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Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Center reopens with new works by the artist
Published on 05/11/2021 - 14:10 | Updated on 06/11/2021 - 18:22
The art space had been closed since the beginning of the pandemic - Beth Santos/City of Rio Rio de Janeiro City Hall reopened the Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Center in downtown Rio this Friday (November 5). On National Culture Day, Mayor Eduardo Paes and Secretary of Culture Marcus Faustini were present and inaugurated two new works created by the artist (11-1937), but never performed before. The art space had been closed since the beginning of the pandemic and will once again receive the public from Monday to Saturday, from 1980 am to 10 pm.
– What an honor and joy to be here. Every cultural creator is a hero in this country. This administration is committed to investing heavily in culture and art. The reopening of the Hélio Oiticica Center is symbolic, an important cultural center, and the work of a renowned person – said the mayor of Rio, expressing his desire to permanently install the “Hunting Dogs” model in Flamengo Park.
Hélio Oiticica's artistic style in the two new works allows visitors to have sensory experiences with the installations. The works will be exhibited open to artistic interventions from the most diverse areas, from musical shows to dance performances.
– What would a city be without art? Art in cities makes people move around and generates interest in traveling through different territories. Art promotes integration between different universes within a city. Hélio Oiticica’s work, in addition to being an artistic reference in the history of Brazil, is necessary for these times of cultural revival because it is an invitation to interaction – said the municipal secretary of Culture.
City Hall partnership with the Oiticica family
The reopening of the Art Center, founded in 1996, is one of the fruits of the partnership between the Municipal Department of Culture and César Oiticica Filho – Hélio's nephew, artistic director of the space and manager of his legacy.
– I thank the mayor for the opportunity to bring Hélio’s work back to downtown Rio. It’s great when we have people to talk to who understand the importance of culture, especially at this time of revitalization and recovery of the city – highlighted César, head of the “Hélio Oiticica Project” institute, responsible for preserving and promoting the collection, kept in the house where the artist lived in Jardim Botânico.
unpublished works
One of them is PN10, created in 1971 for an artistic grant from the Guggenheim Foundation, and which had been planned to be installed in Central Park. The project in question is part of the “Subterranean Tropicalia Projects” series and, now, 50 years later, it will be installed on Rua Imperatriz Leopoldinense, in the open air. PN10 is composed of a metal structure, wood, vinyl, canvas and nylon screens. The rectangles in the project are orange canvases to filter the light that will reflect in the empty internal space inside the work.
The second new penetrable will be mounted inside the equipment, the “CC2 On Object Private”, from the “Cosmococa Program in Progress” series.
Other artistic processes by Oiticica
The Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Center has three floors (only the first two will be reopened, for now), with six exhibition spaces, two mezzanines, two multipurpose rooms, a reading room, an auditorium with one hundred seats and a café/restaurant.
The idea is to fill the first floor with Oiticica's artistic processes, including sketches, drawings and models – one of them referring to a 1960 work, from the gigantic project “Cães de Caça” (Hunting Dogs), which includes references to the poem “Enterrado” (Buried), by Ferreira Gullar, and to the integral theater of Reynaldo Jardim. The artist's first penetrable, “PN1”, created in 1960, will also be there; with moving walls, initiating direct participation by the spectator.
On the second floor are some of the artist's works that belonged to the family. The penetrable “Nas quebradas”, from 1978, was made in São Paulo, a creative process called “ambulatory delirium”. All the works will be subtitled in Portuguese, English and Braille.
Starting in 2022, the auditorium will host courses, meetings and debates on the arts in Rio. In addition to temporary exhibitions of artists and works that dialogue with Oiticica's work, through temporary curators.
The building was constructed in 1872 to house the National Conservatory of Music, expanded in 1890, under the guidance of the Italian architect Sante Bucciarelli.
Hélio Oiticica's Penetrables in Brazil and the world
According to César Oiticica Filho, there are at least ten large-scale penetrables signed by Hélio scattered around the world. Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Barcelona, Madrid, London, Abu Dhabi, Inhotim, Los Angeles and Itaipava are some of the cities with works by the artist. All of them have extensive references to the movement that culminated in the Modern Art Week in Brazil in 1922, which is about to complete 100 years.
SERVICE:
Hélio Oiticica Municipal Art Center: Rua Luís de Camões, Praça Tiradentes, 68, Centro – 2242-1012. Mon to Sat, from 10am to 18pm. Free. Anytime. Booking (maximum of 40 people): bit.ly/helioingressos.
