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| Neo-Concretism | |
|---|---|
| Name | Neo-Concretism |
| Caption | Hélio Oiticica, Parangolé, 1964 |
| Years | 1959–1961 (formal movement); ongoing influence |
| Origin | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Notable people | Hélio Oiticica;Lygia_Clark;Lygia_Prado;Waldo_Souza;Lygia_Despontes |
| Country | Brazil |
Neo-Concretism is an avant-garde artistic movement that emerged in late 1950s Rio de Janeiro as a reaction to geometric abstraction and international Concrete art. It sought to reintroduce bodily experience, phenomenology, and poetic subjectivity into works associated with Constructivism, De Stijl, and Bauhaus legacies. Neo-Concretism influenced visual arts, performance, architecture, and curatorial practice across Latin America and Europe.
Neo-Concretism arose amid debates in Rio de Janeiro in 1959–1961 responding to exhibitions, manifestos, and institutional debates involving figures linked to Grupo Ruptura, Grupo Frente, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Arte Contemporânea (IAC), and São Paulo Bienal circuits. The movement positioned itself relative to precedents like Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, Lygia Clark's contemporaries, and exhibitions featuring Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Josef Albers. Political transformations in Brazil under leaders such as Juscelino Kubitschek and later João Goulart provided a backdrop that intersected with debates involving artists associated with Tropicalia, Concrete Poetry collectives, and critics from Jornal do Brasil and O Globo.
Prominent protagonists included Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Ferreira Gullar (as a theorist), and collaborators from groups such as Grupo Frente and other Rio-based collectives. Other notable practitioners who intersected with Neo-Concretist concerns were artists and intellectuals linked to institutions like Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) Rio de Janeiro, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), curators from Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and peers who exhibited alongside figures such as Lucio Fontana, Joaquín Torres-García, Max Bill, Gego, Oswaldo Goeldi, Cildo Meireles, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Klein, Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Allan Kaprow, and younger generations including Lygia Pape, Arthur Bispo do Rosário, Waldo-Souza, Tunga, Carmelinda Pereira.
Neo-Concretist theory, articulated in manifestos and essays by figures tied to the movement and critics such as Ferreira Gullar, argued against purely rationalist doctrines inherited from Concrete art and Constructivist orthodoxy associated with Max Bill and Cercle et Carré. It drew on phenomenology as developed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty and echoed concerns of Martin Heidegger, while dialoguing with poetic strategies of Paul Éluard, Octavio Paz, Haroldo de Campos, and theatrical experiments of Jerzy Grotowski. The movement emphasized lived perception, participatory encounter, and the "infra-structure" of sensorial relation, citing practices linked to Performance art pioneers and avant-garde networks spanning Paris, New York City, London, and Buenos Aires.
Canonical works include Hélio Oiticica's Parangolés, Bólides, and Penetrables, and Lygia Clark's Bichos and participatory objects. Exhibitions that disseminated Neo-Concretist ideas appeared at institutions such as Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) Rio de Janeiro, Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC USP), Bienal de São Paulo, Documenta editions, and retrospective shows staged later at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Centro Georges Pompidou, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, and curated projects by figures associated with Ralph Rugoff, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ruy Leal, Giancarlo Politi, and others. International exchanges included exhibitions where Neo-Concretist works were shown alongside pieces by Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Marina Abramović, Alfredo Jaar, Bruce Nauman, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Eva Hesse, and Brâncuși.
Neo-Concretist practice employed painted reliefs, soft sculptures, interactive assemblages, and immersive installations using materials such as canvas, wood, aluminum, fabric, paper, found objects, and light. Artists experimented with painting-objects reminiscent of Constructivism and kinetic strategies related to Alexander Calder, Naum Gabo, Victor Vasarely, and Lygia Pape's relief work. Techniques incorporated collaboration with craftsmen, industrial production methods used by firms linked to Indústria Gráfica networks, and performance contexts influenced by theatrical innovators such as Jerzy Grotowski and musicians like John Cage and Milton Nascimento in cross-disciplinary projects.
Critical reception ranged from praise in journals like Estética, Jornal do Brasil, and Folha de S.Paulo to skepticism from proponents of Concrete art and critics aligned with modernist orthodoxy in São Paulo. Neo-Concretism's participatory ethos resonated with movements including Happenings, Fluxus, Tropicalia, Concrete Poetry, and later Relational Aesthetics associated with curators like Nicolas Bourriaud. Scholars have linked its legacy to exhibitions and scholarship at Getty Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Getty Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, and university programs at Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Goldsmiths, Columbia University, University of Oxford, and Harvard University.
Neo-Concretism continues to inform contemporary art, pedagogy, and curatorial practice, influencing artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Olafur Eliasson, Tino Sehgal, Marina Abramović, Hélio Oiticica (legacy), and institutions staging participatory projects in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, New York City, Berlin, and Tokyo. Academic research appears in journals from Universidade de São Paulo, New York University, and University College London; biennials, triennials, and public collections maintain Neo-Concretist holdings, ensuring ongoing debates linking the movement to contemporary concerns in installation, performance, and social practice.
Category:Brazilian art movements