artnexus #17

Art is something very clear for me only when I don't think that it is what it is. But it is precisely the permanent instability of its expressions and meanings that interests me.1

Meireles (Rio de Janeiro, 1948) has been working since the end of the 1970s on subjects that are closely linked to social and political problems. In reworking proposals which go back to the readymades of Duchamp, Meireles uses materials of popular origin along with others of a more symbolic nature to create installations which are a subtle reflection on the problems of underdevelopment, history, or the relativism of accepted social models. His use of metaphor enables him to explore themes with violent content without falling into the trap of pamphleteering or stating the obvious, and without foregoing a visual language of undeniable poetic content.

His concern for the dissemination of opportunities for discussion over and above his installations led him to the creation, along with other artists, of such periodical publications as Malasartes (1975) and A Parte do Fogo (1980), as well as collaboration in independent filmmaking.

This capacity to subvert conventions, imposed values, and official versions makes him one of the most outstanding figures of Brazilian conceptualism. The installation reproduced on our cover is titled Eureka Blindhotland. Originally dated 1970-1975, it was recently represented at the IVAM show. Here, Meireles emphasizes the limitations of vision in gaining access to truth by distributing over the floor a number of apparently identical-looking balls, but with very different weights. 

*Text published in the catalogue Magiciens de la Terre, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris, 1989.

IVONNE PINI