Curated by Carlos Basualdo
“Tropicália,” the poet Torquato Neto wrote, “is whatever is necessary.” We should get a sense of just how exhilarating “whatever” can be in this exhibition, which presents some 250 works produced during the influential Brazilian cultural movement of the late ’60s. These are shown alongside contemporary responses by Marepe, Karin Schneider, and nine others. Highlights include Hélio Oiticica’s seminal environment Eden, 1969, and television footage from 1968 of Os Mutantes singing in plastic suits. Accompanied by a catalogue containing an anthology of period texts, the show, co-organized by the MCA Chicago and the Bronx Museum, argues that being slippery can also be extremely smart.
Travels to Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, July–Sept.; Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, Oct. 14, 2006–Jan. 28, 2007; and other venues.
