Page 95 - ARTE!Brasileiros #54

qualities of an abundant and exotic Brazil. given an important surname, paying the bills [6] “We are not talking about small ferns in a vertical
When asked how he would define the Cidade makes you have to play with these schemes. That garden, but about huge trees, from 15 to 18
Matarazzo, Allard said: “It is a giant machine is why we often use the argument that we are meters, that dialogue with the height of the
to celebrate Brazilian diversity.” [7] Although, going to “crumble the system from the inside” tower. It is the ascent through nature.” - These
if we submit his conception of diversity under to accept invitations from initiatives that we do are the quotes of Jean Nouvel on the site of
an X-ray, we will see a set of commonplaces not agree with at all. Sometimes because we the enterprise.
that reflect a neoprimitivism often masked as need the money, sometimes because we want
“deconstruction of hegemonic values”. The some prestige and visibility, or simply because [7] https://www.forbes.com.br/principal/2020/02/
global tourist of Cidade Matarazzo wants to it is through them that it will be possible to a-potencia-de-criacao-da-cidade-matarazzo/
see palm trees and exotic species in the heart of accomplish anything. In practice, “crumbling
São Paulo. Do not be alarmed if, on the venture’s from within” has made these structures even [8] On the project’s website, designer Philippe
instagram, you find photos of indigenous people more strengthened and sophisticated with Starck explains his choices: “We use
with the hashtag #tribe, #DiscoverMatarazzo, our politically engaged labels. And it is not extraordinary Brazilian stones as well as beautiful
#Diversity, among others. Allard’s forest is more uncommon to feel ridiculous. Brazilian woods. All rooms at the hotel will be
of a fetishist monoculture [8]. Isabell Lorey (2015) has defined equipped with a mural kit that allows the guest
It turns out that when capital invests in precariousness as a way of regulating our to exhibit or not Brazilian works of art. through
“diversity”, the impression remains that things historical time. More than that: the production a set of wooden paneling panels. There are
are finally moving towards justice, but it is fitting of a precarious regime is the way to govern some showcases with statuettes and others
to be wary. If we want to make a parallel with people in the 21st century. The instability with feather art. It is the realization of what I
the economic discussion, we can recognize produced by precariousness prevents us even associate with the image and the object.”
this phenomenon as an integral part of what from protesting and demanding rights. We fear
we understand by progressive neoliberalism. losing work ties when addressing criticisms, we [9] https://www.revistaapalavrasolta.com/post/
What does it consist of? Basically, a regressive fear making complaints because they may close hito-steyerl-na-tradu%C3%A7%C3%A3o-de-
economic policy with an inclusive mask. It is our doors in the future. The expression “tail julia-de-souza?fbclid=IwAR3sgQmM0cvXwdr
the capital that supports representativeness, stuck” (which in Portuguese means something XCdNMss5ssOlXY915egj6NACIsCxgdQNA
minority agendas and the claim for the rights of like “to have a skeleton in the closet”) comes
social movements, while investing in operations in very handy. Furthermore, precarious work
that increasingly degrade the living conditions isolates and individualizes workers, in addition to tRiBUtE | gUy BREtt [PAgES 66 to 68]
of workers, bypassing regulations and rights. hindering collective organization resources. Not
It is the model that defends diversity, but only because it accentuates competition, but AN EXTRAORDINARY
delivers precariousness. Who advocates also because it radically fragments the stages
“empowerment”, but uses it to devastate the of work, suppresses coexistence and reduces “ORDINARY” LIFE
industry. It dismantles social structures to meetings. For all these reasons, precariousness
suck money from all corners. In other words, is governability, and that is also a lesson in art. About a month after the death of British
emancipation only exists until the second We, cultural workers, are all complicit in this critic and curator Guy Brett, Chilean
page, or perhaps it does not even go beyond equation, to a greater or lesser extent, and I am curator Alexia Tala writes about the
the first paragraph. Nancy Fraser defined this not exempt from this. I wonder, however, if we personality and thinking of one of the
phenomenon very well in her recent book The are really aware of how it integrates our daily most relevant figures for the diffusion of
old is dying and the new cannot be born (2019), work. There will be no life immune to the market Latin American art, especially Brazilian
but what interests me here is to draw attention or redemption, but it is still worth investing in art, in European lands
to the fact that, not coincidentally, contemporary some survival that is not reduced to that.
