The following essay has been written for a fictitious magazine named BRIC Art, focused on the emerging art scene of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

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When speaking of arts in Brazil, the biggest concentration of museums, institutes, galleries and other places of interest are based particularly on the Sao Paulo - Rio de Janeiro axis. Although this reality is gradually changing, and other sites are becoming more recognized internationally, - the Inhotim institute in Brumadinho is a clear example of that - there are still some quite interesting pearls to be seen out there in this big blue ocean.

 

Located in the South of the country, Curitiba is the capital of the state of Parana and has approximately 2 million inhabitants. Famous for its urban planning and transport innovations during the 1970s, the city also boasts the best human development rates in Brazil and was awarded the Globe Sustainable City Award in 2010. Being a reference for urbanism and sustainability doesn’t seem to be enough though. Curitiba is also trying to be a mandatory stop for those looking for art in Brazilian territories, and its most vital and exuberant jewel is the Museu Oscar Niemeyer - MON.

 

The main building of the museum was initially founded to be an Education Institute, as part of the Civic Centre of the city in 1978. The original project signed by Brazilian most notorious architect - Oscar  Niemeyer, was adapted in 2001 in order to become a museum, and along with it Niemeyer gave the city a brand new contemporary icon:  “O  Olho”  (The  Eye),  an impressive tower 30m high made of concrete and glass, based in front of the main building and connecting with  it through a sinuous internal tunnel, a link between past and future. How about the eye as a place you can actually walk in? The spectator is officially an eyewitness of art and not much further, of the world. Both the refurbished building and its new annex were opened to the public in 2002, with approximately 35.000m² of built area - from a total of 144.000m² total area of the complex - the museum has more than 17.000m² for potential exhibitions, all spread in three different levels inside the modernist building, three smaller levels inside the new one and an external patio for some of the sculptures. It also has an auditorium for over 300 people, a cafeteria, parking lot and a gift shop.

 

Two thousand artworks approximately compose the permanent collection of the museum, a high percent of them by paranaenses artists (born in Parana) - such as Helena Wong and Alfredo Andersen – and some by important national artists, like Tomie Ohtake, Ianelli, Amélia Toledo and Portinari. This number is still growing stronger, year after year with new acquisitions. One of the highlights of the museum is the wise choice of making a permanent space to show its architect’s career, with photographs, sketches and models from 1941 to 2002 that gives the viewer a solid retrospective of Niemeyer’s works, all in a circular room where the glass ceiling also serves as floor for the level above, on the underground of the main block. With an intensive calendar of temporary exhibits, MON has shown significant ones, including Vik Muniz and Burle-Marx in 2009, and more recently Vasarely – on until March. Another distinct attraction is the so-called “Torre da Fotografia” (Photography Tower), a space exclusively for photo exhibitions since 2004.

 

However, the main key of MON is its status as an iconic building. It is unquestionable the influence of the “Bilbao Effect” over here, even though Curitiba has not experienced the decadence Bilbao did once, it has also never had a symbol so identifiable. To have one that resembles part of the human body is somehow quite appealing; in this case, it serves as another form of approach by the city towards individuals, especially if realized the enigma and uniqueness of the eye. Just like Frank Gehry created a building capable of attracting tourists usually stuck to the Barcelona- Madrid axis, Oscar Niemeyer has given an extra mile for those wanting to go beyond Rio and Sao Paulo. “The Eye” has some well-known visual aspects of the architect’s work, from the plasticity of concrete in winding shapes to the gravity challenge of suspending structures, and also distinguishes from his earlier works by the  introduction of colour, ceramics and sketches, innovative elements in his career. To sum up, MON has a hot list of features that could grab the attention of people in a blink. Whether for the exhibitions, architecture or just for the walk, it will leave you eyes wide open.

 

The Art of Oscar Niemeyer

 

“It is not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, tough,  inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve, the curve I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the waves of the sea, in the clouds of the sky, in the body of the preferred woman. Of curves is made the entire universe.”

  

Oscar Niemeyer is without a question one of the most important architects in the 20th Century, actually, the fact that he is still making projects even after his 100th birthday (2007) is to say the least impressive. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Niemeyer has “sculpted monuments” (as his work is often referred to) in many different cities worldwide, the most famous ones being the United Nations Headquarters in New York (along with other renowned architects) and most of the public buildings composing the new capital of Brazil at the time (1950s and 1960s) - Brasilia. Owner of a singular language in architecture, exploring the space to its limits with juxtaposing compositions of volumes and absences, playful curves and very appealing aesthetics to the general public, he was praised with the Pritzker Prize in 1988, the highest achievement for any architect.

 

Amongst the churches, universities and other buildings, Niemeyer has also developed fascinating museums, which seems to be artworks to house works of art, once again approaching him to a field beyond the functional architecture. The Ibirapuera complex, designed in 1951 for the 400th anniversary of the city of Sao Paulo (opened in 1954), is an ambitious project which includes in the same context the MAM-SP (Museum of Modern Art), the Cicillo Matarazzo Pavilion (home for the Bienal and for the MAC – Museum of Contemporary Art) and the Museu Afro-Brasileiro - not to mention the other Niemeyer buildings in the park, like the Auditorium. Altogether, they represent a substantial part of the public collections of the city, and soon in 2011, another one of his buildings near the Ibirapuera Park will be the new home for the MAC, already esteemed to become one of the biggest museums of contemporary art  in the world. Still in Sao Paulo, he made in 1987 the project for the Memorial da America Latina, a museum dedicated to Latin American art which also came with a polemic sculpture of the wounded hand of Christ bleeding in the shape of Central and South America. Moving on to another city, Niemeyer created in Niteroi, in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, another space for contemporary art: the Museu de Arte Contemporânea (also MAC) was concluded in 1996, and its circular shape “floating” as a flying saucer above the mountain gives the viewers one of the most beautiful landscapes of Rio, the Guanabara Bay right across it. The institution has since then become the postcard of Niteroi. More recently, the architect conceived the MON in Curitiba (2002) and was invited to design the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavillion, in London (2003). Finally, but regarding Niemeyer’s career that does not mean officially the end, the Museu Nacional planned to be part of Brasilia’s first stage of development was only concluded in 2006, another star amongst the constellation under the opened sky of the capital. Indeed, it is hard to distinguish what is art or architecture in the hands of this man; he surely knows how to put them together in harmony – perhaps the most appropriate would be calling him an “artitect”.