O Fio da Trama/The Thread Unraveled:
Contemporary Brazilian Art

El Museo del Barrio Celebrates Brazilian Art & Culture

Press Preview: Friday, October 12, 2001, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 13, 2001, 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
On view: October 13, 2001 through February 3, 2002

NEW YORK, N.Y. - El Museo del Barrio is pleased to present O Fio da Trama/The Thread Unraveled: Contemporary Brazilian Art, an exciting exhibition of sixty-three works in diverse media, created from the 1990s through early 2000, by twenty-one contemporary Brazilian artists. The exhibition, which opens on October 12th and remains on view through February 3rd, 2002, is part of a celebration of Brazilian art and culture that includes exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. O Fio da Trama/The Thread Unraveled has been organized by El Museo del Barrio in collaboration with BrazilConnects, an independent nonprofit organization that celebrates, preserves and supports Brazil's most treasured cultural and ecological assets.

Organized by El Museo del Barrio's Chief Curator, Fatima Bercht, O Fio da Trama/The Thread Unraveled is comprised of photography, video and sculpture, as well as multimedia installations that range in scale from the intimate to the monumental. Many of the participating artists employ cloth and other fabrics as their media, often transforming them through sewing or embroidery. Although deeply grounded in the history of visual art of post-1960s Brazil, the works in the exhibition resonate with international currents. Among these are the creation of autobiographical and temporal narratives; the examination of concepts of physical and emotional vulnerability; the representation of visual archetypes, mythologies and collective memories; and the construction of metaphors for social structures in present-day Brazil. Viewers are likely to come away from the exhibition fascinated by the range of meanings conveyed in the surprising combinations of disparate materials.

For example, in Swing (1999), Nazareth Pacheco fashions an instrument of play from glittering, seductive materials. However, up close, one discovers the acrylic seat is embedded with needles. Miguel Rio Branco's photographs of boxers contrast strength and athleticism with human vulnerability. In Ray Gun (1993), a wounded fighter's arm is protectively wrapped by another boxer.

In Colony (1989), Ernesto Neto suggests fragility but also sensuality and sexuality. Woman's stockings filled with lead pellets and styrofoam beads create malleable sculptures- "particles"- that stretch along the floor, sustaining a contrast between tension and relaxation. Marepe's white cotton Bundles (1995), are also evocative shapes, appropriated from Brazilian reality. In rural areas, these packages are wrappings that hold laundry or prepared food. The artist uses these shapes, conferred with a state of purity, and offers them for reflection.

Vera Martins' Untitled (2000) is a group of anthropomorphic sculptures made from the unraveled threads of canvas. These Penelope-like works not only reveal the structure of cloth itself, they comment on the passage of time and transformation. Likewise, Vik Muniz' photographs of flexible wire crafted into simple objects, such as Faucet (1993-1997) have a linear, embroidery-like quality. These evoke fragility and ambiguity with a graphic precariousness.

In keeping with the theme and media of the exhibition, curator Bercht's role can best be characterized as that of a weaver. Bercht states, "The exhibition is not intended as a statement that offers a national definition of Brazilian art; rather, it is meant to weave together different artistic sensibilities that are notable in themselves and to provide a window onto the complex issues, both formal and substantive, that recur in the work of contemporary Brazilian artists." Multiple connections arise from the relationships Bercht has created among and between the artists and their works. Even the title of this project suggests more than one reading. O Fio da Trama, in Portuguese, refers literally to the thread or filament of woven cloth. But it can also refer to a plotline that holds a story together. The English title, The Thread Unraveled, is not a translation but a counterpoint, suggesting that a fabric, once unraveled, may reveal its true inner nature.

Of the twenty-one artists participating in O Fio da Trama/The Thread Unraveled several are exhibiting their work for the first time outside Brazil, although three- Ernesto Neto, Vik Muniz and Miguel Rio Branco-are established artists, already known to the international art milieu. This group encompasses artists from different regions of Brazil whose work often conveys sensibilities rooted in the country's diverse cultural traditions and disparate social and economic realities. A complete list of participating artists follows.

In conjunction with the exhibition, El Museo del Barrio will publish a full-color, illustrated, 144-page catalogue that includes essays by Fatima Bercht and by Dr. Tadeu Chiarelli, a respected Brazilian curator and art historian. In addition, the catalogue will also include a biography of each artist, and a bibliography.

O Fio da Trama/The Thread Unraveled is organized by Fatima Bercht, Chief Curator of El Museo del Barrio. Ms. Bercht received an M.A. from the Department of Archaeology and Art History, Columbia University, in New York. From 1988 through 1993, she served as Director of the Gallery and Cultural Programs of the Americas Society, also in New York. Ms. Bercht joined El Museo del Barrio in 1995. She has organized numerous exhibitions on modern and contemporary Latin American art and has published extensively on the subject.

While O Fio da Trama/The Thread Unraveled remains on view, El Museo will offer a broad roster of educational activities regarding contemporary Brazilian culture, including music, dance, martial arts (capoeira), film and video. The Education Department will conduct teachers' workshops and guided tours for schools (K through 12) and college students.

The exhibition has been made possible with the generous support of BrasilConnects; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and Materials for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs/New York City Department of Sanitation. Outreach for this exhibition is supported by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the MetLife Foundation.

Museum hours:
Wednesday through Sunday, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Suggested contribution:
Adults: $5
Students/Seniors: $3
Members/Children under 12 accompanied by an adult: Free

Directions:
Subway: #6 to 103rd Street
Bus: M1, M3, M4 to 104th Street

To learn more about El Museo del Barrio, please visit our website at www.elmuseo.org

The mission of El Museo del Barrio is to establish a forum that will preserve and project the cultural heritage of Puerto Ricans and all Latin Americans in the United States.