Paulo Herkenhoff

Cildo Meireles A landmark overview of the distinguished Brazilian Conceptual artist.Survey by Paulo Herkenhoff, Interview by Gerardo Mosquera, Focus by Dan Cameron, Artist's Choice text by Jorge Luis Borges, Writings by Cildo Meireles A pioneer of installation art in the 1960s, Brazilian Cildo Meireles (b.1948) has influenced generations of international artists Best known for his dramatic and politically charged environments incorporating sound, smell and touch, Meireles envelops viewers in his installations and offers an alternative - visual, political and sensual - to the less-than-perfect world around us The only major monograph on this innovative artist Paulo Herkenhoff is an independent curator and critic based in Rio de Janeiro. Formerly adjunct Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Herkenhoff was Artistic Director of the 24th Bienal de Sao Paulo (1999) and Curator of the Brazilian Pavilion of the 47th Venice Biennale (1997). Gerardo Mosquera, based in Havana, is Associate Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, and an Advisor at the Rijksakademie of Fine Arts, Amsterdam. He was a founder of the Havana Biennial and edited Beyond the Fantastic: Contemporary Art Criticism from Latin America (1996). In 1999 he co-curated a major retrospective of Cildo Meireles' work the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Dan Cameron is a curator based in New York. As Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art he organized such landmark exhibitions as 'Cocido y Crudo' (1994), a survey of from Latin America, and has since gone on to curate the 8th Istanbul Biennial (2003) and the Taipei Biennial (2006). He also serves on the graduate teaching faculty of Columbia University, New York University and School of Visual Arts, New York, and is a frequent contributor to such journals as Parkett, Flash Art and Artforum.

En Maldicidade, la ciudad nunca duerme. Al amanecer o al anochecer, en Nueva York, La Habana, Savador de Bahía o Tokio, la atmósfera está cargada de anhelos, de aflicción por la soledad y de esperanzas que nunca se hicieron realidad. Hijo de diplomaticos, el artista visual Miguel Rio Branco se inspira en su infancia itinerante para realizar este retrato urbano abrasador que revela la soledad y las luchas cotidianas de los habitantes de las grandes metropolis de todo el mundo.Las imagenes son tecnicamente impecables, pero lo que muestran no siempre es hermoso. Rio Branco no esta interesado en documentar los puntos de referencia historicos de las ciudades, en componer un paisaje urbano impresionante o plasmar un ideal. Todo lo contrario: dirige su camara hacia aquellos que sufren el rechazo y han quedado al margen, que han sido descartados y viven en el desencanto. Ya sea a traves de imagenes crudas o serenas, son las personas sin hogar, los mendigos y las prostitutas, asi como los perros callejeros, los coches desvencijados y los cristales rotos los motivos de sus impresiones urbanas.Aunque algunos detalles sutiles revelan el lugar concreto en que se tomaron las fotografias, el corazon del proyecto de Rio Branco es la experiencia urbana comun. En lugar de abor