Over the course of my dreaded 5-hour break on Wednesday, I decided to hop on the L train to take a lovely trip to the Whitney Museum of American Art to visit the one and only “Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium.” Having the privilege of being a CUNY student, I got in for free with absolutely no issue and took a pleasant ride to the 5th floor where almost everyone seemed to be headed. And there it was, in all its glory, the Hélio Oiticica exhibit. As soon as I started to analyze the exhibit only one thing came to my mind, Geometry. Just when you 
thought shapes would remain in your 2:55 math class, guess again. Hanging from ceilings and standing from the ground sky high in all its glory, were these beautiful abstract structures. But, that’s all they were, shapes. I came across paintings of more and more shapes, everything so symmetrical and structure, but it didn’t intrigue me. I wasn’t quite understanding what Hélio was trying to portray, so I continued my journey. Followed by 
the hanging structure was a room where you had to take off your shoes and enter a sandy valley named “Eden,” filled with triangular tents and cubical boxes with foam and books This, the “interactive” aspect was great and all but still, it didn’t hit me. The description said it would “lead each person to find his or her inner freedom,” but all it did was ruin my socks. What was it? What wasn’t connecting that didn’t let me see what the work was really about?
And then, all of a sudden, I found it. What was possibly the most intriguing part of the exhibit. A dark room with a projector pointing at a white wall showing a repeated video of people wearing this rigid fashion. It wasn’t till seconds later where the beautiful pieces caught my attention through my peripheral vision. “Parangolé,” they called the clothing and you were 
free to try any, if not, all of it. I quickly took off my 
sweater and put on every single piece of clothing. Leather, mesh, plastic, cotton, nylon, the list can just go on and on with all the materials used to make these parangolés, which were typically paintings at one point. I would put one on and just feel the music being played in the background. If it wasn’t for the fact half a dozen other people were staring at me, I might have just danced my soul out. I felt the art, I felt the music, I felt the fashion, I felt IT. I understood what the whole exhibit was finally about to my best belief. Hélio’s art is portrayed in this exhibit to make you feel the art and truly be apart of it. Interact with the Eden, go through the shapes, flow with the geometry and imagery of his idea and really feel it, hear it and be apart of it.
The lesson this exhibit taught me was, art has to be experienced. There’s no real way to put on something like the Parangolés or explore the Eden, such as there is no real way to interpret this art. You just have to be apart of it. This all shined in my face even brighter on the walk back when I interpreted the art for the second time, but now with an actual understanding of the art. Amazing trip and an amazing experience nonetheless, I cannot thank the ANYC class enough for setting this adventure up!
Interestingly enough, I thought the projector aspect was pretty boring. I did not connect to the pictures or the material pieces. I quickly walked out of that portion of the exhibit. I did however contrast with you on the idea of the shapes. I did not think of math surprisingly, I connected the art to Oiticica’s biography where we were told to be “participators”. I point out these contrasts, because I strongly agree with your point about just being a part of art. If one tries to make a solid definition of such an intangible subject or ideology it would drive us mad.
To get a better understanding of Hélio Oiticica and his works of art, I read “Cool Heat: An Art Outlaw Who Still Simmers” by Holland Cotter and “How to Understand Hélio Oiticica’s Journey from Art Visionary to Coke Dealer and Back Again” by Ben Davis. The first article fascinated me by not mentioning it once but twice that Hélio almost lived by the phrase “Purity is a myth.” To me, this quote says that nothing good in life comes out of other good. That we all have to go through the deepest and darkest of despairs no matter what. No one is a saint and we all have evil inside. The second article expressed a little of Oiticica’s young life and the overall themes of the Tropicalia and Eden and how the imagery relates to Brazilian pop culture. If I had known all these little details of Hélio or knew any of these details about the exhibit I believe that I would have had an easier, if not, more interesting time analyzing his artwork.