Brazilian Contemporary Art

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"Tupy or Not Tupy?" Examining Hybridity in Contemporary Brazilian ArtAuthor(s): Flavia M. C. BastosSource: Studies in Art Education, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Winter, 2006), pp. 102-117Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3497103 .

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Copyright 2006 by theNational Art EducationAssociation Studies n Art EducationAJournalf Issues ndResearch2006,47(2),102-117

"Tupyor not tupy?"ExaminingHybridityin ContemporaryBrazilianArtFlavia M. C. BastosUniversity of Cincinnati

Correspondenceregardinghisarticleshouldbeaddressedtothe author tSchoolofArt,UniversityfCincinnati, .O. Box210016, Cincinnati,OH 45221-0016.E-mail:[email protected]

Updating the 1920s notion of Anthropophagyeveloped to symbolize throughcannibalisticritual the process of cultural assimilation that influencesart, thisarticle examines issues of naming, describing, and representing contemporaryBrazilian art. In the first part of the article, the work of four contemporaryBrazilianartistsrecentlyexhibited in the United States frames criticism to thecommon practiceof labeling contemporaryartworksaccordingto nationaliden-tity. In the article's second section, Brazil's multifaceted cultural and artisticcontext will be used to outline implications for art education and institutionalpracticesmore attuned to the transnational dimensions of art. In conclusion,hybridity becomes a twofold framework. It describes, as Anthropophagydidbefore,culturallayering, negotiations,and disputes. It also articulatesa politicalposition more fitting to captureand interpretthe artproducedin our globalage,not only in Brazil."Tupy or not Tupy? That is the question" was the motto of a Brazilian

vanguard movement of the '20s. Reacting to European supremacy,Anthropophagy [Antropofagia] took cannibalism as metaphor for theprocess of cultural assimilation. The strong, often negative associations wehave about consuming human flesh intended to provide an image for thesymbolic (and sometimes actual) violence of cultural assimilation. PoetOswald de Andrade proposed in the movement's 1928 manifesto that tobreak with cultural dependency on foreign models and create art that wasstrongly Brazilian, it would be necessary to consume and transformEuropean influences, in the same way Tupinamba Indians would devourand digest the enemy in order to take his strength (Canejo, 2004).Therefore, to name this activist art of Brazil required avoiding thedenomination imposed by the colonizer in favor of one used by theregion's early habitants-Tupy, the name of one of the largest branchesof native languages in South America. An intentionally blatant paraphraseof Hamlet, "Tupy or not Tupy?" encapsulated the cultural politics ofnational art identity.

Issues associated with naming, describing, and representing the art ofdifferent countries extend to present-day. On the one hand, art is in andof a nation. Art is created within the constraints, influence, and supportof modern-era nation-states. Often art is exhibited and labeled accordingto the place it was created or its creator'snationality. Nonetheless, under-standing art frequently requires transcending the boundaries of a nation.As the cannibalist approach underscores,at the core of making, exhibiting,and interpreting art are the processes of transforming, appropriating, and

