Brazil Speaks! Architecture Culture at Risk

Speakers: Josemeire Alves Pereira, Professor, FLACSO- Brasil; Maria Cristina Cabral, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Sol Camacho, Architect and former Director of Instituto Bardi (2017-2021) ; Sabrina Fontenele, Cultural Director, Brazilian Institute of Architects; José Lira, Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo; Renata Marquez, Associate Professor of Architecture, Federal University of Minas Gerais; Junia Mortimer, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Federal University of Bahia; Guilherme Wisnik, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo.

Presented by Patricio del Real, Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University

Moderated by: Catarina Flaksman, PhD student in History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University; Cristina López Uribe, Professor of Architecture, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Victor Próspero, PhD candidate in History of Art and Architecture, University of São Paulo and Fulbright Visiting Fellow, Harvard University; Carolina Sepúlveda, Architect and curator.

Is Brazil’s cultural legacy under siege? Have the tactics of conservative populist distraction engulphed architecture? After the recent attempt by the present administration to sell the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro (today known as the Capanema Palace), and the colonial building of the Arquivo Público do Estado da Bahía as well as the exodus of the archives of Lucio Costa and of Paulo Mendes da Rocha to Portugal many have sounded the alarm about a possible crisis in Brazil's architecture culture. Set in the context of the program Curating Architecture Across the Americas, The symposium Brazil Speaks! Architecture Culture at Risk seeks to establish a conversation on the state of architecture as a cultural artifact in Brazil. We bring together historians, curators, and cultural agents to examine exhibitions, archives, and curatorial practices that bring architecture to the public eye. These diverse voices and practices will trigger a conversation on the methods, experiences, and aims of past, present, and future actions.

Presented in collaboration with the Department of History of Art and Architecture