Brazilian artists in Magiciens de la Terre and the challenges of classifications

Abstract

This article examines the classifications underpinning the selection of the Brazilian artists for the self-proclaimed ‘first international exhibition of contemporary art’, Magiciens de la Terre (Paris, 1989). By using the conceptual framework of ‘The West and the Rest’ developed by Stuart Hall and of ‘coloniality of seeing’ by Joaquín Barriendos, I analyze the paradoxes of the classifications that underpinned the selections of the Brazilian artists for the show. In light of the trajectories of artists (Mestre Didi, Ronaldo Rego and Cildo Meireles) and the Brazilian cultural context, I discuss the process of their selection, the meanings of the artworks they displayed and the complex network of agents and discourses that contributed to the construction of the global discourse present in Magiciens. The second part of the article explores the ‘non-Western’ artists’ opinions regarding the exhibition and how they dealt with the neo-colonial gaze underpinning the event. I assess the artists’ reception of the French curatorial gaze, what Magiciens meant to them and how it has reverberated in their careers, including their relationship with the art market. I argue that the selection of these three artists refers to essential developments in Brazilian art in the 1980s. At the same time, it exemplifies the complexities of the exhibition and the myths about global art that persist up until the present day.

Keywords:

• Magiciens de la Terre
• classification
• exhibition history
• Afro-Brazilian art
• conceptualism
• coloniality of seeing

Acknowledgements

The author thankfully acknowledges the valuable feedback received from João Guimarães, Vibe Nielsen, João Rickli, Lennita Ruggi, Oscar Salemink and Jens Serjup during the writing of this paper. She is grateful to Miriam Adelman for the translation and revision of the article, to all Global Europe advisory board, as well as to the anonymous reviewers. Any errors are the responsibility of the author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 All translations from French and from Portuguese made by the author.

2 Ex-votos are usually carved figures sculpted in wood, clay or other materials, made as an offering to express gratitude for blessing or to make a vow.

3 Letter from Jean-Hubert Martin to Mister Kern – Alfred Kren Gallery. 23 August 1985. Pompidou Archives, Box 89.

4 Interview given to the author on 28.02.2018.

5 The transcription of the interview is in the archives of the exhibition.

6 Five artists featured in Information were also in Magiciens: Cildo Meireles, Robert Long, John Baldessari, Daniel Buren and Hans Haacke.

7 The installation Mission/Missions: How to Build Cathedrals was conceived and displayed in 1986–1987, after curator Frederico Morais’ invitation to the exhibition Missions 300 years – The artist’s vision.

8 Born in Chile in 1956, he was awarded with a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1985; he presented at the Venice Biennale in 1986, and in Kassel in 1987, which gave him visibility and inspired the invitation.

9 The documentation of the exhibitions shows that the ‘labeling’ of Jaar and Meireles (and many others) as either Westerns or non-Westerns was a complex matter for the curators. In the end, the inclusion in the categories relied on geography, as seen in the catalog of the exhibition.

10 Letter from Ronaldo Rego to Aline Luque (21.7.1988). Pompidou Archives, box 1995026/160.

11 The sculpture covered by the veil in Figure 2.

12 In terms of participation in the secondary international art market in the last decade, Artnet Price database shows 188 entries of works for sale by Cildo Meireles, with prices ranging up to USD 518,000; Mestre Didi with one work sold for USD 13,500 and Rego has no work registered on the platform. Data collected on 5 June 2021.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Sapere Aude grant DFF – 4180–00073 of the Danish Council for Independent Research for the project ‘Global Europe: Constituting Europe from the outside in through artefacts’.

Notes on contributors

Amélia Siegel Corrêa

Amélia Siegel Corrêa is a visiting researcher at the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen and part of the project Global Europe: Constituting Europe from the outside in through artefacts. She has a PhD in Sociology (University of São Paulo) with a concentration area in Art and Culture. She previously held research and teaching positions at the Department of Sociology of the Federal University of Paraná and Positivo University (Curitiba, Brazil). She has authored research publications on Brazilian art history, contemporary art museums in Brazil, and woman photographers, among other related themes. Between 2011 and 2012 she was Director of the Art Atelier and Research Department at the Alfredo Andersen’s Museum in Brazil. She is a lecturer in Art History in Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná and works as a fine art specialist.