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exchangingdeas,perspectives, nd culturalnorms.In the globalsystemwe experience oday, these boundariesbetween nation and cultureareconstantlybeing re-drawn,raisingquestions about taken-for-grantedpracticesof labelingworks of art according o nationalorigin. I invitereaders,especiallyart educators n the United States,to exploreother,perhapsmoreproductive,waysto think about works of art from othernations,particularlyBrazil.This articleinquires nto the contemporarycondition of hybridity hroughthe examinationof four internationallyknown contemporaryartistsrecentlyexhibited in the United States,MestreDidi, Helio Oiticica,Anna Bella Geiger,and AdrianaVarejao.Brazilianart providesa case in point to investigatethe transnationaldimensions of contemporaryart and invites awarenessof the politicalimplications f a hybridposition.A Renewed Interest in Brazilian ArtIn 1998, for the first time since its establishment, the Sao PauloBiennial was completely devoted to the truly Brazilian subject ofAnthropophagy.Morerecentlyn 2000, the large-scalexhibitionMostrado Redescobrimento:rasil500 anos[The RediscoveryShow: Brazil500years],also held in Sao Paulo, examined the multiplicityof Brazilianartisticproduction rom the indigenous o thecontemporary.n 2002 theGuggenheimMuseumorganizedBrazil:Bodyand Soul,the largestandmost comprehensivexhibitionof Brazilian rtabroad.Partakingn thespiritof the Rediscoveryhow, he Guggenheim howsin New YorkandBilbao,Spain, presentedprominentworkscreatedby Brazilian rtists ofostera morecomprehensivenderstandingf thecountryanditsart.As a Brazilian rteducatorworking n the UnitedStates,I have mixedfeelingsabout the usefulness f the label"Brazilianrt."On the onehand,it serves o drawattention,qualify,andperhaps ustify,the unfamiliarityof certainaudienceswith certainartistsor forms.By andlarge,Brazilhasbeen excluded from the efforts of English-speakingAmericato correctEurocentricpracticesby directing scholarshipand exhibits on manyaspectsof Latin Americanart during the last two decades (Sullivan,2001). Therefore,he labelBrazilianartcan be useful n focusingcurato-rialand interpretive racticeson artistsand visualculturemanifestationsat risk of being excluded. On the other hand, Brazilian art can be amisleadingand perhapsproblematicabel. As Canclini(2004) observes,the modernhistoryof arthas beenpracticed ndwritten, o agreatextentas ahistoryof artof nations.Nationsappearedo be a logicalmode of organization f cultureandthearts.Eventhevanguardshatmeantto distance hemselves rom

thesocio-culturalodesare dentifiedwithcertain ountries,as ifthesenationalprofileswouldhelpdefinetheirrenovativeprojects:thus,one talksaboutItalianFuturism,RussianConstructivism,ndtheMexicanMuralist chool.(p. 702)

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the occupation of vast territoriesand the dispossessionof indigenouspeoples.In the UnitedStates, he occupierswere calledpioneers,n Brazil,they were called bandeirantes[explorers].Subsequently,both countriesmassively mportedAfricans to form the two largestslave societies ofmodern times, up until slaverywas abolished,with the EmancipationProclamation n 1863 in the United States and the "Golden Law"of1888 in Brazil. Both countriesreceivedparallelwavesof immigrationfrom all over the world, ultimately ormingmulticultural ocietieswithsubstantialindigenous,African,Italian, German,Japanese,Slavic,Arab,and Jewishpopulationsand influences (Almeida,2003). This view ofBraziland the United States can supporta dialoguein which issuesofculture,identity,and representation s examinedby artistsof differentbackgroundsanbe discussedn a novelway.A Personal Selection of Brazilian Contemporary ArtMy selection of four artistsseeks to exemplifysignificantthemesinBraziliancontemporaryart and their transnational connections. Forexample,an awarenessf BlackAtlanticculturalpatternsandaestheticssembodied in Mestre Didi's Afro-Brazilianart;a negotiation betweeninternational fine arts discourse and local references s at the core ofOiticica'sTropicalism;and an attemptto represent he dual subalternstatus of Latin American women is common threadin Geiger'sandVarjeao'screations. These works are not emblematic of an essentialBrazilianess, ut indicativeof the diversecultural nfluencesshapingamultifacetedcontemporaryrtproduction.MestreDidi andtheArt of Candomble

Duringthe Atlanticslave tradebetweenthe 16th and 19th centuries,hundredsof thousandsof theYorubawereexported o the New Worldtowork on plantations.Yorubaslavespreserved significantpartof theirculturalheritage,whichmarkedlynfluenced he New World'sculture nthe new religionsthat werecreated, ncludingCandomble n Brazil.Incontemporary culture, these New World religions of Candomble,Santeria,and Shango,amongothers,createspacesof Africanculturenotdilutedwithin the nationalcultures,although he practitionersrepartoftheir respectivenationalentities and within these boundariesconsiderthemselvesBrazilian,Cuban, Trinidadian,and so on (Lindsay,1996).Accordingto Thompson (1984), the Yorubahave sophisticatedartisticsensibilities.One of the earliestdictionaries f the language,published n1858, included the entry amewa, which means knower of beauty,connoisseur.The Yorubaappreciatereshnessand improvisationn thearts,qualities hat areevident n thevastbodyof artworkscelebratingeli-gion. This balancebetweentraditionand renewal marksthe artworkscreatedbyMestreDidi.MestreDidi is an 80-year-oldAfro-Brazilian rtist who is a devoutfollower of the Orishas, Yorubaancestraldeities. His own religious

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authority formed the basis for his work in sculpture. Using diverse voicesto express himself and his art, Mestre Didi is a writer who narrates storiesand myths of origin, a priest, and a visual artist (Araujo, 2001). Thevigorous insertion of Mestre Didi into the international scene started inthe mid 1960s (Costa, 1997). His work was shown in African museums(in Accra, Dakar, Lagos) as well as in European, Latin American, andNew York venues.

