MUSEU LABIRINTO / MUSUEM OF UNLIMITED GROWTH AN EXHIBITION PROPOSAL BY PABLO LEON DE LA BARRA AND JULIETA GONZALEZ AT ART RIO, RIO DE JANEIRO

Museu Labirinto / Museum of Unlimited Growth, a proposal by Pablo Leon de la Barra and Julieta Gonzalez for ArtRio,
exterior view of the labyrinth

*Museum's Sculpture Garden

view of the Museum's sculpture garden with Ricardo Basbaum's sculpture



Ricardo Basbaum, Conj., 2011
usable sculpture and audio
Painted iron, fabric, foam, earphones, audioplayer, recording
438 x 246 x 240 cm and Audio 43’15” [loop]
courtesy Luciana Brito, São Paulo

"Each of the pieces of Conj. is a sort of display of several elements I have been using in my projects in recent years: the seat, the door, the obstacle. So it is a place where the viewer can do some 'exercises' – to sit, to cross, to jump... There is also an audio file, and the text is built around the several actions that can be performed at the piece. The Conj. can be located at the outside area, providing another place for the visitors use."

*Museum of Photocopies



Oiticica's writings in 'Aspiro Ao Grande Labirinto'


Mario Pedrosa's departments and proposal for a museum of everything (and of copies and replicas) in Brasilia



James Clifford's Art Culture System, A Machine for Marking Authenticity Diagram

*Institutional Critique section of the Museum


Alessandro Balteo Yazbek
museum and cultural institutions logos in Venezuela before Chaves (pink wall) and after (white wall)
from the series Modern Entanglements (2006/2012 version)
courtesy Henrique Faría Fine Art, New York
"Graphic design in Venezuela has been marked by both European influences and the assimilation of autochthonous elements. With the creation and evolution of cultural institutions museums, universities, foundations, research institutes in the second half of the 20th century, emblems and logotypes were created to convey and define their identities and specific functions ( ... ) In 2006 the institutional crisis spawned by authoritarianism gave way to the substitution of a single umbrella image for the 35 institutional emblems and logotypes. The image imposed by the Minister of Culture, and purportedly attributed to the Panare ethnic group, does away with decades of work by generations of graphic designers. In 2008, in collaboration with the designers Aixa Diaz and Alvaro Sotillo, I compiled some of the obliterated institutional emblems and identified their authors and dates. Their forms are extremely sophisticated and evidence different strategies of hybridization between canonical modernist forms and autochthonous, pre-Hispanic influences."
The white wall shows the red emblem called "The dog and the frog", taken from the Panare (native American) Venezuelan ethnic craftsmanship by the cultural minister to substitute all pre-revolution institutional logos & emblems. Next to it another old emblem (BMW) that seems to be appealing to the consumerist 'revolutionary' elites.

*Le Corbusier section of the Museum




José Dávila, The Testament and The Foundation (Le Corbusier), 2012
Ink on paper, 160 x 115 cm
Courtesy Travesia 4, Madrid



Matheus Rocha Pitta, Janela no Fundão / Equação, 2001
Photographs, 60 x 90 cm each
Courtesy Mendes Wood, São Paulo



Felipe Ehrenberg, from the series Binomios Ponderando a Le Corbusier, 2012
Binomio 1: Buenos Aires/Bogotá, Binomio 2: Ciudad de México-periferia/ Modulor
Collage, digital prints, acrylic, colour pencil on fabriano paper, 75 x 75 cm
courtesy Galeria Baró, São Paulo


Felipe Ehrenberg next to his work

*Neo Concrete / Abstract section of the Museum

entrance to the labyrinth


Ryan Brown, Understand Form, Appreciate Contrast,  2012
Acrylic, watercolor, ink, on paper over metal, 110 x 160 x 7.5 cm
Courtesy, Y Gallery, New York




Ryan Brown,
(left) Triumph till Tomorrow, Fountain of Loyalty, and Desire, Concieve, Create,
(right) The Masters, 2012, diptych
Acrylic, watercolor, ink, on paper over metal
55 x 75 x 4.4 cm each, 2012
courtesy, Y Gallery, New York



