Sunday 3 March 2013

Hélio Oiticica expostion at the CCB in Lisbon

I haven't heard much about him before blindly running into his exposition in the Berardo Foundation back in January in Lisbon.
Many of his reflections were written in Portuguese and in English explaining the conceptual work behind his oeuvre. Luckily his work speaks for itself and should you be interested in finding out more, the thoughts splattered against the wall are abundant.     

The idea of Interactive-Eco-Art should have gotten your full attention by the time you're advised to take off your shoes and walk through the sandy-tent-village and its parrot cage. Tiny huts showing rock videos of the seventies are there to remind you that the museum is everywhere and that you could embrace the world and its sensations as a art form. The clothes that are on display are to be worn and not merely seen as you would expect in a exposition. The artist encourages you to try something out to check whether the unfunctional piece of garment is yours to wear and to play with.  He manages to convey  his message "The world is a/the museum/ O museu é o mundo" as vividly as you allow it to be. As you throw yourself into the blue cushioned box and try out a handstand only to enjoy the sweetness of safe failure you'll look at the words on the ceiling realizing that he has made you not only a fan of his work, but of the potential that lures in many spaces. Paraphrasing Schoppenhauer, the artist lends the spectator his eyes. And taking that note further, Oticica lends his whole sensational apparatus hoping that we discover ours again.

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