| This thesis mines the artistic practice of three giants of Brazilian 20th century art, Lygia Clark, Helio Oiticica and Oscar Niemeyer, in search of mission and identity for contemporary art museums in the 21st century. In their distinctive explorations of new inter-dependencies between ethics, aesthetics and space, each of these artists brought a particularly Brazilian utopian spirit to their work. From their example comes the central question of this research: how can Brazilian art institutions look to these artists' ethical-aesthetic paradigms to reframe the institution of the art museum to embrace its curatorial and educational practices with a living ethics?;The thesis is the result of ten years of research led by practice, as Education Director and then Director of Niemeyer's Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niteroi (MAC) as well as other curatorial education experiences at Centro de Arte de Helio Oiticica (CAHO) and the XXIV Sao Paulo Biennale. |