José Dávila, Untitled (Oiticica), 2012
Cut out digital print
courtesy Travesia 4, Madrid

Oiticica disappeared...


photocopies of Oiticica's Projeto Cães de Caça (Hunting Dogs Project), 1961

Helio Oiticica, Projeto Cães de Caça (Hunting Dogs Project), 1961

*Biomorphic/Organic section of the Museum

Ryan Brown, Untitled, 2012
Motor oil, watercolor on paper, 87.5 x 100 cm
courtesy Y Gallery, New York



Tatiana Grinberg, About the distance between hands and eyes, 2012
Courtesy Mercedes Viegas

*Museo Favela

entrance to Jarbas Lopes labyrinthic penetrable


Jarbas Lopes, De Graça (For Free), installation, 2001
“Amazing grace, of all that is within the reach of our hands to transform and continue the flow that generates encounters. The material the work is made from (banners that advertise funk parties) carry the history of the festive events of the periphery, bringing this energy to the exhibition space. Colours, words and shapes creating a portable and mobile environment, ready to be mounted in any place that is ready to receive.“
courtesy A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro



view of the interior of Jarbas Lopes labyrinth


photocopies of Helio Oiticica's Subterrania text, 1969

*Decimononic corridor of the Museum






Santiago Villanueva, Untitled, 2012
vinyl letters and etchings
courtesy Daniel Abate , Buenos Aires
"My proposal is to do a frieze in both sides of the upper part of the wall with names of artists of Argentina and Brasil which were recognised by their local critics and by their market in the 1930s and which now, most of them are forgotten under the carpet of history. A list of names, in the style of old friezes in salon's which served to put in context and reassure of the quality of the work shown, but which today don't mean anything to the public who ses the work. The four etchings refer to titles of books written by the argentinean art critic Romualdo Brughetti: Geografía plástica argentina, Descontento creador, Pintura argentina joven y De la joven pintura rioplatense."
See more of Santiago Villanueva's work here http://www.villanuevasantiago.com.ar/


entrance to the museum's gardens: Namoita by Opavivara (more bellow)

*Ethnographic wing of the Museum


Paulo Nazareth, from the series Objects To Remind you to Remain Silent, 2009
photography
Courtesy Mendes Wood, São Paulo




Anna Bella Geiger, Brasil Nativo, Brasil Alienígena, 1976-1977
18 postcards, 10 x 15 cm  (each)
Courtesy Henrique Faría Fine Art



Anna Bella Geiger, O Pão Nosso de Cada Dia, 1978
6 postcards and printed paper bag
10 x 15 cm cada cartão (each)
courtesy of the artist and Henrique Faría Fine Art , New York


Eduardo Costa, Abobora com garrafa (Pumpkin and bottle), 1996-97
solid acrylic paint
courtesy Galeria DC Arte, Buenos Aires





Eduardo Costa, Mamba verde trocando a sua pele (Venenous Cobra changing its skin), 2012
solid acrylic paint on wire
courtesy Galeria DC Arte, Buenos Aires

*Humanistic wing of the Museum


Eduardo Costa, Paisagem psicologica: 1: chegando ao Rio (Psicological Landscape 1: Rio), 2012
a pre internet memory of friends connections in Rio de Janeiro
digital print on canvas
courtesy Galeria DC Arte, Buenos Aires





photocopy of letter by Helio Oiticica and Eduardo Costa to Leandro Katz, September 9, 1978


David Medalla and Adam Nankervis
T, Tenochtitlan, Zocalo, Mexico City, 2000
O, Oahu, Wakiki, Havaí, 1996
P, Piet Mondrian’s Grave, Cypress Hill Cemetery , Brooklyn, New York , 1994
Digital prints, 73 x 56 cm
courtesy Galeria Baró, São Paulo


Felipe Ehrenberg, Living in my Art Room, 1973
Ink, rubber stamp amd letraset poster
courtesy Galeria Baró, São Paulo

