vivências / Lebenserfahrung / life experience

Vivências, the title of the exhibition taken from the Portuguese, attempts to summarize the specific condensation of art and life in the works of artists from Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. After a phase of processing the modernist conception of art in the western metropolises, the 1960s saw the focus shift to an examination of local living conditions. However, the driving force behind many artistic articulations in film, music, literature and the visual arts was not a return to one’s own roots, but rather the self-confident redefinition of one’s own culture, presented with enthusiasm and emphasis.

The physical, tactile and visual participation of the viewer, the tendency towards collective forms and the commitment to political, social and ethnic issues were common features of this new art. Common and cheap materials were used, but also the then newly emerged electronic mass media. All efforts were aimed at democratizing art and bringing it back into everyday life. The artists saw themselves as mediators, sometimes also as educators or even therapists. Some slipped into the role of ethnologists, while others used their artistic activities to highlight political grievances.

For this exhibition, a series of expansive works have been reconstructed and reinstalled, in some cases for the first time, with the intention of stimulating a direct physical experience and active participation on the part of visitors. In the accompanying publication, these immersive works are conveyed by means of historical installation views and texts as well as current photographs and essays by renowned authors and experts. This important exhibition catalogue provides an insight into the outstanding work of Latin American artists.