1. Art
46 www.timeout.com.br/sao-paulo/en February 2012
Major
institutions
Caixa Cultural Owned by the Caixa
Econômica Federal bank, this gallery
contains 2,000 artworks including
paintings, sculptures and carvings
by generations of Brazilian artists.
Praça da Sé 111, Centro (3321 4400/
caixacultural.com.br) Open 9am-9pm
Tue-Sun.
Instituto Tomie Ohtake Housed
in an imposing dark glass skyscraper
intertwined with steel waves of purple
and maroon, and named after the
Japanese-Brazilian artist, the Instituto
dominates the Pinheiros skyline. It was
designed by her son, Ruy Ohtake, one
of Brazil’s most equally loved and hated
architects, and isn’t afraid to shock
with challenging exhibitions. Avenida
Brigadeiro Faria Lima 201, Pinheiros
(2245 1900/institutotomieohtake.org.br).
Open 11am-8pm Tue-Sun.
Itaú Cultural This bank-owned
modern cultural centre is smack on the
Avenida Paulista, and features a mix
of edgy art, traditional, more didactic
exhibitions, and major practitioners
on Brazil’s national scene. It also has a
very useful library, complete with an
audiovisual collection. Avenida Paulista
149, Bela Vista (2168 1700/itaucultural.
org.br). Open 9am-8pm Tue-Fri; 11am-
8pm Sat, Sun.
Museu da Imagem e do Som
(MIS) A makeover in 2008 revitalised
this stark, concrete building, which is
home to a collection of 30,000 items in
the shape of photos, films and records.
It also stages innovative temporary
exhibitions and retrospectives, such
as winter 2010’s lively international
multimedia spectacle ‘ROJO®NOVA –
Cultura Contemporânea’, by Spanish
art magazine Rojo. Avenida Europa
158, Jardim Europa (2117 4777/mis-sp.
org.br). Open noon-10pm Tue-Sat;
11am-9pm Sun. Admission R$4; R$2
reductions; seniors free. Free to all Sun.
No credit cards.
Museu de Arte Contemporânea
(MAC) The MAC contains over 10,000
works by the likes of Picasso, Matisse,
Modigliani, Tarsila do Amaral, Portinari
and Di Cavalcanti on its two sites. The
largest is on the University of São Paulo
campus in Cidade Universitária, while
its smaller, more easily reached space
in beautiful Ibirapuera Park showcases
key Brazilian artists and movements.
Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, 3rd floor,
Rua Pedro Álvares Cabral, Parque
Ibirapuera (5573 9932/mac.usp.br).
Open 10am-6pm Tue-Sun. Other
location Cidade Universitária, Rua da
Praça do Relógio 160 (3091 3039/mac.
usp.br). Open 10am-4pm Sat, Sun,
public holidays.
Museu de Arte de São Paulo
(MASP) São Paulo’s flagship museum
is an imposing red concrete-and-glass
box suspended on four concrete columns,
which dominates Avenida Paulista.
Inside, it’s the Greatest Hits of World
Art, Vols. 1-10. There’s a Picasso, a
Gainsborough, a Hieronymus Bosch
and a Goya, as well as big Brazilian
names like Cândido Portinari and Anita
Malfatti. In short, it’s the best collection
of European and Brazilian art in South
America – even if only around 500 of
the museum’s 7,000 works are on show
at any given time. Avenida Paulista
1578 (3251 5644/masp.art.br). Metrô
2, Trianon-MASP. Open 11am-6pm
Tue-Sun (ticket office closes 5pm);
11am-8pm Thu (ticket office closes 7pm).
Admission R$15; R$7 reductions. Free
to all Tue.
Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM)
Founded in 1948 and based on New
York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
the MAM contains over 5,000 works by
acclaimed Brazilian artists of the likes
of Regina Silveira, Cildo Meireles and
Leonilson. Its mission is to showcase
contemporary and modern Brazilian
art, and it also has a 6,000-square-metre
sculpture garden. Rua Pedro Álvares
Cabral, Parque Ibirapuera (5085 1300/
mam.org.br). Open 10am-6pm Tue-Sun.
Admission R$5.50; free reductions.
Free to all Sun.
