Brazilian artists in Magiciens de la Terre and the challenges of classifications

Abstract

This article examines the classifications underpinning the selection of the Brazilian artists for the self-proclaimed ‘first international exhibition of contemporary art’, Magiciens de la Terre (Paris, 1989). By using the conceptual framework of ‘The West and the Rest’ developed by Stuart Hall and of ‘coloniality of seeing’ by Joaquín Barriendos, I analyze the paradoxes of the classifications that underpinned the selections of the Brazilian artists for the show. In light of the trajectories of artists (Mestre Didi, Ronaldo Rego and Cildo Meireles) and the Brazilian cultural context, I discuss the process of their selection, the meanings of the artworks they displayed and the complex network of agents and discourses that contributed to the construction of the global discourse present in Magiciens. The second part of the article explores the ‘non-Western’ artists’ opinions regarding the exhibition and how they dealt with the neo-colonial gaze underpinning the event. I assess the artists’ reception of the French curatorial gaze, what Magiciens meant to them and how it has reverberated in their careers, including their relationship with the art market. I argue that the selection of these three artists refers to essential developments in Brazilian art in the 1980s. At the same time, it exemplifies the complexities of the exhibition and the myths about global art that persist up until the present day.