A tese concentra-se em estudos expositivos, especificamente em proposições curatoriais e artísticas que questionam o topos expositivo contemporâneo. O recorte temporal dessa pesquisa concentra-se em exposições vivenciadas no período 2012-2016, em contextos geográficos distintos: Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Berlim, Veneza e Londres. A metodologia de pesquisa constrói-se a partir da experiência em exposições visitadas, configurando estudos de caso da tese. Quais são os limites das canonizações ocidentais que reforçam tendências particulares e inscrevem ortodoxias em estudos expositivos? Entre “lá fora” e “aqui dentro”, se lá está a dicotomia, aqui está o hibridismo como matriz experimental das produções expositivas nacionais. Nesse contexto aqui e agora, desenvolve-se o conceito de ‘contraexposição’, que redefine o lugar expositivo através da experimentação direta na investigação, produção, apresentação e documentação de proposições curatoriais e artísticas em sua dimensão pública. Considera-se, ainda, o âmbito das megaexposições, especificamente bienais, debatendo a suposta crise do modelo através do mapeamento dos padrões recorrentes como possível estratégia de reinvenção do formato hegemônico internacional. (Continuação ) Nessa tese, entre exposições, megaexposições, contraexposições, são verificadas tentativas de engatar o sujeito para um primeiro plano das experiências expositivas, fazendo com que o questionamento direcione-se aos endereçamentos expositivos e à produção de associações obra-públicoS. Em tese: seja em instituições culturais – topos expositivo reconhecido como lugar da arte – ou no topos expositivo outro – qualquer lugar –, a exposição contemporânea está em incessante redefinição. / Situated within the realm of exhibition studies, this thesis focuses specifically on those curatorial and artistic proposals which question the topos of contemporary art exhibitions. The research was carried out between 2012 and 2016, visiting exhibitions in different geographical locations: Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Venice and London. The research methodology was built on the experience at these exhibitions, through which the thesis’ case studies have been configured. What are the limits of the Western canons, which reinforce particular trends and generate orthodoxies within exhibition studies? Between the ‘out there’ and the ‘in here’, whether there resides the dichotomy, here lies hybridity, as an experimental matrix for the making of exhibitions in Brazil. It is in this context, here-and-now, that the thesis develops the concept of “counter-exhibition”, redefining the exhibition space through direct experimentation in the investigation, production, presentation and documentation of curatorial and artistic proposals in their public dimension. The thesis also takes into account the context of mega-exhibitions, and specifically biennials, discussing the supposed crisis of the model by mapping its recurring patterns, as a possible strategy to challenge the hegemony of the current international format, and reinvent it. Among exhibitions, mega-exhibitions and counter-exhibitions, the thesis explores attempts to bring the subject of the exhibition experience to the fore, in this way directing the debate towards what or on who the exhibitions are addressing, exhibition approaches, as well as on the associations between artworks and publics that they (seek to) produce. In essence: either within cultural institutions – the exhibition topos recognised as the place of art –, or other exhibition topos – that is, anywhere –, contemporary exhibitions are being constantly redefined.

