Art-illery: avant-garde and dictatorship during 1960s Brazil

Dr Genaro Vilanova Miranda Oliveira from the New Zealand Centre for Latin American Studies at The University of Auckland presents an illustrated talk on the art and politics of Brazil during the 1960s.

Shaped both by global Cold War geopolitics and a local military dictatorship, the sixties were notably gloomy years for Brazilian politics.  However, it was also a time marked by artistic rebelliousness and experimentation. This talk focuses on one of the most unique movements from the period, Tropicália, whose members, by defiantly calling for a fusion of popular and avant-garde art, as well as the mixing of local traditions with foreign influences, sought to create artworks that simultaneously challenged the moral, aesthetic and political norms of the period.