A Never-Ending Journey

The exhibition on integral naturalism at the Palacete das Artes, an initiative of the recently ended 3rd Bienal da Bahia, centres on the manifesto and video of Restany, Baendereck and Krajcberg’s 1978 travels in the Amazon Rainforest – conserved in the Domus archives.

Bienal da Bahia, 2014. Sepp Baendereck, dantesca e Memento mori

A real expedition inspired the journey that commenced in the summer of 1978 and led to the present day and an exhibition on integral naturalism that opened at the Palacete das Artes in Salvador de Bahia, one of the initiatives organised by the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia – MAM-Ba for the 3rd Bienal da Bahia entitled È tudo Nordeste?

Restany set off nearly 40 years ago with the artists Sepp Baendereck and Frans Krajcberg on an adventure that would take him into the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, where he discovered the uncontaminated nature that became the focus of the Manifesto of Integral Naturalism, written in the 40 days spent in the Brazilian jungle. The video footage of the expedition is conserved in the Domus archives, with which the curatorial staff of MAM-Ba worked, consolidating a bond between Europe and Brazil first forged by the critic’s travels in the Amazon jungle, and the starting point of his subsequent research into art and the environment.

Serie di Animali di Abraham Palatnik su tavolo di Lina Bo Bardi — **Top:** Sepp Baendereck, *Dantesca* e *Memento Mori*. **Above:** Abraham Palatnik, *Series of Animals* on a table by Lina Bo Bardi, Bienal da Bahia 2014. Photo Gillian Villa

The links between humans and nature were one of the core themes addressed by the 3rd Biennial, the primary aim of which was to explore the concept of “Northeast”, not only in the sense of a geographical and historical area but, primarily, as a universal “human experience”. The curatorial project did not rest on an intention to amass international art for an event; on the contrary, there was a desire to convey the essence of the country outside its borders by means of actions and exhibitions that showcase its distinctive traits. The Bahia Biennial was driven by this force and potential, asking questions about the Bahian way of life and the meaning of the word Northeast in the places where it originated and from whence it spread in a world where territorial boundaries are increasingly blurred. The text of the integral naturalism manifesto and the video filmed by the three intellectuals in Brazil in the late 1970s become the foundation from which the whole exhibition at the Palacete das Artes unfolded.

“Cronaca di un viaggio al Naturalismo Integrale”, 1978, still da video 16mm — “Cronaca di un viaggio al Naturalismo Integrale”, 1978, still from video 16mm. Courtesy Domus Archive.

The journey was an epiphany for Baendereck and Krajcberg, whose subsequent artistic activities were strongly marked by the experience. The atmosphere of the Amazon Rainforest, which triggered their reflections, was recreated not only by the travel journals on show but also via the material chosen to produce the works. Krajcberg’s wooden sculptures pay tribute to contorted branches and bark textures, celebrating nature’s inborn spectacle and an uncontrived beauty that, when extrapolated from a natural context where it often passes unnoticed, triumphed in the exhibition rooms, taking centre stage.

The Rainforest’s strongly contrasting chiaroscuro effects and plays of light and shade were transported to the rooms of the Palacete das Artes in Baendereck’s Dantesca, a large pencil drawing of a tangle of branches, depicted with great naturalistic attention that seems an allusion to the dark forest described at the beginning of Dante’s Inferno. The back of another work by the artist, placed under the aforementioned drawing, appeared to be waiting to be displayed in the museum spaces.

Its positioning was actually the fruit of a calculated curatorial choice aimed at drawing the visitor’s attention to the title of the work: Memento mori. Here, this Latin phrase adopts a more universal meaning than that historically associated with it and closely linked to the theme of human vanitas. The transience on which the artist invites reflection is, indeed, that of nature and of the Amazon Rainforest in particular, the death of which is already dangerously close.

Bienal da Bahia 2014, Piero Gilardi, Tronchetto. Foto Gillian Villa

An opposite approach is adopted by the Italian artist Pietro Gilardi who, in Tronchetto, recreated parts of nature with manmade materials, mixing playful Pop tendencies with a reflection on the dynamics of naturalness and artifice, and on humans’ progressive distancing from the natural environment, replaced with its alienating reproduction. Displayed on a large wooden table designed by Lina Bo Bardi, a former director of MAM-Ba, was a series of animal sculptures in polyester resin by Abraham Palatnik, a famous pioneer of Brazilian kinetic art. The work centres on an animal world in which the variety of species, colours and forms are paraded as if on a stage and where exoticism is combined with a strong propensity for decoration that draws primarily on nature for inspiration.

A Never-Ending Journey

The exhibition on integral naturalism at the Palacete das Artes, an initiative of the recently ended 3rd Bienal da Bahia, centres on the manifesto and video of Restany, Baendereck and Krajcberg’s 1978 travels in the Amazon Rainforest – conserved in the Domus archives.

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