Figure1. Mestre Didi. ObdObadena King of theSentinels).Bundledpalmribs, leather,beads,andcowrieshells,68 x 24 x 24 cm. Collectionof the artist. Used with

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Mestre Didi's works begin with a systematic unit: a bunch of palm-treeribs bound together by strips of leather. His sculptures range from about2 to 10 feet and are adorned with leather, glass beads, cowrie shells, andfiber skirts of different colors. His materials are evocative of straight andlooped Yoruba ritual brooms, shashara and ibiri, sacred implements forpurifying spaces, places, and persons, and assuringof well being and goodfortune. According to dos Santos (2001), his works convey both a senseof tradition and renewal. Starting with a shashara, each sculpture repre-sents a variation, fugue, an ode dedicated to the perpetuation of tradi-tional form. During most of his life he has made ritual objects; hisaesthetic production, inspired by traditional matrixes, has led to newsymbolizing interpretations,offering innovative insight into tradition.

Didi's work is part of the important tradition of Afro-Brazilian ritualand aesthetics. The role played by Africa in the formation of the Braziliancollective consciousness cannot be overstated. From the earliest contactsbetween the New and the Old Worlds, cultural patterns emerged inBrazil that parallel those of many of the African civilizations from whichthe slaves were taken. Food, language, visual art, music, dance, and reli-gion are all elements of Brazilian culture that have permeated and havebeen forged in these contacts with Africa. The aesthetic experience ofAfrican-Brazilian religion is part of a system of references in which eachobject has a function and an objective with regardto the sacred (Montes,2001). The sacred is the source of an entire production of art that hasremained clandestine, and the origin of an aesthetic that is not recognizedby official history but which nevertheless presents unique Afro-Braziliancharacteristics. Mestre Didi's works reflect this vibrant tradition broughtto Brazil by the African Diaspora. The assimilation of African-Brazilianart such as Didi's in the contemporary international art milieu can beunderstood as a layered Anthropophagic phenomenon. Yoruba's rootsform the core layer that is surrounded by New World's oppression, andfinally festooned with mainstream art world's recognition. These powerstruggles shape not only the art itself, but more importantly, how it isabsorbed into our experience.

Music, Art, and Revolution: Helio Oiticica and TropicalismAn inclusive art movement of the late 1960s, Tropicalism began withpop music, as a reaction to the international popularity and lax politicalmessage of bossa nova, Brazilian cool jazz. Initiated by two musicians,Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, the rebellious art movement voicedstrong opposition and resistance to the military dictatorship that startedin 1964. In Veloso's words, Tropicalism's purpose was... to sort out the tension between Brazil-the paralleluniverse andBrazilthe country peripheralto the American Empire. A country,which at the time was ruled by a military dictatorship, believed tohave been fostered by anticommunist maneuvers of the American

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EmpireCentralIntelligenceAgency.[...] Tropicalismwantedtoproject tself as the triumphover two notions:one, that the versionof the Westernenterprise fferedbyAmericanpop and massculturewaspotentially iberating ndtwo, thehorrifying umiliationrepresentedy capitulationo the narrow nterests f dominantgroups,whetherat home or internationally.2003, pp. 6-7)Helio Oiticica (1937-1980) has been creditedwith developingthevisual art componentto this politically chargedmovement. The name,Tropicalism,erivesromthemadeupword Tropicdlia,1967 installation.Alreadyan establishedartist at the time, Oiticica's Tropic'liarevisitedAnthropophagy'sdeas to inquire nto national dentiyand representation.Oiticica attemptedto impose an obviously Brazilianimage upon thecurrent context of the avant-gardeand national art manifestations ngeneral.

