Brazil as Global Crossroads: how art forms travel to and from Brazil

July 22, 2015

This summer, Columbia University faculty has visited Rio de Janeiro to conduct research at the Instituto Moreira Salles and other institutions. This visit represents the first step in planning a conference and exhibit on the topic of “Brazil as Global Crossroads” to be mounted in Rio and in New York City.

Professor Sharon Marcus, the Dean of Humanities at Columbia University, has assembled a group of eminent researchers with expertise in history, architecture, literature, photography, music, and performance.

All the scholars who came to Rio de Janeiro undertook research duties and were granted access to archives at Instituto Moreira Salles, the Brazilian National Library and the National Museum of Fine Arts.

Aside from their research developments, all the professors gave open lectures to the general public, counting with the support from Brazilian institutions such as Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (EAV), Instituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade (ITS) and Studio-X Rio.

Dean Sharon Marcus, on her turn, had busy institutional agenda in Rio de Janeiro. She met with book editors and with the leadership of several research and educational institutions, such as the CEO of Instituto Moreira Salles and the Dean of PUC-Rio. Dr. Marcus also gave an interview to the column 'Tell me something I don't know', a cultural daily piece from O Globo newspaper. You can read it (in Portuguese) here.

 

To find out more about the lectures, please click on the following links:

Alexander Alberro  "On the Horns of a Dilemma: Comtemporary Art between the Regional and the Transnational"

Barry Bergdoll  "Latin America in Construction" and "Curating Architecture: Two Exhibitions at MoMA"

Graciela Montaldo  "Illustrious travelers: Performance and Literature in Argentine at the end of the 19th Century"

José Moya  "The African Presence in the Americas as a Story of Immigration". Professor Moya also gave an interview to O Globo, one of the most important newspapers in the country, which you can read (in Portuguese) here.