ART CITIES:Vienna-Ernesto Neto

The organic sculpture and the magical universe of Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto take over the gallery at Upper Belvedere in Vienna, allowing audiences to engage with art using their senses. Neto’s practice combines an interest with the biological form, as well as the traditional artisanal culture of his upbringing.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Belvedere Archive

The “O tempo lento do corpo que é pele” (The Slow Pace of the Body That Is Skin) is an amorphous sculpture woven in Brazil from red and sandy strips of rubbery fabric in a traditional weaving technique called “nózinho”. It was made by the women’s cooperative Coparoca, a cooperative that trains, manages, and coordinates the work of female residents of Rocinha, (the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro). The artwork spreads over the floor like a carpet and resembles an island with hillocks swelling out of its surface. The effect is cryptic, as the “carpet” appears to be hiding something underneath, draped as it is in a very architectural fashion. The title makes reference to the skin, the cell, the architectural membrane and the soft silhouette of an animal and underscores Ernesto Neto’s fundamental interest in the relationship between body and space, the inside and the outside. This fantastic landscape is imbued with the aroma of spices: turmeric, cloves, pepper, and cumin, regular olfactory ingredients of his works and directs our attention from the visual to the sensual and haptic, from sculpture to environment. Neto’s work continues to develop in a new direction, it allows for a contemporary audience to reflect and experience his major installations and environments thus far, and gives an indication of where he intends to go.

Info: “O tempo lento do corpo que é pele”, Upper Belvedere, Prinz Eugen-Straße 27, Vienna, Duration: 26/6-7/8/15, Days & Hours: Daily: 10:00-18:00, www.belvedere.at/en