A tese concentra-se em estudos expositivos, especificamente em proposições curatoriais e artísticas que questionam o topos expositivo contemporâneo. O recorte temporal dessa pesquisa concentra-se em exposições vivenciadas no período 2012-2016, em contextos geográficos distintos: Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Berlim, Veneza e Londres. A metodologia de pesquisa constrói-se a partir da experiência em exposições visitadas, configurando estudos de caso da tese. Quais são os limites das canonizações ocidentais que reforçam tendências particulares e inscrevem ortodoxias em estudos expositivos? Entre “lá fora” e “aqui dentro”, se lá está a dicotomia, aqui está o hibridismo como matriz experimental das produções expositivas nacionais. Nesse contexto aqui e agora, desenvolve-se o conceito de ‘contraexposição’, que redefine o lugar expositivo através da experimentação direta na investigação, produção, apresentação e documentação de proposições curatoriais e artísticas em sua dimensão pública. Considera-se, ainda, o âmbito das megaexposições, especificamente bienais, debatendo a suposta crise do modelo através do mapeamento dos padrões recorrentes como possível estratégia de reinvenção do formato hegemônico internacional. (Continuação ) Nessa tese, entre exposições, megaexposições, contraexposições, são verificadas tentativas de engatar o sujeito para um primeiro plano das experiências expositivas, fazendo com que o questionamento direcione-se aos endereçamentos expositivos e à produção de associações obra-públicoS. Em tese: seja em instituições culturais – topos expositivo reconhecido como lugar da arte – ou no topos expositivo outro – qualquer lugar –, a exposição contemporânea está em incessante redefinição. / Situated within the realm of exhibition studies, this thesis focuses specifically on those curatorial and artistic proposals which question the topos of contemporary art exhibitions. The research was carried out between 2012 and 2016, visiting exhibitions in different geographical locations: Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Venice and London. The research methodology was built on the experience at these exhibitions, through which the thesis’ case studies have been configured. What are the limits of the Western canons, which reinforce particular trends and generate orthodoxies within exhibition studies? Between the ‘out there’ and the ‘in here’, whether there resides the dichotomy, here lies hybridity, as an experimental matrix for the making of exhibitions in Brazil. It is in this context, here-and-now, that the thesis develops the concept of “counter-exhibition”, redefining the exhibition space through direct experimentation in the investigation, production, presentation and documentation of curatorial and artistic proposals in their public dimension. The thesis also takes into account the context of mega-exhibitions, and specifically biennials, discussing the supposed crisis of the model by mapping its recurring patterns, as a possible strategy to challenge the hegemony of the current international format, and reinvent it. Among exhibitions, mega-exhibitions and counter-exhibitions, the thesis explores attempts to bring the subject of the exhibition experience to the fore, in this way directing the debate towards what or on who the exhibitions are addressing, exhibition approaches, as well as on the associations between artworks and publics that they (seek to) produce. In essence: either within cultural institutions – the exhibition topos recognised as the place of art –, or other exhibition topos – that is, anywhere –, contemporary exhibitions are being constantly redefined.

A tese concentra-se em estudos expositivos, especificamente em proposições curatoriais e artísticas que questionam o topos expositivo contemporâneo. O recorte temporal dessa pesquisa concentra-se em exposições vivenciadas no período 2012-2016, em contextos geográficos distintos: Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Berlim, Veneza e Londres. A metodologia de pesquisa constrói-se a partir da experiência em exposições visitadas, configurando estudos de caso da tese. Quais são os limites das canonizações ocidentais que reforçam tendências particulares e inscrevem ortodoxias em estudos expositivos? Entre “lá fora” e “aqui dentro”, se lá está a dicotomia, aqui está o hibridismo como matriz experimental das produções expositivas nacionais. Nesse contexto aqui e agora, desenvolve-se o conceito de ‘contraexposição’, que redefine o lugar expositivo através da experimentação direta na investigação, produção, apresentação e documentação de proposições curatoriais e artísticas em sua dimensão pública. Considera-se, ainda, o âmbito das megaexposições, especificamente bienais, debatendo a suposta crise do modelo através do mapeamento dos padrões recorrentes como possível estratégia de reinvenção do formato hegemônico internacional. (Continuação ) Nessa tese, entre exposições, megaexposições, contraexposições, são verificadas tentativas de engatar o sujeito para um primeiro plano das experiências expositivas, fazendo com que o questionamento direcione-se aos endereçamentos expositivos e à produção de associações obra-públicoS. Em tese: seja em instituições culturais – topos expositivo reconhecido como lugar da arte – ou no topos expositivo outro – qualquer lugar –, a exposição contemporânea está em incessante redefinição. / Situated within the realm of exhibition studies, this thesis