I had the opportunity to admire the space of the Original Annex building after it was one of the buildings of DETRAN [S\u00e3o Paulo State Department of Motor Vehicles] and before it was remodeled. The experience may be summarized in one sentence: it was the ideal space to host contemporary art exhibitions in Brazil. And while admiring the two \u201cfloors\u201d (the ground floor and the mezzanine) and the set of piers \u2013 all of this under the bright light of a spring morning in S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013, I was certain of Oscar Niemeyer\u2019s talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An architectural space that is both strong and subtle, illumined by that marvelous light, was destined to contemporary art. (And at that precise moment it occurred to me I should invite Carlito Carvalhosa to occupy that space. At the time \u2013 May of 2010 \u2013, the artist\u2019s production needed, and deserved, a monumental space to expand). However, that inspiring experience with the work of Niemeyer was soon interrupted when I was informed that the remodeling project included major changes: an air-conditioning system and drywall had already been purchased and were to be installed right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Facing the irreversible, I was able to guess what that place where architecture and light met in a perfect balance would become: a huge \u201cwhite cube\u201d , a wonderful temple of art set apart from nature and history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I was not mistaken: just as every traditional modern art space, by means of adjustments oriented by an art that is limited to its established specificities, the remodeled Original Annex of the new MAC USP building ended up by transforming such a unique building in yet another space dedicated to traditional art. It was still a beautiful space \u2013 there is no doubt about that \u2013 but it was secluded, distant from the connections its creator had devised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gladly, Carvalhosa did not change his mind regarding the invitation I had made and accepted to create the first artistic intervention in that space even after the remodeling was finished. I say gladly because, with the work Waiting Room, the artist was able to rescue the building from the fate it had to face at the last minute: being the largest Brazilian white cube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlito Carvalhosa\u2019s strategy to activate the space he was offered to work with consisted in precisely using as point of departure the, \u201cin parenthesis\u201d, the timeless feature the Original Annex acquired after it was remodeled. With that purpose, he focused on the main structural element of the building: the harmonious set of piers. In contrast to this almost ethereal colonnade, which seems to be a subtle relief emerging from the white space, Carvalhosa placed nearly one hundred old wooden lampposts, which had once been part of an electrical grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When visitors see the intervention from above (from the mezzanine), or experience the work from the inside, they will notice the artist adds to that previously sacred space an irreversible present-day dimension. And the reason of being of Carvalhosa\u2019s intervention is highlighted precisely in the combination between the set of piers and the lampposts that are never vertical (they are all placed in a horizontal\/diagonal position), as well as the material density and the historical thickness of the lampposts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The space that had become isolated, secluded, almost like a waiting room (the waiting room \u2013 that place where we always go after an actual experience to wait for the next), is then revealed to be a space of action, of participatory and awareness-raising perception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, Waiting Room gives this space a new life and, thus, recovers the best (of) Niemeyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By opening this new art space in S\u00e3o Paulo with an intervention that exemplifies how current art, if capable and qualified, is able to vivify the past, the Contemporary Art Museum of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo reaffirms its commitment to be a place where reflection and prospection work together. <\/p>\n\n\n
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