art is often the varnish of this model. The varnish First of all, we can become increasingly By AlExiA tAlA
that makes dubious operations sound nice and suspicious of speeches and purposes based
cool. As Hito Steyerl says, “Contemporary art on the transcendence of art, experience and in 2007 i Co-CurateD a show at galería
is a brand name without a brand, ready to be value. Along with this, we can understand metropolitana, Chile, where a piece done
slapped onto almost anything, a quick face-lift that taking a political stance is to act in the by Guy Brett was exhibited, probably the only
touting the new creative imperative for places face of a concrete situation, which goes one he ever did, it was a collection of obituaries
in need of an extreme makeover” [ 9]. beyond discursive labels, and that means to published in the British newspaper The Guardian.
In addition to the make-up effect, it is deliberately analyze with whom we associate He arranged them together, making small
necessary to talk about working conditions. and under what conditions. In addition, if we annotations on the edges and pasting page
The artistic-cultural milieu already operated do not have healthier work alternatives, we may by page into an old leather folder that gave the
according to the logic of flexibility, outsourcing be able to negotiate our acceptance better, feeling of having had a lot of history. His special
and precariousness. An avalanche of SMEs and in a more active and purposeful way. In any interest had to do with the fragility of life and
legal entities, voluntary interns, shady contracts, case, celebrating “Brazilian diversity” is not with an analysis of how a person is capable of
abuse of power, underpaid work or, more than enough, fulfilling the norms of representativity, summarizing someone’s life on a sheet of paper.
that, unpaid work “for the sake of something either. We will need articulation and collective As many conversations around that subject
bigger”... the mysterious visibility. Now, this imagination and, it is worth remembering, accumulated over the years, I knew that if he
package serves as an example for other sectors, we have already realized that this will not be died before me, I would write these lines about
and sets up a new labor model. resolved in the instagram feeds. his life. Lines that do not intend to summarize
Unlike scandalous, such flexibility has been his life but to speak about some of his thoughts,
positively qualified by the market, as it requires (*Text originally published in the magazine A wishes and dreams in relation to art.
increasingly inventive and competitive solutions. Palavra Solta, on January 2021) After finishing school, Guy Brett went directly
You have to be creative to survive, they say. In to work at the Yorkshire Post and then at The
addition, flexible work is the promise of such [1] h t t p s : // w w w 1 . f ol h a . uol . c om . br/ Times newspaper for more than 10 years and
individual freedom, as it seduces with the idea ilustrada/2020/12/estadio-do-pacaembu-e- consolidated his critical writing as visual
that everyone can manage their own routine, invadido-por-obras-de-arte-as-vesperas-de- arts editor of City Limits magazine where
make choices, have autonomy, organize their reforma.shtml he worked between 1981 and 1983. With an
own time and “empower themselves”. There is extraordinary sensitivity, his writing always
no time for identification or accommodation. [2] The exhibition website can still be visited rejected academicism and was characterized
The reality, however, reflects a self-exploration at: http://www.feitoporbrasileiros.com.br/ by a very singular vision that centered on the
haunted by insecurity and instability, which encounter with the work of art, a sensory
makes us recognize that the cultural worker is [3] http://www.canalcontemporaneo.art.br/brasa/ encounter, where his interest in details were
the post-Fordist producer par excellence. Or, in archives/week_2014_09_21.html of great importance in his observation. This
other words, the medium of art has become the engagement with the work led him to create
successful model of precariousness because, [4] https://vejasp.abril.com.br/cidades/anish- questions that he himself tried to answer
on top of all this crap, we are the territory of the kapoor-casa-bradesco-da-criatividade-cidade- through his writing.
“sensitive”, the “critical thinking”, the “creative matarazzo/ I remember a talk at Chelsea College of
force”, etc. Neoliberal bullshit. Art in 2011 where he was introduced as “The
All of this, of course, puts us in a difficult [5] https://www.forbes.com.br/principal/2020/02/ Godfather of Latin American art in Europe”.
position. Unless you are an heir or have been a-potencia-de-criacao-da-cidade-matarazzo/ That title fails to express the admirable nature
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