Earth magicians land in Belém – 08/16/2023 – Zeca Camargo

In 1989, the Beaubourg, as the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris is known, hosted an exhibition that is still the most influential in its history. And it was with a certain amount of enchantment and pride that I saw an important reverberation of her reach Belém, 34 years later.

However, before diving into the Bienal das Amazônias, where I was last weekend, let’s go back to that Parisian summer. Passing through the French capital, I had already planned to visit Beaubourg.

Nothing, however, had prepared me for what I would see in its galleries. I just went to check out the “station exhibit” and found an epiphany. Discarding conventional art history references, the show’s curator, Jean-Hubert Martin, dared to present “the rest of the world”.

I have quoted this expression ironically more than once: what is “the rest of the world” to someone who loves to travel? Nothing less than the universe. And for anyone who thought that human culture boiled down to what you had learned from western education, “Les Magiciens de la Terre” was a slap in the face.

Alongside already established artists, such as Barbara Kruger, Marina Abramovic, Anselm Kiefer and Sigmar Polke, the visitor found disconcerting names: Huang Yong Ping, Lobsang Palden, Amidou Dossou and Raja Barbu Sharma. And they almost always provoked a greater dazzle than the big shots.

It was the world throwing open the museum halls, in a very rich and necessary cascade effect that now reaches Belém. “The Magicians of the Earth” from the title of the Beaubourg collective finally landed in the capital of Pará and will be there until November 5, to provoke you.

“Bubuia” is the theme of this inaugural show, a fitting inspiration. The simplicity of relaxing in the waters of a river that the expression translates is also in the works of this Bienal das Amazônias, starting with one of the photos of the incredible Elza Lima, honored with a special room.

Other important artists of contemporary Brazilian art, such as Adriana Varejão and Anna Bella Geiger, are also there. As well as exponents of a new vibrant generation that is starting to shine in “southern” galleries: Éder Oliveira, Hal Wildson, Rafael Bqueer, PV Dias, Gustavo Caboco.

But it is when we find names like Sãnipã, Xadalu Tupã Jekupé, Denilson Baniwan, Faísca, Emanuel Franco, Paola Torrez Nuñez del Prado, NouN and T2i, Elvira Espejo or Uyra Sodoma that such an epiphany comes.

Where were these fantastic creators? Silly question, obvious answer: creating, always. But in its spaces, until now defined geographically as the Amazon. What this biennial does is implode these limits and take these very rich imaginaries to infinity.

It is no coincidence that such an event takes place in Belém. Ten years after its conception, Lívia Condurú’s project arrived at a city ready to be a portal from the Amazon (and from Brazil!) to the world.

Reenergized with the choice to host the COP30, in 2025, the capital of Pará is yet another example of a tourist hub that wants to go well beyond the postcard. A few weeks ago, I toyed with the unusual notion of traveling to Fortaleza not just for the beaches, but to explore the contemporary art there at the brand new Pinacoteca.

Belém, with this daring initiative, set up in the unlikely space of an old department store, in the heart of popular commerce in the capital, proves that it also has its eye on horizons far beyond that sun that sets eerily in Guajará bay.

She wants to be another portal for these “Earth magicians”, ready to enchant you. Understand signs.

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