Tropicalianstallation.The workconsistsof two structureshat can bepenetratedby the spectator, alledpenetrdveispenetrables]. ccording oCanejo'sdescription 2004), the largerof the two works,PN3, is a smalllabyrinthhat combines nternationalmodernistconceptswith the innov-ativearchitecturef thefavelas squatter ousingon the hillsideof Rio deJaneiro).This combinationof canonicalartandvernacularstyle questionsset values n raising he structuraldesignof thefavelas o the levelof highart. Oiticica was highly conscious of the latest contemporaryperfor-mances, nstallations, ndhappeningsand Tropicdliamust also be seen ashis attemptto co-opt these forms.The other penetrable n Tropicalia,PN2, is an open-roofed"booth" n which the spectators enclosedwithsensoryobjects: ragrantherbsand soil. The two structuresn Tropicdliaare to be seen and experienced ogether.They aremulti-sensorynstalla-tions surroundedby stereotypicallymblematicBrazilian lements.Thisbackyardis made up of picturesque sandy paths, small rock beds,common tropicalplants,and, originally, ive macaws.From the outside,the visitor hearsthe sounds of birds mixed with muffled voices frominside the labyrinth. Walking barefootacross the sand, the spectatorentersthe smallcorridorof the labyrinth.As s/he ventures urther nside,the halldarkens;he material verheadbecomessolidand the slitsof lightbetweenthe exteriorwallboardsgrowsmallerand finallycloseup. Thus,once in the interior,spacediminishesand thereis a gradualoss of lightand air.The corridorsare narrowand thereis no out at the other end.Rounding he lastcorner, heparticipanteesa fluctuating lowandhearsa low sound,althoughnot yet discerning he source.Then, suddenly /heencountersa flickering elevisionset. Oiticicahas described he internalspiralof the structureas a "shell."At its center,the participants capti-vated by a constant bombardmentof "global" mages. According toHelio's 1968 diaryentry(ascitedin the 1996 Helio Oiticica xhibitcata-




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logue), "it is the image that devours the spectator... [this] is in myopinionthemostanthropophagic orkin Brazilian rt"(p.125).Oiticicaproposes o cannibalize eatures f international ontemporaryand modernisticartisticstyles.At the same time, the work intends toabsorbthe power of the colonizersin reproducing he exotic Braziloftheirimagination n the backyard f his environmentalwork.SurpassingoriginalAnthropophagicenetsproposedby Oswaldde Andrade,Oiticicawas deconstructing he myth of a Brazilian ropicalparadise hroughacontrast between the isolated calm exterior fashioned with typicalelementsof the tropics(birds,colorfulfabric,white sand, etc.) and theinterior assault of broadcasttelevision images. This combination ofsymbolicsituations interiorvs. exterior)and clichedobjects(nationalvs.international)s effectiveand powerful.This way of alludingindirectly,

Figure2. Helio Oiticica. TropicdliapenetrablesN2 and PN3, 1967, installedat StateUniversityof Rio deJaneiro,1990. Usedwith permissionof the artist.

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rather than explicitly confronting issues, becomes the trademark ofTropicalist artists, including musicians, playwrights, film directors, andpoets (Canejo, 2004). Additionally, this subtlety of expression was anecessarystrategy to sidestep the increasing censorship to the arts imposedby the military dictatorship at the time.Counter-narratives of Conquest: Two Contemporary Women Artists

Unveiling the dynamics of conquest that have marked Brazilianhistoryfrom the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500, these two women artistsworking today in Brazil explore continuities and discontinuities in timeand space. The conceptual maps of Anna Bella Geiger and the post-modern history paintings of Adriana Varejao illustrate the dualities ofcenter/periphery, hegemony/subordination, global/local as they apply toLatin America's relationship to European colonialism and dominance bythe United States (Sterling, 2001).Anna Bella Geiger's maps incorporate the constituent elements cartog-raphershave used to represent the world since the voyages of discovery. Inthis reinvented cartography she does not offer the typical coherent visionof global order. Instead, Geiger's mapping strategies have emphasizedgeographic fragmentation, elision, and discontinuity, played out in a

Figure3. AnnaBellaGeiger.OrbisDescriptio Descriptionof the World).Courtesyof TepperTakayamaFine Arts.

