What's showing in art: Rio
People say that Rio is to Miami, as Sao Paulo is to NY; i.e. the culture quotient is a bit higher in Sao Paulo. I'll be going to SP tomorrow, but Rio exceeded my expectations for modern and contemporary art shows, particularly at venues outside of the regular "art museums."
Among the "regular art museums" are the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (MNBA), which seemed to have only its permanent collections up, as well as the Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM). The MAM is in a cool concrete building designed by Alfonso Eduardo Reidy, and shows included an interesting solo show of Carla Guagdiardi, where every piece has as a material "time" (deflating balloons, corroding metal, etc.) The building was a bit more memorable than the shows.
Same with the Museu do Arte Contemporanea a ferry ride away in Niteroi (MAC), whose Oscar Niemeyer building is really the star. There was a painting exhibit, a forgettable mixed media exhibit by two artists, and another show about figurative art.
Where I thought things got more interesting (art-wise), was at places I didn't expect to see contemporary art. For example, the Museum da Republica is a museum showing art and artifacts of the 19th and early 20th century, and was the home of the president of Brazil until 1954. But they also staged an exhibit called "NOS" ("Us" in English), that investigated the notion of African identity in the New World, and in what I thought was really cool use of layering, the curator actually installed the pieces within the historic rooms of this building that represents power and government.
In the same complex as the Museu da Republica main house is a small gallery, also part of the museum, that had an installation by Celina Portella and Elisa Pessoa (just closed). They basically created new doors and walls via projection onto the gallery's walls, showing little peeks into different domestic environments.
In the same neighborhood, Oi Futura is a building of the telecommunications company Oi (formerly Telemar), housing the Museu das Telecomunicacoes (really cool musem about communications by the way). They are also hosting FILE Rio 09, an annual Electronic Language International Festival...I just realized that spells FILE backwards... lots of "media art" and "interactive art" from all over the world.
Finally, at the Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil, there was a major painting show "Brasil Brasileiro" sampling paintings from a broad swath of artists around the mega-theme of "Brazil." A major undertaking. I liked the graphic art of Claudio Tozzi best.
