Histórias da sexualidade

Histórias da sexualidade (Histories of Sexuality) features over 400 objects by 126 known artists and authors as well as several anonymous ones, from the 15th through the 21st centuries, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, videos, publications, and documents from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. The exhibition is organized in nine sections that juxtapose works from different periods, territories and media: Naked Bodies, Totemisms, Religiosities, Gender Performativities, Sexual Games, Sexual Markets, Languages, Voyeurisms, and Activisms & Politics of the Body.

In the first volume of The History of Sexuality (1976), Michel Foucault wrote that sexuality in Western societies was as repressed as it was encouraged. For that reason, an intricate network of knowledge—a biopolitics of knowledge—was created around sexuality, which included sciences, media, discourses, languages and institutions as well as images. It is interesting to consider Foucault’s observation in light of recent controversies around sexuality in art exhibitions in Brazil, where certain images and artworks have recently been at once repressed and endlessly reproduced in the social media. If this exhibition refers to Foucault’s title, it does so in the plural sense—there is not solely one, but many histories, which are themselves polyphonic and diverse.

In Portuguese, the word história identifies fiction and nonfiction, referring at once to the English “history” and “story,” and thus may encompass political, economic and cultural histories, as well as personal, private and fictional ones, at either the macro or micro levels. In addition, the plural histórias relates to nonmonolithic, nondefinitive narratives, narratives that are provisional and processual, and may be successive, overlapping and indeed conflicting and contradictory. Histórias da sexualidade is part of a long-term project at MASP, whose program is dedicated each year to different histórias: of sexuality in 2017, of Afro-Atlantic histories in 2018, of feminist histories in 2019, and others.

In this context, Histórias da sexualidade is the culmination of a program that included two international conferences (in September 2016 and May 2017), and solo exhibitions devoted to the work of Teresinha Soares, Wanda Pimentel, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Miguel Rio Branco, Tracey Moffat, Pedro Correia de Araújo, Guerrilla Girls, and Tunga over the course of 2017. Two publications are available: an exhibition catalog and an anthology of texts. A film and video program along with a series of workshops accompany the exhibition. Histórias da sexualidade is curated by Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director, Camila Bechelany, assistant curator, Lilia Schwarcz, adjunct curator of Histórias, and Pablo León de la Barra, adjunct curator for Latin American art.

List of artists in the exhibition: Act Up!, Adir Sodré, Adriana Varejão, Alair Gomes, Albino Braz, Aleta Valente, Alexandre da Cunha, Alice Neel, Almandrade, Álvaro Barrios, Ana Mendieta, Anita Malfatti, Anna Bella Geiger, avaf – assumed vivid astro focus, Ayrson Heráclito, Balthus, Betty Tompkins, Bhupen Khakhar, Carlos Leppe, Carlos Martiel, Carlos Motta, Carlos Zéfiro, Carolee Schneeman, Chico Tabibuia, Cibelle Cavali Bastos, Cícero Dias, Cildo Meireles, Cláudia Andujar, Collier Schorr, Cristina Lucas, Dean Sameshima, Descartes Gadelha, Dias & Riedweg, Dorothy Iannone, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Eduardo Costa, Eduardo Kac, Egon Schiele, Eisen, Eizan, Eliseu Visconti, Ellen Cantor, Erika Verzutti, Ernesto Neto, Flávio de Carvalho, Francis Bacon, Francisco Leopoldo e Silva, François Clouet, GALF (Grupo de Ação Lésbico Feminista), GANG, General Idea, Georgete Melhem, Giuseppe Campuzano, Glauco Mattoso, Graciela Iturbide, Hal Fischer, Hudinilson Jr., Hulda Gúzman, Iris Häussler, Jac Leirner, Javier Castro Rivera, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, José Antonio da Silva, José Celestino da Silva, José Leonilson, Juan Davila, Juca Martins, Kohei Yoshiyuki, Lasar Segall, Leda Catunda, Léon Ferrari, Leticia Parente, Lionel Wendt, Louise Bourgeois, Lynda Benglis, Lyz Parayzo, Madalena Schwartz, Marcelo Krasilcic, Márcia X, Maria Auxiliadora da Silva, María Galindo, Marta Minujin, Martha Wilson, Mickalene Thomas, Miguel Ángel Cárdenas, Miguel Angel Rojas, Miriam Cahn, Mirian Inês da Silva, Moacir (Moacir Soares Faria), Movimento de Arte Pornô, Mujeres Creando, Nahum B. Zenil, Nancy Spero, Nicolas Poussin, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, Paulo Bruscky, Paulo Pedro Leal, Paz Errázuriz, Pedro Lemebel, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pietro Perugino, Rafael França, Rafael RG, Regina Vater, Renato de Lima, Rivane Neuenschwander, Robert Mapplethorpe, Fabulosos Nobodies (Roberto Jacoby e Mariana “Kiwi”Sainz), Rosa Gauditano, Sergio Zevallos, Serigrafistas Queer, Suzanne Valadon, Teresa Margolles, Tracey Emin, Tracey Moffatt, Valie Export, Vania Toledo, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Victor Meirelles, Virginia de Medeiros, Wolfgang Tillmans, Yeguas del Apocalipsis, Zoe Leonard and the following publications: Chana com chana, Heresies Magazine, Jornal Dobrabil, Lampião da Esquina, Mulherio

List of authors in the anthology of texts: Amara Moira, Amelia Jones and Erin Silver, Ana Paula Simioni, Beatriz Lemos, Carla Zaccagnini, Carol Duncan, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Cecilia Palmeiro, Clara Ianni, Clarissa Diniz with Felipe Ribeiro and Julia Baker, Cornelia Butler, Craig Owens, Daniela Labra, Dias & Riedweg, Djamila Ribeiro, Dora Longo Bahia, Douglas Crimp, Elaine Dias, Fernanda Carvajal, Fernanda Nogueira, Francesco Ventrella, Gaudêncio Fidelis, Graziela Kunsch, Guilherme Altmayer, Ivo Mesquita, James N. Green, Jochen Volz, Jota Mombaça, Juan Vicente Aliaga, Judy Chicago, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Júlia Rebouças, Kiki Mazzuchelli, Laura Mulvey, Linda Nochlin, Luciano Migliaccio, Lucy R. Lippard, Luísa Duarte, Luiz Roque, Marta Mestre, Miguel A. López, Mira Schor, Monique Wittig, Nina Power, Regina Vater, Renan Quinalha, Rodolpho Parigi, Rosana Paulino, Tamar Garb, Teresinha Soares, Tom Kalin, Virginia de Medeiros, Xabier Arakistain

Histórias da sexualidade: workshops 
October 28, 2017–February 4, 2018 

Histórias da sexualidade: films and videos
October 28, 2017–February 13, 2018
 

Contacts
T + 55 (11) 3149 5959 / imprensa@masp.org.br