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varietyof media.Shefillsshallow iledrawerswith elegantlyreconfiguredmapsof the Southernand NorthernHemispheres.Whetherstampedoutin encausticor tracedin preciousand basemetals,her waxen seas arefluid,the continentsdrift,meridiansreposition hemselves, nd theirexis-tence seemspoised to continue outside the box. Since the early1970s,Geigerhasexploredrepresentation,edefiningmapsto alludeto herowninterrogationsabout the territorialconstructionof Brazil'snew globalsphere.As many artistsof her generation,Geigerexploredthe function andnature of the work of art. However, in the politically and culturallyrepressedBrazil of the early 1970s (post-Tropicalism),Geiger foundherself torn betweencriticizingthe concept of "Brazilianess"hat hadbeen co-optedas partof the authoritarianideologyof the governmentand havingher work attacked as ideologicallytraditional.Fearingherworkwouldsimply llustrate his tension,Geigeroptedforusingparody,turningherwork nto derritorializednddissonantfragmentsCocchiarale,2001). Thesedisturbingorbsandchartsalsospeakof the Brazilian rtistcultural xile ass/he occupiesa secondary osition n an international ndhierarchical rtsystem.AdrianaVarejao's ontemporary aroquehistorypaintingscreated nthe style of Portugal's amed azulejos blue-and-whitedecorative iles)deftly invert the officialhistoryof Brazil's nvasionby appropriatinglanguagefavoredby the Portugueseconquerors.She recontextualizescannibalscenes lifted from earlyexplorers' ravelnarratives,depictingrelics and votive offerings,and incorporating magesof dismemberedorganson her chosen canvas of Portuguese iles. VisuallyrepresentingAnthropophagy'sotion of absorptionwith the Other, Varejao'sworksdepict parallelsbetween the allegedcannibalpracticesof Brazil'snativesand the Eucharisticritual as a symbolic consumption of the body ofChrist(Carvajal,001).

Evoking a sense of passage, a journey among divergent images,cultures, imes and spaces,Varejaoappropriatesnd re-mapsa vastbodyof images,forms,and ideasdisseminatedby the Europeansduringtheircolonizationof Brazil.Commentingon thishistoryof violenceand domi-nation, resistance, isplacements,ndsyncretisms,hesays,I aminterested n verifyingn myworkdialecticalprocesses fpowerandpersuasion. subvert hoseprocesses ndtryto gaincontrolover them in order o becomeanagentof historyratherthanremaining nanonymous,passive pectator. not onlyappropriateistoricimages-I alsoattempt o bringbackto lifetheprocesses,whichcreated hemand use themto constructnewversions. cited n Carvajal,001, p. 116)

Varejaomakes us awareof the continuousreformulation f historyand our role in it. A commonthread n these two artists'works s, on the

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Figure4. AdrianaVarejao.Proposalfora Catechesis: artI Diptych:Death and Dismemberment,1993. Oil on canvas,531/8x 941/2 in. Used with permissionof the artist.one hand, unveiling the processesof the constructionof Brazil as anentity with a geographic,historical,and culturalexistence;and on theother,representingransnationalelationshipshat informBrazil'spositionin pastandpresenthistory.Highly political,their worksmake a powerfulcommentaryabout Brazil'ssubjugated relationshipwith Europe and,morerecently, he United States.AdrianaVarejioand Anna BellaGeiger,like Helio Oiticica beforethem, give continuity to the Anthropophagicpreoccupation of examining Brazilian cultural and artistic identity,providingcounter-narrativesf identitythatencompasshistory,domina-tion, and otherness.

Beyond Essentialist Conceptions of Brazilian ArtMuseumand cultural nstitutions hat haverecently xhibitedBrazilianart, such as the Guggenheim,the WalkerArt Center,and the NationalMuseum of Women in the Arts, have revisited traditional practices.Echoingsome of the sameconcernsvoicedin thisarticle, hese nstitutionsstrived to addressand minimize the problemsof representing eograph-ical-political ntities such as nation-statesthroughselectedworks of art.In practice,however, heseefforts o meet the demandsof a globalagenda

