“The Fourth Constructive Generation in Rio de Janeiro,” an exhibition taking place since September 2023 at FGV Art, a space for artistic experimentation and research at Fundação Getulio Vargas, is now receiving new works. The curator, Paulo Herkenhoff, has brought in big names like Adriana Varejão and Beatriz Milhazes to reaffirm the complexity and power of what he calls the fourth constructive generation. “It’s a living process, in progress, open to new discoveries, proving that curatorial work doesn’t end on the day an exhibition opens,” he says. The space, which was closed for repairs, reopens on January 19.

The artists joining the exhibition have carried out surprising endeavors in the past and they will broaden the artistic and political issues of the exposition. Adriana Varejão will contribute a “Circle of colors” that celebrates Brazil’s diverse colors and identities, while Beatriz Milhazes has incorporated the festivity of colors in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, Antonio Ton has used the design of sports courts to create an intervention that puts dialogue with peripheral youth on the agenda. Élle de Bernardini combines geometry and visual rhythms with gender issues. Júlia Otomorinhori’õ Xavante, an indigenous artist and activist from the Maracanã village, uses ancestral techniques to reclaim the present. Miguel Afa pays homage to kites and the joy of Rio’s children. Finally, Bob N works with acrylic on canvas to rearticulate the Brazilian constructive generation. These artists’ works are all part of the exhibition titled “The Fourth Constructive Generation in Rio de Janeiro.”

About the exhibition

The Fourth Constructive Generation in Rio de Janeiro exhibition now brings together 57 artists with a link to Rio de Janeiro (whether born in the city, living there or visiting it), with no generational or language boundaries. It is curated by Paulo Herkenhoff, who defines the city in the 21^st century as having “new perspectives in the social field of circulation of works of art.” The concept of the “fourth constructive generation” refers to a moment of “greater experimental openness in relations with mathematics, topology, numbers, chance and improvisation, disasters and the crisis of power, in a tangle of political and conceptual agendas, processes of subjectivation, an explosion of gazes from the periphery, a new ethos, institutional criticism, the sensitive geometry of Latin America, the introduction of unheard-of material signs in art, almost nothing and zero.”

FGV Art

Located in FGV’s main building in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, FGV Art is a space dedicated to artistic appreciation and experimentation, as well as contemporary debates around art and culture. It seeks to encourage dialogue with the most creative and heterogeneous sectors of society. The initiative aims to connect, through artistic projects, FGV’s own schools, such as the School of Communication, Media and Information (ECMI), the School of Social Sciences (CPDOC) and the School of Applied Mathematics (EMAp). FGV Art is also running seminars, methodological workshops and practical training courses for the arts.

Details:

Exhibition: The Fourth Constructive Generation in Rio de Janeiro

190 Praia de Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro

Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.