Affinities II – Women!

"The participating artists selected works from MON's collection with which they have the greatest affinity and which inspire them the most and, based on them, built a new narrative. The intention is to promote the collection from different approaches," explains Juliana.

As a result, this exhibition represents the Asian and African arts, as well as the work of Curitiba artist Poty Lazzarotto, bringing to the public a little of the three fabulous donations received by MON, as well as several other works by renowned contemporary artists, under the artists' eyes.

"It is fundamental that the Museum opens space for the female representation in the arts. Moreover, doing this through curatorial actions is great. The sensitive look of these invited artists leads the viewer to a different reading of MON's collection," says Luciana Casagrande Pereira, General Superintendent of Culture.

Feminine gaze
The exhibition "Affinities II - Women!" has about 130 works and counts with the participation of the invited artists: Carina Weidle, Debora Santiago, Juliana Notari, Juliana Stein, Laura Vinci, Leila Pugnaloni, Maria Macêdo, Mariana Palma, Regina Silveira, and Vilma Slomp.

After immersion in MON's collection, they chose works by the artists: Alfredo Volpi, Antanas Sutkus, Arcangelo Ianelli, Carlos Fajardo, Daniel Senise, Didonet Thomaz, Dulce Osinski, Eduardo Berliner, Eliane Prolik, Emerson Persona, Flavio Cerqueira, Francisco Faria, Francisco Stockinger, Geraldo Leão, Heliana Grudzien, Hugo Mendes, Ida Hannemann de Campos, Jefferson Cesar, João Turin, Leonardo Régnier, Leonor Botteri, Leopoldo Plentz, Maria Bonomi, Martín Chambi, Masao Yamamoto, Miguel Bakun, Poty Lazzarotto, Rodrigo Andrade, Tomie Ohtake, Valdir Cruz, Violeta Franco, Washington Silvera, and Wayna Picchu.

According to the curators, new compositions were created from these works, which allow us to revisit MON's collections with a wide variety of eras and supports, thus allowing us to go through the history of art from the 19th century to the present day.

"The exhibition was about celebrating relationships with a surreality between purposely chosen works of art. This game leads to sensations offered by the artists to the visitors," comments Marc Pottier. "In this exercise, the artists take the place of the curator, who starts acting only as an advisor to dialogue about the possibilities and the way to present the marriages between the works," says the curator.

He explains that "Affinities" has become an annual MON project that brings to life, through the eyes of artists, the variety of the Museum's collections. "Better than anyone, artists know how to connect the public and the works through a nurturing narrative that also allows them to understand better what artistic creativity is all about."

In recent years, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum's collection has increased fivefold, from 3 thousand to 14 thousand works of art. More than just a quantitative increase, during this period, the Museum has changed and expanded its frame of reference, demonstrating its maturity as a museum institution. Besides visual arts, architecture, and design, with emphasis on Paraná and Brazilian art, the MON has expanded its vocation. Today, it also dedicates to forming a collection of contemporary African, Latin American, and Asian art.