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and the need to educateEnglish-speakingudiencesabout largelyunfa-miliarartworks, esulted n Brazilianartexhibits that sought to capture"theessentialnatureof anextraordinaryountry"Krens,2001, p. xiii).I am the first to acknowledgehat Brazilianart is a recognizableate-gory.Nonetheless,asSchultz,Sims,Rotilie,Atkinson,andWalters 2003)observe,while descriptorsuch as BrazilianartorJapanese rtmay giveaudiencessome familiar nformation, heir usefulness s questionable.Aconsiderable iskis to make the meaningbehind one artist'sworkspeakfor an entire culture.Additionally, ncreasinglynomadiclifestylesmakenationality an incomplete indicator of artists' cultural background.Clearly, t is relevant o knowif the personmaking he work has lived orstudied other placesor is connectedto other cultures.However,as we

becomeawareof the limitationsof understandingf contemporary orksof artthoughnationalityabels,we are facedwith a paradox.On the onehand, the existence of nation-statescannot be denied, along with theintellectualhabit of expectingto gain insightsinto artworks rom theirgeographicalprovenance.On the other hand, postmodernperspectiveshavesensitizedus to multi-layeredndcomplexunderstandingsf culturethat cannot be containedby nationalfrontiers.Accordingto Canclini(2004), the current nterest n investigating rtisticand cultural dentitiesis shapedby a discordantdialoguebetween fundamentalism nd global-ization.The pretensionof constructing ationalculturesandrepresentingthemby specific conographiess challengedn our time by the processesof an economic and symbolictransnationalization.Herkenhoff(2003)reminds us that the mechanisms of global articulationare all-encom-passing, ncludingimmigration,drugs,corporations,errorism, ommu-nications,weaponssmuggling,capital, omnipotent governments,war,weather,human-madeglobalwarming,naturalcatastrophes, isease,sex,AIDS, tourism,and art.The worldin which we live todayis markedbythe dual presenceof abjectmiseryand unprecedented bundance,bothoutcomes of the globaleconomic order(Sen, 2001). To understand heart produced in this complex, layered, and many times incongruentworld,it is important o operateoutside conventional abelsand notionsof arthistory,makingroom forwhat Becker 2002) calls"unrulyormsofintelligence."The modernaffairof lookingat art and artifacts rom othercultures and other countries must evolve in response to postmodernconcernsandworldorder.The final section of this articlewill proposeanalternatewayto access he artrecentlyproducedn Brazil.

Considering Hybridity in Contemporary Brazilian ArtInternationalnterest n Brazilian rt invitesrobustinterpretiverame-works hat breakusualcliches(Farias,1997). Suchframeworksanenableviewers and institutions to engage with these works in a novel way.Particularlyn the UnitedStates, his renewed nterest n Brazilian rt canopen up a conversation boutcomplementary erspectiveshat takeinto

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account socio-cultural ndpolitical ssues. On the one hand,these issuesinfluenceartworks'ormandcontent;and,on the otherhand,theystruc-ture the experienceof viewing such works in the United States. Morespecifically, he Americanhegemonicrelationshipwith Braziland otherLatinAmerican ountries, n a similarvein to the earlierEuropeandomi-nation of the New World, is an important theme in Brazilian art.Thereforeencounterswith these worksmust inquire nto the powerrela-tions that forgedthe two countriesand informedtheir currentand pastrelationships.Art educatorsnterestedn culturalunderstandingChanda,1995; Krug, 2003; Mason, 2004; Stuhr, 2003; Zimmerman, 1990)proposea shift frombinaryrelationsof difference hatstereotypewhatwethink of as culture.Gooding-Brown2000) suggestsa disruptivemodel ofinterpretation hat highlightsthe social constructionof interpretation,self, and difference.Inspiredby borderstudies,Garber 1995) discussesthe developmentof a borderconsciousness,which impliesthe knowledgeof at least two sets of referencecodes operatingsimultaneously.Theabilityto simultaneouslynegotiatetwo codes-as seen in MestreDidi'scoalescingof Brazilianexperiences nd Yoruba raditions,Oiticica'sjuxta-positionof fine artand vernacular rchitecture,ndVarejaoandGeiger'spulsinginternaland externalperspectives-is essential o graspcontem-poraryworks.The four Brazilian rtistspresentedn this articlebegforanunrulyanalysishatrequires ruptureromconventionalwaysof engagingwith artfrom other countries.Alternativeapproachesuch as thesehavethe potential o concurrentlydenouncethe perilsof nationalismand offer a frameworko understandcontemporaryhybridity.For Canclini (1995) hybridity s the ongoingconditionof all cultures,which containno zonesof purity,because heyundergocontinuing processesof transculturation two-wayborrowingand lendingbetweencultures).In otherwords,hybridity s a character-istic of contemporaryimes andart,underlininghe existenceof multipleand simultaneous influences and associations. It acknowledges thatneitherthe artist'snor the work's dentitycan be reduced o a simplifiednotion of nation. Enwezor, curatorof the most recent Documenta,suggestedcontemporary rtpractices houldmodel the "hybridizationfthe world where roots are replacedby routestakingpeople on unsuretravelsnto the future"(Belting,2001, p. 337).A dynamicconcept,hybridityrefers o the coexisting nfluencesnego-tiated n andthroughworksof art.It focuses ess on the mixedculturalorethniccodesthatmayhavebeenarticulated,henon the powerdynamicsthatproduced hesevariousreferences.Hybridityencompasses politicaldimension,rendering ulturalborrowing ndlandingvisibleaswell asthefrequently nequitable ocialconditionsin which it occurs,such as colo-nization,war, or imperialism.Pointedly,hybriditycan refer us to ourshared humanity, without simplifying or homogenizing cultures ornations.Furthermore,t can becomea valuable ool to delvedeeplyinto

