Place of being: The Burle Marx Legacy / Burle Marx Institute

PLACE OF BEING: THE BURLE MARX LEGACY

From January 27th to May 26th, 2024 at Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro

Beatriz Lemos Isabela Ono Pablo Lafuente
Burle Marx Institute and MAM Rio

The exhibition Place of being: the Burle Marx Legacy proposes new readings on the documentary collection of the work of Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) and his collaborators, in the office where more than 2 thousand landscape projects were designed between the 1930s and 1990s.

Landscaper, multifaceted artist, exponent of Brazilian modernism, Roberto Burle Marx was the author of the MAM Rio gardens project and several other proposals that are part of everyday life in the territories they are located in. To expand the dialogue about the collection*, made up of around 150 thousand items, the curatorial team, made up of Beatriz Lemos, chief curator of MAM Rio, Isabela Ono, executive director of the Burle Marx Institute, and Pablo Lafuente, artistic director of the museum, started from the themes that emerge from 22 projects by the landscaper and his team.

In a thousand square meters of exhibition area, the narrative of “Place of being” is constructed from urban projects, studies, sketches, drawings, photographs and newspaper excerpts added to the works of artists encouraged to reverberate the Burle Marx legacy through existing works or works produced especially for the exhibition: João Modé, Luiz Zerbini, Maria Laet, Mario Lopes, Rosana Paulino and Yacunã Tuxá.

*All works and projects by Roberto Burle Marx and his office present in the exhibition belong to the collection of the Burle Marx Institute.

Publication

The publication that accompanies the exhibition A Place for Being: Burle Marx's legacy was organized with the 22 projects selected from the landscape collection of Burle Marx and his collaborators. The material presents a variety of works created for public spaces, proposing an exercise that rethinks the relationship between human beings and other living beings, inspiring more inclusive and diverse cities.

The book* adopts an unconventional format, in which unstitched sheets, held together by an elastic band, allowing double pages to become A3 posters, with images of projects from the Burle Marx Institute collection. As a result, each of the 22 garden projects can also be viewed individually, reinforcing the pedagogical and playful nature of the booklet.

Access the publication and download the book in PDF

*Book for free distribution in educational activities by MAM Rio and the Burle Marx Institute, subject to availability.

Oral Memory Video

The first phase of the project to record the oral memory of Burle Marx's collaborators, partners and friends broadens the perspective of those who were part of the construction of his legacy of works and ideas, over seven decades.

Roberto Burle Marx valued the exchange of experiences and collaborative processes. He developed his projects as a team - whether in his landscaping studio, in his residence and botanical laboratory (Sítio Burle Marx) or on trips made to discover the national biomes. In the exhibition, we present the first phase of the oral memory recording project, where we invited some of Roberto's collaborators and friends to tell us about the creative process , the botanical excursions and trips, the landscape projects and their personal relationship with the landscaper. The Institute believes that these testimonies go beyond a historical record, being a celebration of this living memory and the collective and collaborative legacy built by this powerful and inspiring group.

We thank

Denise Pinheiro, Diógenes Paixão, Fatima Gomes, Gilmar Correa, Haruyoshi Ono (in memoriam), Jorge Sakai, José Tabacow, Klara Kaiser, Koiti Moiri, Luiz Antonio Mathes (in memoriam), Nanuza Menezes, Oscar Bressane and Vera Gavinho.

Fábio Seixo
Ana Isabel Cunha
Angélica Paulo
Pedro dos Santos
Maurizio Belli
Rosemberg de Araújo Silva
Interview with Haruyoshi Ono carried out in 2015 for the exhibition “Jardim de Memórias. Parque do Flamengo / 50 years” by Casa 12 Projetos e Edições
Andrei Quartin
Whelby Dias Cipó Filmes