Soft Power. Arte Brazil

Taking the contrasts of Brazilian society as a starting point, the collective in Amersfoort brings together around forty artists who take on thorny political arguments through the language of contemporary art.

The B in the economically promising acronym BRICS, Brazil is not only famous for its informal energy and modernist bent, but also – and above all – for its internal tensions. It is these many contrasts of Brazilian society, exasperated by costly international showcases such as the 2014 World Cup Tournament and the 2016 Olympics, which provided the impulse for the research of the curators behind “Soft Power”, the collective held at the Kade in Amersfoort.

The title comes from the famous concept elaborated by the American Jospeph S. Nye Jr., according to which the behaviour of others can be indirectly influenced, for example through working on national carisma. But the exhibition does not refer to the type of soft power which places Brazil in Monocle’s annual rankings, but rather to the approach of the artists shown – around forty in all, both local and guests – in the handling of thorny political questions through the language of contemporary art. In this sense, it creates a heterogeneous but balanced mix between works of a strong graphic impact and others which are more difficult to approach.

This is clear right from the first room. A hammock and a kiosk with a variety of teas supplied by the Rio collective Opavivarà! celebrate the native way of life, together with the colourful objects woven by Maria Nepomuceno, while a black and white flag hung by Roberto Winter dominates the space from above. Here one can read: “8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation, 8 hours of rest”, and it all sounds a little like a demand. Resistance towards those who threaten the Brazilian way of life becomes even more explicit in the work by Jonathas de Andrade, whose installation (composed of photographs and text) documents a performance which took place in Recife: since the government had banned the use of horses to pull the carts of street-traders, thus denying thousands of people the possibility of working, the artist staged a race to legitimise its presence in a public space as a work of art.

The theme of protest is repeated in the other rooms and, in the case of Frente 3 de Fevereiro, examines police racism and violence. The work of the collective is presented in a video, but the actions are rooted in the public space. Their slogans (“Where are the blacks?”, “Save black Brazil”) appear in fact on huge flags shown at the stadium, a theatre of forceful social confrontation.

Even throughout the rest of the exhibition, the use of the language of activism can be noted both in the abundance of collectives and of manifests: those by Grafica Fidalga, made with traditional printing techniques, cover the entire wall next to the entrance, while others of a more minimalist, digital design by Poro, another group on the borderline between artistic and public communication, can be found in the corridors which flank the main hall. Both series range from the political to the poetical and are based on the slogan (“More love please”, “Cooking is a revolutionary act”), but there is no lack of more or less abstract forms of decoration elsewhere.

Staying with the “wall theme”, on one side we find a union between modernism and the legacy of Portuguese Colonialism represented by the white and blue tiles designed by Athos Bulcão, an ex-collaborator of Niemeyer in Brasilia; on the other side we find the intricate figurative landscape murals of Sandra Cinto, who transforms entire walls into stormy Murakami-style oceans. Halfway through, a flight of multicoloured stairs reminds us of the famous Favela Paintings by the Dutch Haas & Hahn, whose astounding transformation of entire informal urban areas into monumental paintings is documented in a video which can be found in front.

Urban conflict is not the only aspect worthy of note in a country which is as big and complex as Brazil, where multiculturalism does not only mean multi-ethnicity. In the documentary Sérgio e Simone (2007-2014), Virginia de Medeiros explores the theme of religious and sexual identity, documenting the double life of a transvestite who practices Candomblé (an Afro-Brazilian religion) and who is also an evangelical preacher. In the work by Paulo Nazareth, the personal aspect is that of the artist himself as part of a global circuit; by organising a Biennial in the Veneza favela or travelling by foot to Art Basel, the artist comments on the asymmetry of the market and the institutional infrastructure.

It is the very position of Brazil in the imagination and in history which interests the Argentinian Carla Zaccagnini, who tries to capture un-kept promises in the Evidências de uma farsa (2011), where blind optimism is expressed through old covers of Time and the Economist placed alongside an edited video of a number of animated parrots. Other artists also prefer to concentrate on single figures and images: Arthur Scovino looks to the past and the figure of Caboclo, a hero of the war of independence in North Brazil who is still revered in an annual fair in Salvador de Bahia, while the Chameckilerner duo concentrate on a single backside seized by the frenzied trembling of the samba, played in slow motion. But one of the most hypnotic and mysterious works is the video by Cynthia Marcelle and Tiago Mata Machado, O Século (2011): it shows a road filmed from above, which is gradually overtaken by a senseless avalanche of objects which slowly covers it, to then disappear and reappear from the other side.

“Soft Power” does not disappoint for its variety and quality, and is an excellent reason to visit a museum which lies slightly outside the usual Amsterdam-Rotterdam artistic loop. Furthermore, the very spaces of the Kade are well-suited to hosting such a mixed roster of works, thanks to the alternation of large, well-illuminated spaces for the installations, relatively intimate rooms for the videos and corridors which are ideal for the posters. Beyond the title, in closing, one can say that the picture of Brazil which emerges is, without a doubt, fascinating.

until 28 August 2016
Soft Power
Kunsthal KADE
Eemplein 77, Amersfoort

Soft Power. Arte Brazil

Taking the contrasts of Brazilian society as a starting point, the collective in Amersfoort brings together around forty artists who take on thorny political arguments through the language of contemporary art.

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