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110547 -
Sob o signo do sincretismo
1995Antonio Risério discusses the origins of the artistic avant-garde in Bahia in the 1950s and 1960s. He notes the syncretic nature of this particular form of art that embraces everything from high culture to popular culture to mass communication. He [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110506 -
Samico : gravador brasileiro = Samico : Brazilian engraver
1962The art critic Ferreira Gullar discusses the work of the printmaker Gilvan Samico, highlighting the uniqueness of his prints. Samico’s figurative work reveals both a regional and an international vocabulary, and confirms the traditional nature of [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110505 -
O popular como matriz
1985Aracy Amaral explains that since the early twentieth century, fine artists from Latin America in search of their cultural roots have taken an interest in the themes and formal usage of popular expression. The examples she cites include Tarsila do [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110503 -
Semana nacional de poesia de vanguarda: comunicado e conclusões
1963There are four subsections in the manifesto written by the Brazilian art critic Roberto Pontual: a) Awareness of the Form (that defines Brazilian poetry as a participating avant-garde whose function is to be creatively critical; b) Communication and [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110501 -
Beatriz Milhazes : decor não é crime
1991Brazilian critic Frederico Morais comments on the pictorial work of Beatriz Milhazes which—owing to the artist’s studies at the Escola do Parque Lage—combines creative freedom and intellectual rigor in intense formal research. Morais argues [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110499 -
Marca litográfica
1970In this text, Luciano Gusmão explains how artist Lotus Lobo appropriates industrial lithography common in the state of Minas Gerais in the first half of the 20th century. Lobo employs old print stones used for the packaging of butter, animal fat, [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110485 -
Lotus : lito-objeto do ready-made mineiro
1969Journalist Jayme Maurício asserts that there is a non-dogmatic renovation underway in printmaking, especially in lithography. He describes how Minas Gerais-based artist Lotus Lobo appropriates drawings and images of industrial products in an [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110484 -
Teresinha Soares : caixas óleos
1967Brazilian critic Frederico Morais presents the first solo exhibition of Teresinha Soares, whom he considers a talented artist. He comments that her work emanates energy “as if it were possessed by the devil,” conveying aggressive feelings by [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110474 -
Revisão do método crítico
1962In this essay, the Brazilian art critic Frederico Morais calls for a critical review of the axiology involved in the specific value of painting. He believes that we have moved beyond the discussion concerning the specificity of each art, noting that [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110473 -
O desenho industrial e a realidade brasileira
1962Frederico Morais calls for the rapid development of industry and industrial products, and stresses the need for a type of industrial design that reflects Brazilian reality. In this article, the critic discusses some of the ideas expressed in his book [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110472 -
Quatro artistas = Four artists
1989The Brazilian professor and art critic Aracy Amaral introduces Arte Híbrida, the exhibition organized by the MACU in Sao Paulo where she was the director. She highlights the creativity of the participating artists and their search for a Brazilian [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110458 -
Brasília: o júri montou no porco
1968Geraldo Ferraz alludes to the proverbial isolation of Brasilia, always waiting for its news (not political) to reach Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo so that it may finally become fact. In his article he comments on the taxidermy of a pig, a work [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110445 -
A arte e a vida urbana no Brasil
1971In this text, Flávio Motta examines everyday urban life as well as certain qualities of life in the country. Motta asserts that life in the city—an environment fraught with contradiction—is not natural or without costs; the phenomenon of the [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110443 -
Da produção em massa de uma pintura (quadros a preço de custo)
1967Geraldo de Barros presents an exhibition of a series of paintings by Brazilian painter and draftsman Nelson Leirner. His text discusses transformations in painting due to the Industrial Revolution and the new social reality that has taken shape [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110440 -
Totalidade artística e posição das artes industriais e artesanato na cidade nova
1959In this text, Mario Barata ostensibly rejects the function of industrial art and crafts in the modern city. He sees benefits and drawbacks to the standardization of furniture and, naturally, of taste. On the other hand, he believes wholeheartedly in [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110412 -
O feitiço contra o feiticeiro
1959This article by Vera Pacheco Jordão questions the procedures followed at the Congresso Internacional de Críticos de Arte in 1959, a publicly funded event that brought foreign guests working in the cultural sphere to Brazil. The author condemns the [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110411 -
As artes maiores na cidade
1959In the paper he delivered at the Congresso Internacional Extraordinário de Críticos de Arte (CIECA), Polish critic Werner Haftmann addresses Brasilia, the new capital of Brazil, as a way to discuss the broader question of the content and form of [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110405 -
A importância educativa da arte contemporânea
1959In this critical text, Theon Spanudis proposes the creative participation of the public in the formation of art that he calls “transrational,” which he explains, entails certain modifications to the notions of “time,” “subject,” and “ [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110402 -
