Infinite Span: 90 Years of Brazilian Architecture

The exhibition Infinito Vão: 90 Anos de Arquitetura Brasileira [Infinite Span: 90 Years of Brazilian Architecture], which opens on April 14 at Sesc 24 de Maio (São Paulo), revisits Brazil’s architectural production from the 1920s until today. Curated by Fernando Serapião and Guilherme Wisnik, the show presents an overview of the thinking that underlies Brazilian architectural design. Featuring more than 100 designs emblematic of the modern and the contemporary period, this collection—shown previously at Casa da Arquitectura, in the city of Porto, Portugal, between September 2018 and April 2019—relies on a unique documentary basis consisting of drawings, texts, scale models, publications, photographs and facsimiles.

Inspired by the song Drão, by Gilberto Gil, the show’s title alludes to the conceptual and structural thinking of modern architecture, with a nod to the reformulation of these premises with the advent of the contemporary ideas. Shifting between these two moments, the show recovers the spirit of industrialization that prevailed in the country starting in the mid-20th century, especially in conjunction with the process of growth in the big cities, and then advances up to the current urban problematization. One sees clearly how amidst this thrust toward modernization the aesthetic vanguard, influenced by the modern movement, played a key role in the process of constructing the mindset of progress in Brazil.

Divided into six chronologically organized curatorial axes, the exhibition presents iconic designs of Brazilian architecture through the consideration of historical milestones of each period, while pointing to interplays between the aesthetic thinking and the social, political and cultural context. In the show’s rendition in Brazil, these links are also developed through the inclusion of a selection of artworks from the Acervo Sesc de Arte Brasileira—the permanent art collection of Sesc São Paulo—by artists such as Athos Bulcão, Augusto de Campos, Claudio Tozzi, Geraldo de Barros, Nelson Leirner and Paulo Bruscky.

Visitors to the exhibition can explore a temporal arc of 90 years, through images of modernist houses by Gregori Warchavchik, through thoughts linked to the planning of Brasília, through the configuration of the city of São Paulo as an industrial center, through buildings linked to the military regime amidst countercultural movements, through different approaches to the design of housing complexes, and through the tensions that currently pervade the urbanistic debate and clashings between the city and society. The many names featured notably include Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Sergio Bernardes, Roberto Burle Marx, Vilanova Artigas, Lina Bo Bardi, Severiano Mario Porto, and Paulo Mendes da Rocha.

Another important architectural design worthy of mention is that of Sesc 24 de Maio, the building in which the exhibition is being held. Designed by urbanist Paulo Mendes da Rocha in partnership with MMBB Arquitetos, this work is a landmark in São Paulo’s historical downtown region. By remodeling the building of a former department store, Mendes da Rocha’s design became an example of the transformation of the preexisting urban heritage, valorizing the city’s public and collective urban life. A detailed scale model of the building is also featured at the exhibition in São Paulo.

By shedding light on the thinking of different generations of architects, Infinito Vão proposes a space for reflection on the role of architecture in both the present and the historical context, and how it has been related with the social sphere. The proposal by Fernando Serapião and Guilherme Wisnik thus reinforces the importance of Brazilian aesthetic production, valorizes its richness and plurality, while also encouraging studies by researchers and specialists on this theme, at both the local and international levels.

Opening: April 14, at 7pm