Skip to content
pt
Home
Reading time 2 min

Adriana Varejão and History

Redação Inhotim

“My narrative is a web of stories.  Stories about bodies, architecture, Brazil, tattoo, ceramics, old tiles, Portuguese tiles, modern and vulgar tiles, books, maps, painting.

 

And more: a cheap bar in Lapa, a corner of Macau, a swimming pool in Budapest, ruins in Chacahua, a wall in Lisbon, a cloister in Salvador, a Turkish bath in Paris’ 18th district, a delicate Song vase, a sentence in a book, a market in Taxco, a tattooed skin, a black angel in Minas, a shard in Barcelona, India ink in Guilim, a butcher’s shop in Copacabana, a chrysanthemum in Cachoeira, a piece of news in the paper, a mirror in Tlacolula, a bus station restroom, a Chinese bird in Sabará, the sound of an acoustic guitar, a tile in Queluz, jerked beef in Caruarú, a sentence from the past, a painting in New York, votive offerings in Maceió, a shade of red in Madrid, a sento in Kyoto, and more, and more…”

 

Adriana Varejão on how she relates to the word history. 

 

In 2008, Inhotim opened one of its most emblematic pavilions, a milestone of the profound relationship between art, architecture and landscaping in the Institute.  Galeria Adriana Varejão shelters six works by the artist. These works express her array of interests and variety of sources of research.  Inhotim has invited Adriana Varejão to come to Belo Horizonte on May 24 to take part in the Space, Work and History Seminar.  Click here to check out the detailed program for this event.

Reading time 2 min

Marcius Galan and Space

Redação Inhotim

“Space is a recurring subject in my work and it is dealt with in very distinct ways.  I propose exercises that range from installations, in which the spectator’s perception is tested and the idea of accuracy in space representations is often destroyed (maps, blueprints, etc.), to even trivial relations with everyday spaces being filled bureaucratically. These are different levels of activity, yet treated with the same intensity.”

 

Marcius Galan on how he relates to the word space.

 

 

With two of his works on display at Inhotim, the artist is one of the participants in the Space, Work and History Seminar.  The event will take place on May 23 and 24, at Museu Histórico Abílio Barreto and admission is free of charge.  Check out the detailed program here. 

 

Watch the following videos and learn a bit more about Marcius Galan and his work:

 

 

Reading time 3 min

Before and after Tunga

Daniela Fagundes

It is impossible not to react to an artwork by Pernambuco-born artist Tunga.  This was my first thought as I entered the gallery named after the artist at Inhotim.  I am not sure if it is because of the smell of iron, which resembles blood, or for the metal that looks like hair or even for the beauty hidden in bones and the weft.  The fact is I can define my relationship with contemporary art in “before Tunga” and “after Tunga”.

 

The truth is it is not easy artwork. But, as for me, nothing that enchants and shocks can be obvious.  And when it comes to Tunga, not even a straw hat is ordinary.  It feels as if the artist constantly invited me to open up my mind, to look beyond what I saw, to be carried away by the dance of the several songs I heard.  For there I was able to see neither the beginning nor the end of the artwork.  What I did see was continuous, such as the cooper strands, the braided chair, the glass on the mirror.  The endless tunnel.

Parte interna da galeria, que leva até a obra "Ão" (1980)
Parte interna da galeria, que leva até a obra “Ão” (1980)

Everything there seemed beautiful to me, even that which disturbed me.  For, at the same time the magnet seemed to repel me, it also attracted me.  A sort of steel lightness. A beauty that included senses other than just vision, which awakened the curiosity to look behind the cloth and which surprised me every time I looked.

 

Because it is impossible not to react to Tunga, I asked some visitors about the feeling the work provoked in them.  Fear, ecstasy, doubt and admiration were the answers I got from perhaps slightly confused observers.  What has this experience awakened in me?  Tunga.

               

Testimony about the first time I entered Galeria Psicoativa Tunga.

 

Tunga was also the theme of Arte Brasileira TV program, aired on the GNT channel.  Watch the video here and find out what the critics, collectors and the artist himself think about his work.

Reading time 3 min

2014 Contemporary Music Series

Fernando Rocha

In the 1980s, Belo Horizonte was one of the most important contemporary music hubs in Brazil.  Several events, always very popular with the public, were held by Fundação de Educação Artística at Palácio das Artes This faded as time went by, but I´ve always believed that era could be revived.  

 

In 2009, I started a contemporary music group named Somente 21 in Belo Horizonte. We made several performances in the city and I ended up getting to know Rodrigo Moura, Inhotim’s curator.  From then on, we have developed the Contemporary Music Series, an event aimed at rescuing that movement that happened in the 80s, in complete harmony with the Institute’s proposal.  

 

Contemporary music is closely related to experimentation.  It comes from the tradition of concerts, of the classic, but it is based on the search for new languages.  It is a process whose pure concept involves the investigation of tones and sounds. Everything which produces a sound can be used to make music.  And the possibility to take all this to Inhotim is very interesting, since it is a space for innovation, reflection and transformation.

 

Since the first series in 2012 up to today, there have been eight concerts, which featured the work of composers who are essential to contemporary music.  The Contemporary Music Series has gown this year, with four concerts, several musicians from Minas Gerais and also from other countries and intense interaction to improvise and create new pieces or instruments.  

 

The program starts on Sunday, April 13, with a performance by pianist Xenia Pestova.  Shadow Piano, her first solo album recently launched in Europe, brings pieces played in toy pianos, which create a playful atmosphere rocked by the metallic sound typical of this instrument.  The event takes place at Teatro de Arena at Inhotim, at 1 PM.  

 

The year of 2014 will be filled with experimentation, diverse sounds and great music.

Reading time 4 min

Building spaces: the museum and the sky

Equipe de mediadores

Thinking about the relationship the museum has with the sky is a relatively easy task at Inhotim, famous for displaying part of its collection outdoors.  The way the galleries are arranged throughout the park and the pathways built to get to these galleries encourage new flows and discussions on the encounter between contemporary art and the botanical garden.

 

Building Spaces theme tour:  the museum and the sky propose a discussion about this environment of encounters, offering other ways to look at works on display outdoors.  If the interaction between art and nature creates a new space, new positioning is also created, one which is free of limitations and open to the unknown.

 

Among the countless possibilities at Inhotim, we can find works and artists that question this balance between meanings and experiences.  With his Escultura para todos os materiais não transparentes (1985), Waltércio Caldas forces the look itself to “take another look”.  The apparently incomplete sculpture encourages you to think about empty spaces, silences and rhythm.

 

Waltercio-Caldas
Waltércio Caldas, Escultura para todos os materiais não transparentes, 1985.

 

On the other hand, Vegetation Room Inhotim (2010), by Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias, proposes an optical play with images reflected on a mirror and the place’s landscape.  Conceived specially for a clearing in the woods of Inhotim, the work consists of a mirrored structure immersed in nature, promoting sensorial encounters.  

  

These artists have chosen to incorporate the space in which their work is inserted as an element of their own existence and, thus, they weave relationships with the bodies of those observing these works.  The meaning we give to them happens as a result of this encounter, but the provocations tend to differ in each space, each day, depending on time, mood, how tired the body is, stupor of the mind.

 

I invite all of you to have a new look towards the museum spaces and perceive that which I consider the true role of art:  the creation of movement.

 

Written by Marília Balzani, Art and Education guide at Inhotim

 

 

Feeling like taking part in the Building Spaces: the museum and the sky theme tour? Then, click here to learn about the days and hours the activity takes place.