To be or not to be: identity, history and alternative social outcomes in Brazilian Contemporary Art

Abstract

The following proposal aims at understanding the scope and outcome of politically engaged art practices when basic political freedom and artistic autonomy are not at stake; when artistic creativeness and actions happen without state censorship or cultural top-down enforcement but the economic framework, capitalism, upholds and controls social mobility, work relations, and commodity exchange. We’ll explore the “what if” puzzle to think about these matters and to problematize a History beyond the “official ‘’ History. Methodologically speaking, we will focus oni artistc situations developed during the Brazilian Military Dictatorship (1964-1985), specifically the situational actions of artists such as Cildo Meireles (1948), Anna Maria Maiolino (1942), and Artur Barrio (1945). Let’s ask in a broader context if they would have taken place and if they would have been as resilient, and effective in exposing state violence if that violence had taken place in a context of liberal democracy. These are hypotheses that challenge the way we think and problematize decisive moments of Brazilian political and art history and make us ask “what if” things were easy-going for artists committed to advanced creative practices (with successful and profitable art exhibitions and a promising international career) but weren’t for the most of the population?