LINA BO BARDI: HABITAT

Co-organized by three institutions, the MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo), the Jumex Museum and the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the exhibition Lina Bo Bardi: Habitat was dedicated to the work of the Italian-Brazilian architect. After being presented in São Paulo, the exhibition was in its second production, in Mexico City.

The exhibition highlights the presentation of the work and legacy left by Lina Bo Bardi, an Italian architect who has dedicated her life to the appreciation of Brazilian art, design and architecture, working in various cultural areas in this country. To do so, he evoked the magazine Habitat, a quarterly periodical founded and directed in its first 15 issues by Lina Bo Bardi and Pietro Maria Bardi. The title marks, therefore, the interests that guide the architect’s career and the political meaning of her actions.

Curated by Tomás Toledo (MASP), Julieta González (Jumex) and José Esparza Chong Cuy (MCA), an exhibition featured drawings and furniture pieces by Lina Bo Bardi, covering her various professional activities. After its first production in São Paulo, at MASP, two little children were added. One of them was dedicated to the glass easels, the exhibitors developed by the architect for the museum’s art gallery; and the other, to the historical exhibition A Mão do Povo Brasileiro, through which Lina Bo Bardi reaffirmed her defense of popular art. Through the inclusion of such objects, as well as works from the MASP collection on easels, this exhibition encompassed the architect’s production and interests in their wide diversity.

Photos: © Pedro Reyes