A educação artística e as novas perspectivas científicas e pedagógicas
1959The artist and Professor Tomás Maldonado detects positive qualities in popular design and mass communications, which he considers useful because they are the only means available that can satisfy the aesthetic needs of the people. In his opinion, an [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110401 -
A dinâmica das estruturas urbanísticas
1959In this article Bruno Zevi discusses the crisis facing modern architecture as a result of its inability to strike a balance between the dynamics of urban structures on the one hand, and human and social structures on the other. In his opinion, [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110391 -
Declaração Poética para "Opinião 66"
1966This document is the catalogue for the exhibition Opinião 66, organized by Cérés Franco. It includes brief statements by participating artists, among them Lygia Clark who proposes “the precarious” as an existential concept. Hélio Oiticica [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110375 -
Ivan Serpa : "o artista já não pode fechar-se em si mesmo"
1965The critic Ferreira Gullar interviews the artist Ivan Serpa, who thinks that painting represents the contradictions of his contemporary world, which builds devices that are designed to destroy and others that allow mankind to float around in outer [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110374 -
Arte no Brasil
1966Aracy Amaral states categorically that there is no Brazilian style of avant-garde art because there never were any artistic groups that were large enough or able to provide an innovative groundwork. In Amaral’s opinion, the lack of a local painting [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110373 -
Declaração de princípios básicos da vanguarda
1967This manifesto—whose proponents were headed by the visual artist Antonio Dias—is essentially a statement of the principles that were adopted by a group of Brazilian avant-garde artists; these principles were inspired by the spirit of the 1960s [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110371 -
Razões da nova architectura
1936A poetic essay expressed in a manifesto style in which the author, Lúcio Costa, calls for a new kind of architecture derived from innovative construction techniques. He describes the current period as transitional and notes that while proletarian [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110344 -
Relatório do plano pilôto de Brasília = Beschreibung des Orientierungs fuer Brasilia
1957This is the architect and urban planner Lúcio Costa’s report on his pilot plan for the new capital city of Brasilia. He explains that it is a schematic proposal based on a solution that occurred to him “fully formed,” although it is an idea [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110343 -
A crise da arte contemporânea
1953In this lecture, Lúcio Costa discusses the crisis facing contemporary art as a result of the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution. He explains the intense nature of the reproduction and circulation of a work of art and discusses its audience [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110342 -
Max Bill e a arquitetura brasileira vistos por Lucio Costa : oportunidade perdida
1953Lúcio Costa discusses Max Bill’s lecture, the text of which was published in Habitat magazine. It was a controversial article that prompted a great deal of discussion at the time. Costa highlights the differences he sees in modern Brazilian [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110331 -
O testamento tripartido de Max Bill
1954As a complement to the lecture offered by Max Bill (in June 1953 and published shortly thereafter in the magazine HABITAT), Eduardo Coronado offers a defense of Brazilian architecture. He refers to the Swiss architect’s presumption to express a “ [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110330 -
O arquiteto, a arquitetura, a sociedade
1954Max Bill here offers his critique of modern Brazilian architecture based on four elements that in his judgment form the basis of a “modern academic concern” in architecture: free and organic form, glass, brise-soleil, and concrete pile [...]ICAA Record ID: 1110329 -
Max Bill critica a nossa moderna arquitetura
1953Flávio de Aquino interviewed Swiss artist and architect Max Bill during his visit to Brazil. In the interview, Bill expresses his reservations about the Ministério da Educação e Saúde (MES) building—a watershed in Brazilian modern architecture [...]ICAA Record ID: 1091637 -
Realismo ao nível da cultura de massa
1965Brazilian critic and theorist Waldemar Cordeiro examines the existence of an intrinsic and dialectical link between art and reality, suggesting that transformations in neither one are the result of an inner coherence. Therefore, Cordeiro argues that [...]ICAA Record ID: 1090748 -
Todos atentos
1966Brazilian Concrete art theorist Waldemar Cordeiro discusses the exhibition Propostas 65, which was conceived and organized by artists. In Cordeiro’s view, what is called “proposal” art is radical insofar as it entails collective, rather than [...]ICAA Record ID: 1090623 -
Realistas zarolhos
1966This article states that the mass communication media are a revolutionary new form of expression within the visual arts. These media are of a more vulgar, common nature, as opposed to such intellectual and refined forms as traditional painting, which [...]ICAA Record ID: 1090598 -
Opinião 65
1965According to the art and literary critic, Ferreira Gullar, the exhibition Opinião 65 is unquestionably an important event with the potential to revitalize the stagnant state of the visual arts. The fact that artists can once again express their [...]ICAA Record ID: 1090530 -
O ponto alto
1966Mário Schenberg believes that the exhibition Propostas 65 marks a high point in the debate about Brazilian art and reflects the shift (in taste) from Abstraction to Realism, and thus emphasizes the impact of advertising images which, in his opinion [...]ICAA Record ID: 1090461
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