Museu Lasar Segall A jewel in
São Paulo’s roster of museums, the
Museu Lasar Segall is the former home
of Lithuanian-born Modernist artist
Lasar Segall, who moved to Brazil in
1923. Established in 1967, ten years
after Segall’s death, the multi-use space
encompasses a printing workshop,
small cinema, café and temporary
exhibition spaces as well as a semi-
permanent collection of Segall’s
paintings, sculpture and furniture,
created throughout his career. Rua
Berta 111, Vila Mariana (5574 7322/
museusegall.org.br). Metrô 1, Vila
Mariana. Open 11am-7pm Mon;
11am-7pm Wed-Sun .
Pinacoteca do Estado São
Paulo’s oldest, most traditional major
institution was designed in 1897 by
Ramos de Azevedo, and originally
housed São Paulo’s first art school.
In 1997, the architect Paulo Mendes
da Rocha renovated the eclectic
neoclassical building, stripping it of
its stucco and unveiling a stunning
columned palace in exposed brick.
Many of the most important Brazilian
modernists are on display inside,
Cândido Portinari, Anita Malfatti and
Di Cavalcanti included. Praça da Luz,
Luz (3324 1000/pinacoteca.org.br)
Metrô 1, Luz. Open 10am-5.30pm
Tue-Sun. Admission R$6; students
R$3. Free to all Sat. No credit cards.
Other location Estação Pinacoteca,
Largo General Osório 66, Centro (3335
4990). Open 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sun.
Admission Included in Pinacoteca
admission price.
Art listings
How to use the listings
This section rounds up a rotating
selection of the city’s best galleries,
with major institutions (art museums
and publicly and privately owned
collections) first, then commercial
galleries, the latter ordered by area.
Listings are chosen at the editors’
discretion, and Time Out São Paulo
does not accept compensation of any
kind in exchange for listing events or
venues. Times and other details can
change at short notice, so it’s a good
idea to call ahead and check.
Brígida Baltar – ‘Voar’
CM Gorey looks forward
to two of the month’s
best-looking art events
Take a panoramic view of what
Brazilian contemporary artists are
up to in this major exhibition at
Itaú – a true ‘Convite à Viagem’
or ‘Invitation to Travel’, featuring
artists from all over Brazil.
More than 1,770 projects were
submitted for the show, from
which curator Agnaldo Farias
selected just over a hundred
works. Look out for the surprising
Opening at Nara Roesler this month,
carioca Brígida Baltar’s Voar (‘Fly’)
aims for the sky, exploring aspects
of flight in a mix of multimedia
pieces and playful sculptures.
The centrepiece of the show is
a video in which a conductor leads
an invisible choir through a piece
of music composed for the artwork.
The unseen singers repeat the word
voar, changing the pitch, tone and
volume in an echo of the rising and
falling of flight – but is it a bit of
images created with Post-it notes
by Paraíba’s Íris Helena, and Rio
Grande do Sul’s Nara Amélia,
whose drawings appear to have
been taken from a naive and
hauntingly odd scrapbook. Other
pieces – like the frantic, nightmare
painting of Thiago Martins de
Melo’s A Herança de Inoco ou a
Cama de Ulisses comprise the more
frightening, but no less worthwhile,
aspects of the cultural trip.
Convite à Viagem is at Itaú
Cultural from 9 February until 22
April. See listings.
a stretch?
Other works are more concrete
in their interpretation of the
theme. The playful Escultura
Alada (‘Winged Sculpture’) adds a
cock’s comb and comical beak to a
classical figurine, splashing bright
colours onto the pale statuette,
while a set of videos continues
the soaring motif, with images of
clouds and an interplay of light
and dark. But there’s a twist: the
films are projected inside balsa-
wood miniatures – dollhouse-sized
dioramas – to rows of tiny seats.
Beyond the theme of flight,
it’s hard to ignore Baltar’s David
Lynch-like obsession with theatres.
Much like the director’s trope of
including a moment in his films in
which a chanteuse takes to a velvet-
curtained stage, in Baltar’s use of
theatres it’s as if she is admitting
that her works demonstrate a
certain level of theatricality. To that
end, she’s right to ask, ‘What’s more
exciting than taking off in flight?’
Voar is at Galeria Nara Roesler, from
7 February until 7 March. See listings.
Convite à Viagem – Rumos
Artes Visuais 2011/2013
Previews
wiltonmontenegro/pressimagerafaelpagatini
Hazy shades Rafael Pagatini’s bleary and restless ‘Neblina’