Cildo Meireles (Rio de Janeiro, 1948) is one of the most relevant conceptual artists in Latin America. Since the late sixties, he fought with his work to draw visitors out of the exhibition halls, placing emphasis on the viewer’s senses beyond what they could see there. His ethical connection with the world and his profound rejection of dictatorships, under the military government that governed Brazil in the seventies, made him an artist with a marked political character that he continues to claim today. Since the nineties, his work has been widely recognized in the international art world.
The Brazilian artist has recently inaugurated an exhibition, produced by the initiative ALTTRA, in which he presents four works in different spaces in Palma that delve into the meaning of insularity in a globalized world, as well as the characteristics of the contemporary condition. The exhibition can be seen at the Official College of Architects of the Balearic Islands (COAIB), the Estudi General Lul·lià and Espai Buit until January 11 of next year.
The exhibition reflects on the conditions of being an island, like Mallorca, and the global world as we know it today. How is the tension between the two shown?
When I was invited to participate in this project I had in mind a work that I did about 15 years ago in Brazil. There, the waters of the fluvial rivers are directed to one of the three great rivers: the Paraná, to the south; San Francisco, in the northeast; and the Amazon, to the north. The waters of the small tributaries add up until they converge at a point that turns Brazil into a kind of “island” within a vast archipelago of rivers.
So we decided to start with this work as a starting point. The irony is that, in the case of Mallorca, the insularity that is, in itself, an isolation, becomes at the same time an attractive phenomenon for tourism and one of the most harmful ways of affecting the environment and the destruction of ecosystems. I do not know the situation in Mallorca in detail, but I imagine that it must face great pressures due to its popularity as an international tourist destination, especially in Europe. There is a predatory aspect to this industry that can create significant problems for local populations.
The irony is that, in the case of Mallorca, the insularity that is, in itself, an isolation, becomes at the same time an attractive phenomenon for tourism and one of the most harmful ways of affecting the environment and destruction of ecosystems
Cildo Meireles
— Artist
In the presentation of this exhibition he said that conceptual art is the most democratic. Why do you think so?
I remember that when I was very young, when you visited a conceptual art exhibition, you found yourself reading texts and more texts, which was quite boring. Because, honestly, there are few things worse than the texts of visual artists. I felt that we were abdicating something that I consider an essential quality: the ability to seduce the viewer. What’s with all this verbose speech? The waiting room became very boring.
So I tried to get away from that conception until, in the 2000s, a great friend of mine – a compadre who had been imprisoned during the dictatorship – came to visit my workshop. He saw a small piece that he had in the workshop, a piece of red cellophane, similar to the ones that wrap cigarette packages, and he remembered that, during his time in prison, when he entered his cell, he would pick up a match, look at it, and he spent hours reflecting on it. He thought that if his conceptualist colleagues could see this, perhaps they would understand it too. For him, that little piece had helped him cope with prison.
It was at that moment when I got excited, because I understood that conceptual art had a profound power: it is a democratic movement, in the sense that with the minimum it is possible to talk about very big and universal things. It was at that moment that I reconciled myself with the concept of conceptual art.
It was at that moment when I got excited, because I understood that conceptual art had a profound power: it is a democratic movement, in the sense that with the minimum it is possible to talk about very big and universal things.
Cildo Meireles
— Artist
His work also pays close attention to the senses beyond looking, touching, hearing. Nowadays it seems like a political gesture to take back our bodily sensations.
I have always had a great resistance to pamphleteering art. I didn’t like that Cartesian, linear approach, like a call to action. Therefore, in all works with a political discourse, there is also a structural and formal concern with language. That is to say, politics is present, but so is reflection on forms and expressions, and how they communicate.
What happens with political expressions, and with other pieces, is that there is a search for what I call “plurisensoriality.” I believe that this has been a central characteristic of Brazilian artistic production since the 1950s, with the Neoconcretism movement. There, artists no longer wanted to work with art limited to traditional visual forms or oil paintings. They sought a liberation from the domain of the purely visual.
