ANNA BELLA GEIGER “Maps under the Sky of Rio de Janeiro” Zacheta – National Gallery of Art. Polonia
08.12.2018 > 24.02.2019
ANNA BELLA GEIGER
MAPS UNDER THE SKY OF RIO DE JANEIRO
Zachęta – National Gallery of Artpl.
Małachowskiego 3, 00-916 Warsaw
Curator: Marek Bartelik
Collaboration on the part of Zachęta: Magdalena Komornicka
09.12.2018_ CURATORIAL WALK-THROUGH ACCOMPANYING THE EXHIBITION OF ANNA BELLA GEIGER (IN POLISH)
Maps under the sky of Rio de Janeiro is a presentation of the artistic output of Anna Bella Geiger (b. 1933), a pioneer of Brazilian art. In the historical context of modern art in Brazil, Geiger, alongside Hélio Oticica, Lygia Clark, and Lygia Pape, is one of Rio de Janeiro’s top artists who have re-established the connection between the expressionist tradition with neo-concretism (neoconcretismo). The exhibition reflects the diversity of the artist’s interests: from anthropology to astronomy, from indigenous cultures and alchemy to concrete poetry and Brazilian music, from modern utopias and dystopias to game theory. Geiger’s works from the 1970s – drawings, prints, and video projections – serve as the exhibition’s starting point and form its core. Displayed next to them is a selection of objects from the Drawers (Gavetas), Scrolls (Rollos), and Little Scrolls (Rollinhos) series created in the 1990s. In these works, the artist treated maps as expressive “containers” which are likened, as in the case of the Drawers, to magic ready-mades. In turn, cartography is presented as a “secret” (drawer) and “soluble” phenomenon, rather than an expression of transparent, verified knowledge.