Geraldo de Barros and Robert Smithson: the contemporary teory of Smithson applied in the work of Barros, a lection of space and its interpretat

• Grant number: 13/18654-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning
• Principal Investigator: Paulo César Castral
• Grantee: Ana Luiza Rodrigues Gambardella
• Host Institution: Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo de São Carlos (IAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The photographic work of Geraldo de Barros can be characterized in two phases. At first, the series brought together under the title of Fotoformas (1950's), was strongly linked to its role in Brazil in the development of modern art in general and photographic production in particular. Together with other artists of his time, he was a pioneer in Modern Photography in Brazil. In the second phase, with the photographic series Sobras (1990's), the artist updates his intervention procedures on images, being acclaimed by critics specialized in contemporary art. The present proposal for research seeks to understand the actuality of this work by the approximation of the set of images that comprise the series Sobras with the conceptualization of Robert Smithson on antimonumento through his work "A walk through the monument of Passaic, New Jersey." Such approximation places itself as a possible because the search for a new visual logic raised from questions about "the banal" from both private and community life. We realize that when comparing the action where the Brazilian photographer takes photos from his private family collection as a structure for a new production and the fact Smithson finds in the forgotten structures of the city a new poetic form. The effort to reconstruct the landscape appears in the work of the two artists in different ways but with theoretical congruencies; looking over the site, through images or drifts, appears as an important key concept in relation to the monument and memorable, its deconstruction and the opening of new readings. The concept of Abfall, created by the critic Andreas Müller-Pohle, provides a basis for further research in the discussion about the process of giving new meanings to informational waste recurring in certain contemporary artistic productions. Finally , we intend to contribute with issues related to perceptual processes on the space, especially with those mobilized in the formation of future architects and urbanists.