What happens with political expressions, and with other pieces, is that there is a search for what I call “plurisensoriality.” I believe that this has been a central characteristic of Brazilian artistic production since the 1950s, with the Neoconcretism movement. There, artists no longer wanted to work with art limited to traditional visual forms or oil paintings. They sought a liberation from the domain of the purely visual
Cildo Meireles
— Artist
Starting in the 1950s, the Brazilian art scene faced a profound renewal, approaching art in a very serious and sophisticated way. And this transformation became a characteristic of much of Brazilian production at that time. However, many works from that time did not continue to be followed or recognized in this process.
Taken to the present, what does it mean to confront the dominance of the image and the screen?
Well, Western culture changed a lot in relation to visuality, placing a very great emphasis on it. In the end, the act of looking through the other senses becomes a political act, because it implies a recovery of the body as a whole. In this sense, I believe that capitalism seeks to anesthetize the body, reducing us to simple production robots. Therefore, the other senses have been gradually abandoned.
Western culture changed a lot in relation to visuality, placing a great emphasis on it. In the end, the act of looking through the other senses becomes a political act, because it implies a recovery of the body as a whole. In this sense, I believe that capitalism seeks to anesthetize the body, reducing us to simple production robots.
Cildo Meireles
— Artist
Throughout his career, especially during the seventies, he has been very critical of dictatorships, capitalism and imperialism. What assessment do you make of our societies from that moment to today?
I believe that we are now experiencing the first moments of a crucial revolution, which is the digital revolution. At this initial stage, many authors continue to approach the topic from a traditional capitalist perspective. However, I believe that, in some ways, this is also a path to freedom, although not at this moment. Today, the digital revolution seems to be an extension of capitalism, in the sense of the search for money and profit, with phenomena such as fake news and other manipulations.
I believe that we are now experiencing the first moments of a crucial revolution, which is the digital revolution. In some ways, this is also a path to freedom, although not at this moment. Today, the digital revolution seems to be an extension of capitalism, in the sense of the search for money and profit, with phenomena such as ‘fake news’ and other manipulations.
Cildo Meireles
— Artist
I always remember an interview I read with Umberto Eco, I think it was one of the last ones he gave. At one point, the journalist asked him: “Mr. Eco, what do you think about social networks?” And he replied: “Social networks will make the village idiots become the gurus of the planet.” And, in a sense, this is happening now: the influencerswhich are nothing more than an extension of capitalist activity, seem to dominate space. What could be a wonderful field of knowledge, communication and freedom has become something very superficial.
But, although it seems that way now, I am convinced that that will change. People will come to understand that what the digital revolution proposes is much broader, and that it goes far beyond what we are experiencing right now.
Speaking of capitalism and from the Latin American side, I wanted to ask you about Donald Trump’s recent victory as president of the United States. He has a well-known work from the seventies, where he created an eloquent yankees go home in Coca-Cola bottles.
The circulation processes that exist within society allow the individual to act on a macroscale, whether industrial, as in the case of a Coca-Cola bottle, or institutional, such as banknotes. The world has always lived with people like Trump, right? In Brazil we had Bolsonaro. These figures are always there, trying to obscure human progress. But I don’t think they’re going to make it.
Local companies have been involved in the production of two of the works in the exhibition: the 50 bales of straw in the work Fio come from the Porreres Agricultural Cooperative and the cotton thread from ‘The Witch’ by Teixits Riera. Both materials will return to their point of origin once the exhibition is uninstalled. How to face the challenges of sustainability?
If we compare our planet with that of 30 years ago, we could never have imagined that we would be living in a world like the current one. Because what we are experiencing now is a revolution as, or even more important, than the industrial revolution. The bourgeois revolution was monumental, but most people did not realize its magnitude at the time. Today, although some do not recognize it, we all talk about sustainability, we know that it exists and we understand that this discussion is on the table. And most importantly: we know that the solution is possible.
If we compare our planet with that of 30 years ago, we could never have imagined that we would be living in a world like the current one. Because what we are experiencing now is a revolution as, or even more important, than the industrial revolution
Cildo Meireles
— Artist
I think it will be a global movement, because people are beginning to realize that the human species is the only one that destroys the place where it lives, and that is something absurd. Despite everything that deniers like Bolsonaro or Trump say, who try to minimize climate problems, I think humanity is finally understanding that it’s not just about money. You cannot eat gold, nor live on it. It is necessary to take care of the planet in a different way.
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