Objects, images and their agency: An introductory overview of Indigenous arts in Brazil
A talk by Ilana Seltzer Goldstein (University of São Paulo), organized by Maurício Ianês, Ruth Sonderegger and Jens Kastner, Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies.
Despite the enormous ethnic and linguistic diversity in Brazil, certain elements are common to a large proportion of the objects produced by the indigenous peoples living in the country today, such as the agency of objects and the relationship between aesthetics and alterity. We will begin by presenting some of these elements before discussing the continuities and transformations of Indigenous works as they enter the Western art system, for example, museums and biennales – something that has occurred only very recently in Brazil.