*The Centre of the Labyrinth

Paulo Bruscky, Envelope Show, 1975
courtesy Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo


photocopies of Antonio Manuel, O corpo é a obra (The Body Is the Work), 1970

Antonio Manuel, O corpo é a obra (The Body Is the Work), 1970

Weeks earlier Antonio Manuel had submitted his own body as a work of art to the Salon, titling it O corpo é a obra (The Body Is the Work) and listing the official measurements as his own height and weight. It was unanimously rejected by the Salon’s jury.13 At the Salon’s opening, which he attended solely as a guest, Antonio Manuel removed his clothing and climbed the staircase of the museum. After being forced to flee the museum, he sought shelter with the renowned art critic Mário Pedrosa, who supported and praised him, coining the expression “Experimental Exercise of Freedom” in reference to Antonio Manuel’s unexpected and irreverent action. According to Pedrosa in a recorded interview, “[Antonio Manuel’s] attitude presented the work of art itself—the act—as irresistible and at the same

time irrepressible. Nobody can impose exclusion. There are no rules that can forbid the work of art to be made, the act to exist.” 

from Antonio Manuel 'I want to Act not Represent', catalogue of the exhibition at Americas Society New York, curated by Claudia Calirman and Gabriela Rangel, 2011, pages 11-12

Newspaper cover of the 8 of July of 1978, when the MAM, Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro went on fire, with about 100 works lost, including Brasilian masters, two Picassos, two Miros, and works by Torres Garcia



The proposals of Mario Pedrosa for the transformation of MAM into 5 museums after the fire




Carla Zaccagnini, All the Fires, 2012
Newspaper and paper (a fire destroys Helio Oiticia's works, archive and storage, the same day buses are burnt in riots in the street)
courtesy Vermelho, São Paulo


fire extinguisher in the corner, not art





Paulo Bruscky, Arte Classificada, 2008
classified advert in newspapers (Arte.Clima and Paisagem.Sonora)
courtesy Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo


the centre of the labyrinth with Paulo Bruscky's work






Paulo Bruscky, O que é arte? Para que serve? (What's art? What's its function?), 1978-2010
Photograph, 70 x 50 cm
Courtesy Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo



David Medalla and Adam Nankervis, Spiral Museum, project to send the Guggenheim flying like a flying saucer to outer space





David Medalla and Adam Nankervis
The Great White Way, 2010
text and collage, 32x90 cm
courtesy Galeria Baró, São Paulo

*The Museum's Povera Library



Jorge González, Bookshelf (Casuarina equisetifolia), 2012
Common Ironwood and selected books, 320 x 121 x 45 cm
courtesy Roberto Paradise, San Juan, Puerto Rico

*The Museum's Garden (Namoita by Opavivara)


the entrance to Namoita (which in portuguese means in the bush), by Opa Vivara from inside the labyrinth




the handsome young men of Opavivara installing Namoita








interior life at Namoita

"Namoita (the bush) is an anti- stage and an anti-bunker. I t is supposed to be another structure, an alternative space for socializing and for collective integration. Opposed to the idea of stage and audience, Namoita disrupts the segmentary structures that distinguish between author, artist, actor, audience. There is no representation, there is action and integration. As a bunker, Namoita is meant to be a shelter, but, contrariwise, it creates an organic, movable, permeable, aggregating, multiplying, camouflaged shelter. Namoita creates an intermediary and temporary space between public and private, intimacy and collectivity; in this sense, it can be compared to special tribal structures, such as an Indian hut."

See more of Opavivara's work here: http://opavivara.com.br/


Pablo Leon de la Barra with members of Opavivara


Daniel Toledo from Opavivara coming out of Namoita


pretty in pink, the Museum's Exhibition Manager Andres Pereira


Felipe Ehrenberg and David Medalla having a public conversation at Museu Labirinto



the gallerists seating in some tables stolen from the restaurant. the sign from the neighbours from Gagosina Gallery behind them


new designers table arrived...


and Gagosian's Sculpture Garden, with historical sculptures (from Moore to Calder, from Kuzama to Koons) Gagosian wants to sell to the Brasilian noveau rich!