focuses specifically on those curatorial and artistic proposals which question the topos of contemporary art exhibitions. The research was carried out between 2012 and 2016, visiting exhibitions in different geographical locations: Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Venice and London. The research methodology was built on the experience at these exhibitions, through which the thesis’ case studies have been configured. What are the limits of the Western canons, which reinforce particular trends and generate orthodoxies within exhibition studies? Between the ‘out there’ and the ‘in here’, whether there resides the dichotomy, here lies hybridity, as an experimental matrix for the making of exhibitions in Brazil. It is in this context, here-and-now, that the thesis develops the concept of “counter-exhibition”, redefining the exhibition space through direct experimentation in the investigation, production, presentation and documentation of curatorial and artistic proposals in their public dimension. The thesis also takes into account the context of mega-exhibitions, and specifically biennials, discussing the supposed crisis of the model by mapping its recurring patterns, as a possible strategy to challenge the hegemony of the current international format, and reinvent it. Among exhibitions, mega-exhibitions and counter-exhibitions, the thesis explores attempts to bring the subject of the exhibition experience to the fore, in this way directing the debate towards what or on who the exhibitions are addressing, exhibition approaches, as well as on the associations between artworks and publics that they (seek to) produce. In essence: either within cultural institutions – the exhibition topos recognised as the place of art –, or other exhibition topos – that is, anywhere –, contemporary exhibitions are being constantly redefined.

This study investigates to what extent the curatorial project of Documenta 11 offered an operative cultural concept beyond multiculturality by favouring a transcultural approach to difference in the global sphere. It questions whether the central strategy employed – of postcoloniality as tactical manoeuvre to expand both the public and aesthetic spheres in order to create the conditions for an ethical engagement with difference – could facilitate a workable exemplar for showing art from different production sites, yet resist levelling of differences for an ever-expanding global art market. Proceeding from the postcolonial institutional critique envisioned by the artistic director, Okwui Enwezor, this study engages critically with the notion of opening-out Documenta in terms of inclusivity and equality of representation. It is argued that while the proposed postcolonial reinvigoration of overlapping public spheres held the promise of heterogeneous participation and minimised the formation of hegemonies, the expansion-project of Documenta 11 could on another level be interpreted to function as a globalising instrument usurping previously unexplored territories and discover marketable ‘others’ for a neocolonial cultural marketplace. Documenta 11 set out to subvert the expansionism of a global art market by constructing the global as postcolonial space in which proximity became the ethical space of engagement. It is the contention of this study that by emphasising the production of locality, the five Platforms localised the global discourse and expressly addressed how inclusivity and pluralism could be approached against the disparities created by globalisation processes. Historically, for artists from the South denial of proximity and coevalness based on colonial conceptions of space and time had meant exclusion from the canon and, where modernist notions persist, being labelled as deficient. In order to breach gaps, de-hegemonise cultural coding and aid transcultural translation, Documenta 11 located its project in its entirety in Homi K. Bhabha’s in-between space, in the gap, as it were. This orientation towards the gap is examined in terms of homelessness, displacement and nomadic subjectivity that impact the archiving logic of Documenta to become anarchival: memory production turned into counter-memory and the work of remembrance was shaped as counter-memorials. Criticised for a skewed commitment to social engagement, rather than aesthetics, the exhibition of Documenta 11 was nonetheless informed by a threshold aesthetic. Different kinds of oppositionality employed by artists, and adversarial approaches reinvigorated by Situationist and Third Cinema strategies put forward by the curators, are evaluated in this regard. An agonistic positioning is explored as, firstly, a counter-localisation to multiculturalism in a transcultural exhibition and, secondly, to resist assimilation and co-optation. It is argued that the embrace of the threshold, of thirdness and littoral curating by Documenta 11 could be considered an exemplar of a global trickster positioning aiming for an expansion of critical visual strategies. The contention of this study is that, having set out to grapple with the construction of multiple public spheres and the space of the transnational exhibition as a creole location, this Documenta at the very least opened up discursive spaces that could expand artistic discourses. At best, Documenta 11 uncovered routes by which difference in the transcultural field could be (re)negotiated. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Visual Arts / unrestricted