An anthological exhibition by Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles (Rio de Janeiro, 1948) was inaugurated at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (MUAC) and organized by the Tate Modern, London, in July.
A pioneer of Installation Art, Cildo Meireles is a key proponent of the Brazilian artistic avant-garde. Influenced by the Neoconcretism of the 1950s, Meireles represents himself as the heir to that movement. Vision, sound, smell, and touch are combined to create key elements through which he seeks the public’s reaction and participation. He also reveals the deep social commitment that characterized his generation and that, without becoming activism, allowed him to portray the increasingly extreme political situation arising from the military-regime dictatorship in Brazil beginning in 1964.
The exhibition does not pretend to be a retrospective of the artist, but it nevertheless offers a magnificent selection of installations, drawings, and objects created between 1967 and 2008. Here, Meireles presents themes that are a constant part of his production, such as the possibilities of geometrical space, the nature of territorial and geographical frontiers, the public’s role, the value of art, the role of history, expansion of capitalism, and circuits of communication and exchange, among others.
The exhibition will remain open until January 10, 2010.
PAULINA CORNEJO