*Le Corbusier Historical References

The Modern meets the Tropical: the beginning of Tropical Modernite, Le Corbusier in his first trip to Rio de Janeiro, 1929


Le Corbusier meets Josephine Baker on board the ocean liner Lutétia from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro in 1929

On his second trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1936, Le Corbusier flew on the Zepelin

The Bartolomeu de Gusmão Zeppelin Airport located in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz in the western outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, inaugurated on December 26, 1936 by President Getúlio Vargas.  Before this day the rigid airships were docked at Campo dos Afonsos, where probably Le Corbusier landed. Between 1931 and 1937, Deutsche Lufthansa had regular flights between Germany and Brazil, operated by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin using its rigid airships Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg. As a consequence to the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937 at Lakehurst Air Naval Station in New Jersey, USA, the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin requested to the Brazilian Government on June 17, 1937 the suspension of services. The hangar is the only original surviving example of structures built to accommodate this kind of airships in the world.

Le Corbusier's plan for the University of Rio de Janeiro, including the Museum of Unlimited Growth, there called Museum of Comunication, from his lecture in Rio de Janeiro in 1936

"I am making a sketch here - a large exhibition space, and I attach great importance to the word exhibition, for I believe there are lots of young people who would like to learn something and teach it or show it to others, so spaces must be made available where they can put on exhibitions on specific subjects."

"I immediately forsee the creation, in every urban area of sufficient size, of a Museum of Knowledge, which has an ambitious title, but a modest appearance. It can start with a hall fourteen meters long on each side and e developed using the standard methods, while always offering the maximum means for exhibition' it is a museum with unlimited growth, able to conduct research on itself, on what influences are acting on it, on the things that can be created, so that it becomes a repository of information with respect to the things that serve to give birth to the folklore of the machinist civilization."

Le Corbusier, from Lecture V: The New Age and the Architect's Vocation Program for an Architecture Faculty', lecture give in Rio de Janeiro on 12 August 1936, one of the six that Le Corbusier delivered to a large audience, published in the catalogue of the exhibition Derivas, curated by Lisette Lagnado at Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2010, pages 102-109

Le Corbusier's sketch for the Museum of Unlimited Growth

Le Corbusier, Museum for Unlimited Growth (Philippeville, North Africa: 1939)

In 1929 Le Corbusier designed the Muesuem of Unlimited Growth (Musée à croissance illimitée) for the Mundaneum (a project aimed in gathering and classifying all the worlds knowledge) in Geneva. It was a square spiral that would eventually develop and grow according to the needs of the project. It was never realized in the West. Afterwards he attempted building variations of it wherever he could, Rio de Janeiro (1936), Philippeville, Algeria (1939), etc. Three versions of it were built: Sanskar Kendra in Ahmedabbad, India (1957), the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chadigarh, India (1965) and the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Japan (1959).
read more about Le Corbusier and the Labyrinth here and images of the Mundaneum from the Le Corbusier foundation here.

Pablo Leon de la Barra's preliminary sketch for the Museu Labirinto, April 2012

Museu Labirinto, Museum of Unlimited Growth

Art Rio, September 2012
Curated by Pablo Leon de la Barra and Julieta Gonzalez
The Museu Labiritno/Museum of Unlimited Growth is based on a 1936 conference given by Le Corbusier on his second trip to Rio de Janeiro where he proposed to build the museum as part of his plan for the university. It never got built. The reconstruction/adaptation of this museum is used to question the situation of the Museums in Latin America. The works of the invited artists deal with institutional critique, ideas of real and utopian museums, or act as artworks within the various departments of this temporary museum or as infrastructure and services to it.

The labyrinth is built with tapumes, the pink wood used in Rio de Janeiro on construction sites. (The suggestion to use tapumes is a contribution by artist Dominique Gonzalez Foerster.)

Participating artists:

Ana Bella Geigner

David Medalla

Eduardo Costa

Felipe Ehrenberg

Paulo Brusky

Ricardo Basbaum

Jarbas Lopez
Opavivara

Tatiana Grimberg

Opa Vivara

Jose Davila
Jorge González

Ryan Brown 

Paulo Nazareth

Mattheus Rocha Pitta

Santiago Villanueva

Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck

Carla Zaccagnini

with thanks to ArtRio, Brenda Valansi Osorio, Marina Romiszowska, Andres Pereira, participating artists and galleries
http://www.artrio.art.br/