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| Neo-Concrete movement | |
|---|---|
| Name | Neo-Concrete movement |
| Caption | Hélio Oiticica, exemplar work |
| Years | 1959–1961 (formal manifesto period); continued influence thereafter |
| Location | Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo |
| Notable artists | Hélio Oiticica; Lygia Clark; Ferreira Gullar; Lygia Pape; Willys de Castro; Mira Schendel; Alfredo Volpi |
| Movements | Concrete art; Kinetic art; Concrete poetry; Tropicalismo |
Neo-Concrete movement
The Neo-Concrete movement emerged in late 1950s Brazil as a reaction to Concrete art, asserting a phenomenological, experiential turn that emphasized participation and subjectivity. Rooted in debates among artists, critics, and institutions in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the movement influenced exhibitions, pedagogy, and subsequent avant-garde practices across Latin America and beyond. Neo-Concrete ideas intersected with contemporaneous developments in Kinetic art, Op art, Concrete poetry, and international modernism led by figures associated with MOMA, Tate Modern, and the Venice Biennale.
Neo-Concrete origins trace to fissures within the Grupo Ruptura and Brazilian Concrete Manifesto debates, where artists associated with Grupo Frente and critics such as Ferreira Gullar articulated alternatives to strict geometric formalism. The movement crystallized amid Brazil's cultural institutions like the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, and in dialogue with collectors such as Mário Pedrosa and curators from Instituto de Arte Contemporânea. International contacts with figures linked to Max Bill, Theo van Doesburg, Gaston Bachelard, and exhibitions at the São Paulo Art Biennial helped frame Neo-Concrete responses to European Concrete practice and Bauhaus legacies.
Central artists included Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, Willys de Castro, Mira Schendel, Alfredo Volpi, and critics like Ferreira Gullar. Collaborators and contemporaries featured Mário Pedrosa, Geraldo de Barros, Fátima de Moraes, and curators connected to the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and the Instituto de Arte Moderna. Subsequent generations engaging Neo-Concrete legacies include Cildo Meireles, Vik Muniz, Tunga, and international interlocutors such as Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Bruno Munari, Victor Vasarely, Alexander Calder, and Denise Scott Brown.
Neo-Concrete theories foregrounded lived experience, corporeality, and poetic subjectivity, drawing on philosophical currents linked to Gaston Bachelard, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and phenomenologists discussed in salons with critics like Ferreira Gullar and theorists from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Artists positioned works against the perceived dogmatism of Concrete Manifesto adherents and engaged with international debates involving Constructivism, De Stijl, and the legacies of Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, and Max Bill. The movement emphasized relational aesthetics akin to later practices by figures associated with Fluxus, Situationist International, and the curatorial discourses advanced by Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg.
Notable Neo-Concrete works include Hélio Oiticica’s parangolés and spatial installations shown at venues like the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and the São Paulo Art Biennial, Lygia Clark’s participatory object-sculptures exhibited alongside works by Yves Klein and Lucio Fontana, and Lygia Pape’s "Ttéias" and books shown in group exhibitions with Geraldo de Barros and Willys de Castro. Landmark exhibitions that advanced Neo-Concrete visibility included shows at the Galeria São Paulo, presentations at the Bienal de São Paulo, retrospective displays at institutions such as Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), and international venues like the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Catalogues and critical essays by Ferreira Gullar, Mário Pedrosa, and curators from Instituto de Arte Contemporânea accompanied these exhibitions.
Neo-Concrete practitioners experimented with castings, fabrics, cardboard, industrial pigments, mirrored surfaces, and modular elements, integrating methods resonant with Kinetic art and Op art practitioners such as Victor Vasarely and Bruno Munari. Hélio Oiticica’s use of textiles and wearable environments invoked performative strategies akin to happenings associated with Fluxus and artists like Allan Kaprow. Sculptural object-games from Lygia Clark used found materials and molded components related to experimental work by Lucio Fontana and assemblage practices comparable to Alexander Calder and Joseph Beuys.
Neo-Concrete influence extended to Brazilian movements like Tropicalismo and informed pedagogical programs at Universidade de São Paulo and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Its relational and participatory legacy resonated with later international artists including Yayoi Kusama, Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, and conceptual strategies traced to Joseph Kosuth and Sol LeWitt. Museums such as Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, MASP, Tate Modern, and MoMA have incorporated Neo-Concrete works into narratives of twentieth-century art, while scholarly treatments by writers connected to Getty Research Institute and university presses have mapped its transnational trajectories linking to exhibitions at the Venice Biennale and collections of patrons like Peggy Guggenheim.
Critics challenged Neo-Concrete positions for alleged subjectivism and for departing from the rationalist heritage of Concrete art and figures like Max Bill and Piet Mondrian. Debates unfolded in periodicals associated with the São Paulo Art Biennial and among intellectuals such as Mário Pedrosa and Ferreira Gullar, who contested institutional recognition and market absorption. Later reassessments addressed issues of authorship, commercialization, and museum representation debated in forums at Tate Modern, MoMA, and academic symposia hosted by Universidade de São Paulo and Harvard University.
Category:Brazilian art movements