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thecomplexities f culturalnegotiationandcreativityhatsurpassmodernconceptions of nation.

Tupyor not Tupy?The ConclusionMayBe BothBy criticizingdominationthroughparody-literally and metaphori-cally depictingcannibalismas the ultimateact of absorptionwith theother, the Anthropophagicmovement has inspiredBrazilianartiststopoliticizetheirpractice.As a result,this criticalgenreof art sought todenouncethe historical,political, cultural,and economic domination;celebrate he mixed ethnic and culturalheritageshatexisted n Brazilasaresultof that;and promotea twofoldunderstandingf Brazilian rt andcultureas, (1) a counter-narrativef oppression,and (2) the articulationof a hybridposition.Contemporary razilian rtists uch asDidi, Geiger,Oiticica,and Varejaohave drawnupon a mix of cultural nfluencestoarticulate progressive oliticalposition.We can learnby engagingwiththeir art thathybriditys not onlya condition of contemporaryrtworks,but also an empowering ositionfromwhich to speak.Our engagementwith these works cangivepriority o concernsaboutlabeling their characteristics"Brazilian"or "Tupy"or "Latin."Thislabelingpractice only invites disembodiedexpertiseand reinforces hestatusquo. Alternatively, transformativeapproach nquires nto socialconstruction of the artwork. Such an encounter has the potential toengenderan act of cultural ranslation hataccording o Bhabha 1994),"desacralizeshe transparentssumptions f culturalsupremacy"p. 228).Therefore,encounterswith contemporary rtworksdemanddebunkingmonolithicviews of nation,culture,and art,in favorof a morenuancedandlayeredexamination f self, other,and context.Such encountersalsorequire mbracinghe notion of hybridityas a powerfuland moreappro-priate analyticalframeworkto reflect upon and interpretart createdwithinthecomplexculturalnegotiations f theglobalsystem.It seems o me,hybridity anbecomea framework iththepotential otranscend raditional ation-stateboundaries, nda morefittingapproachto inquiry nto contemporaryrtworks.Hybriditycanbe seen as a sharedconditionof these four Brazilianartists,and conceivablyof manyothercontemporaryrtistswho seekto makestatementsaboutthe transitionalculturalspaces hey occupyand theirjourneys n gettingthere.Buildingon the post-colonial notion of contact zone, or Garber'sconcept ofborderland, othspaceswhereculturesmeet,clash,andgrapplewith oneanother,hybridityhas the potential o replace mperialistunderstandingsof nation with an organic articulation of cultural identity. Men andwomen of our globaland multiculturalage, amongthem artists,do notnecessarily ind their place within any particularculture,but in thesemany in-between and transitional spaces they occupy. Embracingahybrid view of art and culture is a challenge that art educatorsandcultural nstitutionsbegin to recognizeas essential n an age when thearticulation f differencetrives o replacehegemonicartpractices.

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ReferencesAlmeida, A. F. J. (2003). Unveiling the mirror:Afro-Brazilianidentity and the emergenceof a

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