To mark the opening of the new venue in Rio, the local Marcos Chaves has designed two installations that pay tribute to his hometown. The first one –, inspired by the spontaneously created open air gyms managed in a cooperative-style, features sculptures built using cement, iron pipes, wood and rods.
Dubbed Academia – a terminology employed worldwide to denominate institutions dedicated to culture and thinking, but more widely used in Brazil to designate physical education gymnasiums –, the piece reveres the local inhabitants who display creativity and a sense of collectiveness in using the city’s landscape and outdoors, sharing their physical well-being in a healthy manner. At the show’s opening, on the ground floor of the house, the artist will present a performance in which characters from Rio will undergo physical training sets using the objects in the installation.
“The two most respected institutions in Rio de Janeiro are schools and academias... for samba and gymnastics, respectively,” the artist quips.
The artist will also exhibit the new photographic series Sugar Loafer, a sort of chronicle built upon scenes from daily life in the city, all sharing a common ‘character’: the Sugar Loaf. With a contemporary flâneur, equipped with a camera and a bicycle, the artist captured images along his way which are at times high-spirited, at other times surreal, and even geometrically strict, all depicting typical situations in Rio.
