The Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON) holds, in the Eye space, the exhibition "Invisible and Unspeakable" (Invisível e Indizível) by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, one of the leading names of his generation. The opening of the show, curated by Marcello Dantas, will be on December 7.
With its images, the exhibition provokes a profound reflection on the visitor. "There are 17 works that scream, even without speaking, that extrapolate the object's function and develop sensations and relationships between viewers and works," says Juliana Vosnika, director-president of MON.
In celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum is holding what is perhaps one of the most surprising exhibitions made by MON in that space. "Designed by the master Oscar Niemeyer, the Eye is a unique and dazzling exhibition room that helped make MON known nationally and internationally," he says.
The General Superintendent of Culture, Luciana Casagrande Pereira, comments that the MON has been a museum of superlatives throughout its 20 years. "The exhibition by Spaniard Jaume Plensa crowns the anniversary celebrations of this museum that makes Paraná citizens so proud. These are works of great impact, which will surprise and delight viewers," he says.
With an artistic trajectory of over 40 years, Plensa is an artist recognized worldwide for his large-scale works and installations in public space that have consolidated him as the most critical Catalan artist of his generation. "His search for the subtlety of form makes him stand out among the great sculptors of our time," comments curator Marcello Dantas.
In his creations, Plensa uses different materials, from glass to steel and bronze, to less tangible elements such as water, light, and sound. This counter-position between materiality and immateriality is a striking feature of his work.
His works' subtle expressions and gestures provoke a broad understanding of human consciousness and existence. According to the curator, "the small distortions and imperfections present in his sculptures instigate in the viewer a more intuitive connection, in which similarities override divergences."
Learn more about the artist and curator
Jaume Plensa was born in 1955 in Barcelona, Spain, and lives and works in Barcelona. With an artistic trajectory of over 40 years, his practice is marked by large-scale works in public spaces and sculptures and installations exploring different materials, such as resin, polyester, steel, iron, water, glass, and nylon. His works have been exhibited in Spain, France, Japan, England, Korea, Germany, Canada, the United States, and Brazil, among other countries.
His search for the subtlety of form sets him apart among the great sculptors of our time, who address the human dimension and its relationship with the environment. Plensa incorporates silent images of faces, hands, and words disseminated in memory—his vast production results from the sculpture-context equation to generate a reflective impact on the audience.
The artist has received several national and international awards: Medaille des Chevaliers des Arts et Lettres, Ministry of Culture of France, in Paris (1993); award from the Atelier Calder Foundation, Saché, in France (1996); National Fine Arts Award from the Government of Catalonia (1997); Doctor Honoris Causa from the Art Institute of Chicago, USA (2005). In Spain, he has been awarded the National Prize of Fine Arts (2012), the prestigious Velázquez Prize of Arts (2013), and the Honorary Doctorate from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2018).
Marcello Dantas is an award-winning interdisciplinary curator with extensive activity in Brazil and abroad. He works on the border between art and technology, producing exhibitions, museums, and multiple projects that seek to provide immersive experiences through the senses and perception. In recent years he has been behind the conception of several museums, such as the Museum of the Portuguese Language and the Japan House in São Paulo; Museum of Nature in Serra da Capivara, Piauí; Museum of the City of Manaus; Museum of the Sergipan People, in Aracaju; Museum of the Caribbean and Museum of Carnival, in Barranquilla, Colombia. He held solo exhibitions of some of the most important and influential names in contemporary art, such as Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Bill Viola, Christian Boltanski, Jenny Holzer, Laurie Anderson, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Rebecca Horn, and Tunga. He was also artistic director of the Brazil Pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010, the Brazil Pavilion at Rio+20, and the Pelé Station in Berlin for the 2006 World Cup. He is currently responsible for the curatorship of the Mercosul Biennial, which opened in September in Porto Alegre, and is the curator of the SFER IK Museo in Tulum, Mexico. A graduate of New York University, Marcello Dantas is a board member of several international institutions and a visual arts mentor at the Art Institute of Chicago.
