Nakoada: Strategies for Modern Art

Curated by Denilson Baniwa and Beatriz Lemos, Nakoada: Strategies for Modern Art seeks to discuss the 100-year anniversary of São Paulo’s Modern Art Week, proposing alternative departure off points for reflecting on the possibilities of artistic production that engages with certain modernist ideals, but escapes their traps. The exhibition features modernist works from the MAM Rio collections, ceramics from the Museu do Índio and commissioned pieces by Cinthia Marcelle, Mahku (Huni Kuin Artists Movement), Novíssimo Edgar and Zahy Guajajara, as well as a piece by Jaider Esbell (1979-2021).

The curators’ guiding concept for the exhibition is “Nakoada”, a war strategy of the Baniwa people of the Upper Rio Negro region, to develop new possibilities of remaining in the world. “Nakoada is an act of return. It’s the moment when people who were targets of external forces understand the oppressive power of the other and now look for the possibility to return to their own autonomy,” explains Denilson Baniwa.

In the exhibition, the silhouette of a snake winds its way through the MAM Rio Monumental Hall. “The exposition design takes the form of a cosmic serpent that has no beginning or end. This is a recurring symbol in the Baniwa cosmovision and in several western and eastern cultures, from the North and the South,” remarks Denilson Baniwa. “It digests our history and carries, within its core, this expanded timeframe, since before colonization.”

Nakoada: Strategies for Modern Art
Through January 29, 2023

MAM Rio
Av. Infante Dom Henrique, 85. Aterro do Flamengo.
Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil

www.mam.rio