bauhaus imaginista: Learning From

The exhibition in São Paulo aims, above all, to explore the ethical dimensions of forms of appropriations in the mid-twentieth century in relation to depictions of vernacular and indigenous craft practices.

Knowledge of “world culture” not only played a significant role in Bauhaus; the study of a variety of premodern, indigenous and precolonial crafts was another important practice for designers and artists from American continents, for example in Brazil as well as in the era of decolonization from North and West Africa. The exhibition in São Paulo aims, above all, to explore the ethical dimensions of these appropriations in the mid-twentieth century in relation to depictions of vernacular and indigenous craft practices. It also draws on the knowledge and debates that are presently emerging in Brazil in this context and collaborates with artists, activists and academics with indigenous. São Paulo’s SESC Pompéia, a former factory converted into a cultural center by the architect Lina Bo Bardi, is the setting and the presenter for the exhibition. Bo Bardi was inspired by the Bauhaus and established the design school, the Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC), in 1951 at the Museum of Art São Paulo (MASP). In her own practice, Bo Bardi collected popular art, in particular from the Northeast region of Brazil, and showed this type of material in a series of exhibitions at SESC Pompéia. The context of Bo Bardi’s architecture, which includes workshops in weaving and ceramics as well as gallery spaces, also provides the framework for public activities that will run in parallel and be incorporated into the exhibition.