October 27, 2022–February 24, 2023
The exhibition Margens de 22: presenças populares (Fringes of 22: popular presences) is part of a series of activities by São Paulo that pose questions and revive the debate about two important milestones in Brazilian history—the centennial of Modern Art Week and the bicentennial of Brazil’s Independence.
Some of the works featured in this show shed light on the experience of artists and movements that acted in parallel to Modern Art Week, but do not share the same recognition and are not part of the modern art canon. The show also includes contemporary art pieces, as well as objects and contents from before and after the Week. The spectator is thus invited to look at other social agents and narratives that are traditionally neglected by the hegemonic historical discourse. While an elite occupied the stage, other individuals and groups expressed themselves in the streets.
Margens de 22 aims to explore the concept of “modernity” based on multiple scenarios of urban life in São Paulo. In so doing, the show investigates which groups and individuals were relevant for the cultural composition of the metropolis, considering a range of themes such as childhood culture, black motherhood, faith and festivals, and the working class, which contributed to the construction of São Paulo’s identity as one of the world’s largest metropolises.
The curatorship is shared by the trio consisting of writer, architect and urbanist Joice Berth, anthropologist, art critic and curator Alexandre Araujo Bispo, and samba practitioner, sociologist, researcher, writer and Tadeu Kaçula.
“Despite being modern, the Week of ’22 did not feature theater plays, photographic works, films, or popular music—artistic languages that remained at the event’s fringes. Moreover, today it is clear that the event included only a part of the urban and cultural environment that culminated in what we know as modernity. Outside the São Paulo Municipal Theater (the emblematic scenario of the event), women, men, children, urban workers, families, carnival groups and brotherhoods were striving, at that moment, to live in a dignified way in a city undergoing rapid transformation. According to the curators, in a certain way the event reflected the environment of inequality and segregation that followed the abolition of slavery in São Paulo.
The relationship between the African diaspora and the constitution of the big city is evidenced in this proposal, which is organized in nine sections. The section “Contemporary Art” covers the reverberations of modernism in today’s artists; “Childhood Cultures” describes the challenging experience of childhood in the big city; “A Look at Women” features depictions of women occupying various functions in the metropolis; “Black Mother” highlights the importance of the black woman in the history of São Paulo.
There are, moreover, the sections “Black Press in the Street,” which shows the power of the mobilization of the black press struggling for social changes; “Places,” which deals with the urban transformations and difficulties which came part and parcel with development; “Workers in the City,” which contextualizes the workers in the streets of São Paulo during its construction process; “Black People and Music,” about the contribution of the black population to Brazilian music; and “Faith and Festivals,” the section that celebrates the festivals of Afro-Brazilian tradition.
This thematic panorama is presented by way of many works that range from paintings and sculptures to reproductions of carnival costumes. On the one hand, it delves into unknown archives, as is the case with the documents and records of the black press. On the other, it presents works by artists such as Renata Felinto, Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos, Vincenzo Pastore, Tarsila do Amaral, Cândido Portinari, Di Cavalcanti and Anita Malfatti. It thus points out striking relationships between contemporary and modern production, as well as between anonymous and established artists.
During the period of the exhibition, Sesc Carmo is offering the experience of guided visits, lasting around two hours, as well as educational activities that reinforce the institution’s commitment to fostering a more aware and knowledgeable public.
The exhibition is part of the program Diversos 22—Projetos, Memórias, Conexões (Diverse 22—Projects, Memories, Connections), carried out by Sesc São Paulo throughout 2022, which is being held in celebration of the centennial of the Modern Art Week of 1922 and the bicentennial of Brazil’s Independence (1822).
