ExhibitionJune 7, 2024
Ernesto Neto - Nosso Barco Tambor Terra. MAAT
Ernesto Neto’s immersive installation is a unique exploration of the cultural crossings between continents, offering a one-of-a-kind experience for art enthusiasts and museum visitors.
Curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Nosso Barco Tambor Terra [Our Boat Drum Earth] is a monumental sculpture by Ernesto Neto, richly imbued with history and symbolism. It serves as a departure point, symbolizing the caravels that set sail for the Americas, and its shape is a testament to months of meticulous work in dialogue with MAAT’s architectural space and the museum’s surroundings.
Using images (sails) and materials (canvas and ropes) generally associated with transatlantic voyages, Ernesto Neto creates a set of unprecedented installations that occupy the venue's different dimensions. To create the work, Neto used mostly chintz, a relatively cheap cotton fabric that is extremely common in Brazil, often printed with brightly colored flowers and plants. Various assistants cut the fabric into strips and crocheted it based on a technique developed over the years in the artist’s studio in Rio de Janeiro: atelienave. The material thus obtained was used to create the cells that compose the sculpture. The work’s overall plan is developed freehand through tests and adjustments supported by specific software that allows for precision but also sufficient malleability to adapt to the specificities of the space at the time of mounting in situ. Rice, beans, and corn create the weights that sustain the whole installation.
In recent years, alongside his activity as an artist, Neto has also devoted himself to percussion. Throughout the exhibition, the sculpture, which incorporates a series of instruments, will be periodically activated by a musical program devised by musicians and groups from various parts of the world, emphasizing the rhythms of African and Asian diasporas. Symbolically, the meeting of rhythms and beats in Nosso Barco Tambor Terra forms a counterpoint to the multitude of languages spoken around the world, alluding to the possibility of finding, in specific moments and contexts, common languages that allow communication that transcends the verbal and facilitates authentic and profound encounters. Consistent with the artist’s desire to create a truly collective and diverse work, various drums from a range of provenances that inhabit the installation can also be played by visitors to the exhibition.
The musical program, curated by Ernesto Neto and Tânia Lopes, will be announced soon.
To learn more about the exhibition and listen to the track recorded on the occasion of the exhibition "Nosso Barco Tambor Terra" by Ernesto Neto at MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, visit: https://www.maat.pt/en/event/ernesto-neto-nosso-barco-tambor-terra
Curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Nosso Barco Tambor Terra [Our Boat Drum Earth] is a monumental sculpture by Ernesto Neto, richly imbued with history and symbolism. It serves as a departure point, symbolizing the caravels that set sail for the Americas, and its shape is a testament to months of meticulous work in dialogue with MAAT’s architectural space and the museum’s surroundings.
Using images (sails) and materials (canvas and ropes) generally associated with transatlantic voyages, Ernesto Neto creates a set of unprecedented installations that occupy the venue's different dimensions. To create the work, Neto used mostly chintz, a relatively cheap cotton fabric that is extremely common in Brazil, often printed with brightly colored flowers and plants. Various assistants cut the fabric into strips and crocheted it based on a technique developed over the years in the artist’s studio in Rio de Janeiro: atelienave. The material thus obtained was used to create the cells that compose the sculpture. The work’s overall plan is developed freehand through tests and adjustments supported by specific software that allows for precision but also sufficient malleability to adapt to the specificities of the space at the time of mounting in situ. Rice, beans, and corn create the weights that sustain the whole installation.
In recent years, alongside his activity as an artist, Neto has also devoted himself to percussion. Throughout the exhibition, the sculpture, which incorporates a series of instruments, will be periodically activated by a musical program devised by musicians and groups from various parts of the world, emphasizing the rhythms of African and Asian diasporas. Symbolically, the meeting of rhythms and beats in Nosso Barco Tambor Terra forms a counterpoint to the multitude of languages spoken around the world, alluding to the possibility of finding, in specific moments and contexts, common languages that allow communication that transcends the verbal and facilitates authentic and profound encounters. Consistent with the artist’s desire to create a truly collective and diverse work, various drums from a range of provenances that inhabit the installation can also be played by visitors to the exhibition.
The musical program, curated by Ernesto Neto and Tânia Lopes, will be announced soon.
To learn more about the exhibition and listen to the track recorded on the occasion of the exhibition "Nosso Barco Tambor Terra" by Ernesto Neto at MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, visit: https://www.maat.pt/en/event/ernesto-neto-nosso-barco-tambor-terra
Gallery
