Present in the museum: collection building processes of Brazilian contemporary art

Author(s)

Joana Vieira Tuttoilmondo

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2010-10-26

Examining board members

Maria Cecilia Franca Lourenco; Marcelo Mattos Araújo; Helouise Lima Costa; Agnaldo Aricê Caldas Farias; Sylvia Helena Furegatti

• Advisor: Maria Cecilia Franca Lourenco

Abstract

This study analyses the collection building processes focused in Brazilian contemporary art in ten Brazilian museums and the circumstances of this practice under the current art systems configuration. As a case study, it investigates the curatorial processes and collection policy of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo [São Paulo Modern Art Museum] during the 1990s and 2000s. Based on the diagnostic of the conditions of Brazilian art museums towards the acquisition of artworks produced in the last two decades, this research aims to discuss some aspects of the sociocultural art field, the challenges that art museums face today, as well as the infl uence of its collection practice on the constitution of the recent artistic heritage and on the construction of art history. This investigation seeks to contribute to the understanding of the value foundation process and its legitimacy in contemporary art, examining the institutionalization dynamics of the contemporary art production. In this sense, it articulates the analysis of the preservation policy of museums to the exposure and insertion of Brazilian production in the international art circuit. (AU)