More paradoxical than it would seem, this year of cutbacks and dismantling in Brazilian cultural politics has, in spite of everything, opened more space for non-white artists – whether in new galleries, retrospectives at major museums or debates in academia.
View of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, 2020 collection. Installation by Jonathas de Andrade (front), works by Candido Portinari, Almeida Junior and Paulo Nazareth (background). Photo: Disclosure.
View of the exhibition Véxoa, Nós Sabemos, 2020, Pinacoteca de São Paulo. Photo: Levi Fanan.
Meeting of the International Cycle of Webinars: African Arts - Stories, Perspectives and Flows: Biennial 1 - African representations at the São Paulo Biennial; Diaspora at the Dakar Biennial - with Luciara Ribeiro, Sabrina Moura and mediation by Kleber Amâncio). Image: Disclosure.
In Brazil, the year 2020, besides being turbulent and challenging, presented a picture of destruction of public institutions and reduction in state investments across the entire cultural sector. Despite this, the black arts scene seems to be better off in comparison to the past five years. Especially for the black visual arts, the dissolution of the Ministry of Culture had a devastating impact on the Palmares Cultural Foundation, which, coordinated by a black president, has attacked important black figures, and caused years of the institution’s structuring to collapse.
Parallel to this dismantling, however, a monument in homage to the black architect Tebas (Joaquim Pinto de Oliveira, 1721-1811), made by the artist Lumumba and the architect Francine Moura, was inaugurated in the city of São Paulo. At the same time, the Pinacoteca of the State of São Paulo, which has been showing interest in non-white artists, has increased their presence in the long-term exhibition of their collection, placing on display the work of 26 names, including Sidney Amaral (1973-2017), Maxwel Alexandre, Flávio Cerqueira and Jaime Lauriano. It is important to note that the institution is also sensitive to the works of contemporary indigenous artists like Jaider Esbell and Denilson Baniwa, in addition to having launched the exhibit Vexoá: nós sabemos (Vexoá: We Know), curated by Naine Terena.
Outside the Rio-São Paulo Axis
Another public institution, the São Paulo Cultural Center, is celebrating the 30th edition of the “Programa de Exposições” (Exhibitions Program) by promoting black artists’ artistic production of recent years. In 2020, one of the exhibits selected names beyond the Rio-São Paulo axis, pointing to the ethno-racial and gender diversity and indicating radical changes in the awareness with regard to new identities present on the country’s contemporary art scene.
It must not be forgotten, however, that black professionals at museums and cultural institutions were hit hard by the closure of spaces as well as by the crisis of the sector. In São Paulo in particular, employees of the Afro Brazil Museum and the Tomie Ohtake Institute were among the most adversely affected. The closure of the Sesc São Paulo Network, which in recent years has developed assertive work on racism, particularly struck cultural mediation and exhibition installation professionals.
Project "Performance na Rede". Rubiane Maia, Transfiguration. Performance. Digital Photography on Lightbox. The Warren, Folkestone, UK, 2018. Work done in collaboration with Manuel Vason (IT/UK). Courtesy of the artist.
Just after the pandemic began, educational and cultural programming on the internet was emerging – sometimes spontaneously, sometimes motivated by private and public calls.
Social Networking
Just after the pandemic began, educational and cultural programming on the internet was emerging – sometimes spontaneously, sometimes motivated by private and public calls. This includes free or paid debates, programs, workshops and lectures given by individuals, groups, public universities, museums and cultural institutions. At the same time, social networks like Instagram, which already functioned as a means for showcasing works of the visual arts, also started hosting meetings streamed from all over the country.
Among the most interesting, although not exclusively racialized, the series of conversations Performance na Rede (Performance on the Web) brought together performers and thinkers from all over Brazil. The meetings are part of the activities of the Embassy of Performance Art (EPA), a project created by Maíra Vaz Valente and Raphael Couto along with another activity of the same organization, the Perforcâmbio (Performance Exchange). Currently, the EPA participates in an activity that involves performers from all over Latin America, an unprecedented feat, according to Maíra Vaz Valente.
Academia
Among the various academic events, it is worth highlighting the “Ciclo internacional de webinários – Artes africanas: histórias perspectivas e fluxos” (International Round-Table Webinars – African Arts: Histories, Perspectives and Flows), which runs through December 2020, organized by the Federal University of Recôncavo in Bahia (UFRB) and streamed on the África nas Artes (Africa in the Arts) channel. The Research and Training in Curating Exhibitions Network, which brings together research institutes and centers around racial debate, is holding the monthly webinar “Curadorias: histórias e práticas entre diversidades” (Curatorships: Histories and Practices among Diversity) through February 2021. The event opened with Alex Tso, founder of the Galeria Diáspora (Diaspora Gallery), and invited guests during the month of November were Angolan curators Luamba Muinga and Marcos Jinguba.
Created one month after the start of the pandemic in Brazil, the Pensarafricanamente (ThinkAfricanly) channel already has 10 thousand subscribers and has presented a diverse programming of themes like public policy, entrepreneurship, gender, arts and culture and religiosity, among several others. The meeting dedicated to the famous writer, visual artist and Candomblé priest, Mestre Didi (1917-2013), included the participation of artist Ayrson Heráclito, thinker Muniz Sodré, singer, dancer and professor Inaycira Falcão and philosopher Marco Aurélio Luz.
The Market
Important to note as well that SP-Arte, considered the main Latin American art fair, just a few years ago didn’t even know that indigenous or trans racialized artists and poets existed. Now in 2020, the 17th edition (virtual) of the Fair presented 136 exhibitors and organized debates and lectures on violence, ecological vandalism and the situation of women and black people in Brazil.
New to this edition of the Fair are the Galeria HOA (HOA Gallery), the group Levante Nacional Trovoa (Trovoa National Uprising) and the 01.01 Platform. The Levante Nacional Trovoa is a group of racialized visual artists and curators founded in 2017, while the 01.01 Art Platform is an initiative that brings together a significant group of artists. Created in 2018 with support from institutions in Ghana, Portugal and the United Kingdom, the objective of the 01.01 Art Platform is to promote a circuit of cultural exchange that involves promoting and consuming art in a conscientious, just and engaged manner.
Alexandre Araujo Bispo is an anthropologist, critic, independent curator and educator.
Translation: Sara Hanaburgh
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