From April 13th, the Bela Maré Galpão (barn) – located in the Maré Complex (RJ) – will be the stage of the exhibition Travessias 2 – Contemporary Art in Maré. In its second edition, the Travessias exhibition will present works by artists Arjan Martins, Cadu, Carlos Vergara, Daniel Senise, Ernesto Neto, Lucas Bambozzi, Luiza Baldan, Marcelo Silveira, Ratão Diniz and Vik Muniz, in addition to architecture and design workshops and enounters with personalities in different areas to discuss issues related to art, culture and social change in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
From April 13th, the Bela Maré Galpão (barn) – located in the Maré Complex (RJ) – will be the stage of the exhibition Travessias 2. In its second edition, the Travessias exhibition will present works by artists Arjan Martins, Cadu, Carlos Vergara, Daniel Senise, Ernesto Neto, Lucas Bambozzi, Luiza Baldan, Marcelo Silveira, Ratão Diniz and Vik Muniz, in addition to architecture and design workshops and enounters with personalities in different areas to discuss issues related to art, culture and social change in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
The exhibition aims to incorporate Maré slum and residents into the visual arts map, showing the role of Brazilian contemporary art and artist’s in an urban and aesthetic integration process. More than exhibiting in new spaces to new audiences, art becomes a powerful bridge between parties, expanding possibilities, stimulating talks and encounters among residents, critics, curators, gallerists, artists, students and other people interested in transforming the way we see the world and building more democratic territories.
Curated by Raul Mourão and Felipe Scovino, Travessias 2 brings together artists whose works have strong visual impact and, more than that, which have the revealing power to transform the way we see things. The exhibition gathers new research results on the expansion of painting (as in the works by Daniel Senise and Carlos Vergara) or how this means of expression connects with lyricism that reveals the precision of the artist’s gestures and their poetic outlook on randomly collected photographic scenes (as in Arjan Martins’ works). There is also the sculpture launched into space for a sense of experimentation (as in Cadu’s and Ernesto Neto’s pieces), photographic appropriation and deconstruction (Vik Muniz) and how its documental use is explored by the visual artists (in the works by Luiza Baldan and Ratão Diniz) or yet how it relates to sculpture (in the case of Marcelo Silveira), or still its poetic and political appropriation (in the videos by Luke Bambozzi). In the exhibition, these works are built around the idea of transformation, of a city in transition.
During the two months that the exhibition will remain set up at the Bela Maré barn, five meetings will be held, always on Saturdays, so that personalities engaged in the city’s transformation and also in the creation of new symbolic spaces can discuss and share their experiences and ideas. Artists, public administration officers, sportspeople, activists and free-thinkers will participate in these meetings, in a dynamics of presenting experiences and projects followed by interviews.
The project also includes architecture and design workshops. To expand the possibilities of reflection and experimentation, Maré residents will participate in the classes to assist in the dialogs in which the relationship between urban space and graphic art is explored. The Maré Complex itself will be the theme of architecture classes and its students will build a large scale model of the slum under the coordination of architect Pedro Évora, from Rua Arquitetos. In the design workshop posters will be collectively created that will later become exhibition catalog inserts.
The project also has an educational program meant for expanding the visitors’ experience with previous and subsequent work, in the school environment. A multidisciplinary education and art team will also make previously scheduled tours with for school groups and other institutions. The Travessias 2 exhibition will be the subject of a documentary to be made by 14 produções in collaboration with the Observatório de Favelas Audiovisual Center.
The Library Bela Maré will be inaugurated at the exhibition’s opening, with the donation of more than a thousand books by major publishers like Cosac & Naify, Martins Fontes, BEI, Cobogó, Azougue, Instituto Moreira Salles, Casa da Palavra, Barléu, among others.
Curated
Felipe Scovino
Is a professor at the Escola de Belas Artes in the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. He was curator of the exhibits Arquivo contemporâneo (MAC, Niterói, 2009), Décio Vieira (Centro Universitário Maria Antonia, São Paulo, 2010), O lugar da linha (Paço das Artes, São Paulo; MAC, Niterói, 2010), Entre desejos e utopias (A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, 2010), Estética da gambiarra (Cavalariças do Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro, 2012) and Estes Nortes (Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro, 2012), among others. He was curator of Lygia Clark: uma retrospectiva (Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, 2012), with Paulo Sergio Duarte. He is one of the curators of Rumos Artes Visuais 2011‐13. He is organizer of the books Arquivo Contemporâneo (7Letras, 2009), Cildo Meireles (Azougue Editorial, 2009) and Carlos Zilio (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, 2010). He wrote essays on Brazilian contemporary art for the magazines Art Review, Dardo Magazine, Flash Art, L’Officiel Art, Third Text, Arte & Ensaios, Concinnitas. In 2012, he was invited to participate in the Young Curators Invitational (YCI) exchange program in Paris, sponsored by the Culture Ministry of France. He lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.
Raul Mourão
Is a visual artist, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1967. He studied at Parque Lage’s Escola de Artes Visuais and currently lives and works between New York and Rio. As a curator and producer, he has organized the individual exhibitions of Fernanda Gomes, Cabelo, Tatiana Grinberg, Brigida Baltar, João Modé and the collective exhibitions Love’s House (Hotel Love’s House, Rio de Janeiro) and Outra Coisa (Museu da Vale, Vila Velha). He was editor of the art magazines O Carioca and item. He was also also general coordinator of the multimedia spectacle FreeZone, which brought together artists from different areas and was curated by the poet Chacal in Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and São Paulo. Along with Eduardo Coimbra, Luiza Mello and Ricardo Basbaum, he created and directed the gallery and production company AGORA, headquartered in the Lapa district, Rio de Janeiro, between 2000 and 2002. Mourão has presented his work in individual and collective exhibitions since 1991. His works, constructed from various materials, develop a visual vocabulary with urban visual elements as they are dislocated from their ordinary context. Among them one finds reference to sports, architecture, the botequins (bars) and to public work signs.
Travessias Exhibition
Opening: April 13th 2013
Duration: April 14th to June 23th 2013
Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 6pm.
Thursdays and Fridays from 10am to 8pm.
Galpão Bela Maré
Rua Bittencourt Sampaio, 169, Maré
Between Av. Brasil 9th and 10th pedestrian bridges
Gatherings:
04/05, at 4pm
Artist Report: Ernesto Neto
Project Presentation: Marcus Vinícius Faustini, presenting the project Agência Redes para Juventude
Interview: Marcelo D2 and Caco Barcellos
11/05, at 4pm
Artist Report: Carlos Vergara
Project Presentation: Ricardo Henriques, presenting the theme “public policies integrated in the territory and community participation”
Interview: Fernanda Abreu and MV Bill
25/05, at 4pm
Artist Report: Ratão Diniz
Project Presentation: Ronaldo Lemos, discussing the Civil Landmark for the Internet in Brazil
Interview: Marcelo Yuka and José Padilha
08/06, at 4pm
Artist Report: Daniel Senise
Project Presentation: Paul Heritage, presenting Rio Occupation London/Rio
23/06, at 4pm
Conference closing session with Fred Coelho, Luisa Duarte, Jailson de Souza, Felipe Scovino and Luiza Mello
