As the elevator doors opened, I was greeted by the big white wall with black inscription of Hélio Oiticica’s exhibit: To Organize Delirium. From there, I became another “participator” of Oiticica’s sense enhancing experience.
The first part of the exhibit I observed was his Geometry to Space collection. What first caught my sight was this piece shown above. While walking around the geometric sculpture, you can see how its very own shape can change depending on what perspective you look at it. In a way, this piece speaks for his own narrative in trying to let the “participator” experience his collection through different perspectives. This piece specifically could also show the artist’s development in his work regarding sexuality. By allowing the viewer to see this piece in numerous of perspectives, this could represent how people view sexuality and its many sides and categories. The vibrant colors in this specific collection could also represent the many colors in sexuality and how it is not just black and white. The very color and shape of each piece enhances the viewers sense of sight. They can view one piece in several ways and also be delighted by the color aesthetic.
The next part of the exhibit was his most famous piece Tropicália. This piece was supposed to represent the “clichés” of Brazil’s tropics, but instead of looking for the clichés, I found myself experiencing all my senses heighten. This specific piece was extremely interactive. The participator was allowed to walk barefoot across the gravel and sand and sit inside these boxes full of hay and a collection of books. My feet sunk into the individual stones as we walked along the path. The sense of touch was overwhelming and was the only thing I could concentrate on as I continued along the path of the piece. I then walked inside this structure with grated walls. This heightened my sense of sight as I had to view my surrounding through a more holed perspective. This piece aimed for the participator to really stay aware of their senses and become extremely connected with themselves and the piece itself.
This exhibit really made me realize how aware I should be in the connection we share with the artist’s pieces. A lot of the time we all aimlessly move from one piece to another admiring its aesthetic appeal and wonder behind its representation, yet we forget to focus on our own sense of being and its natural reaction to the piece. In the case of Oiticica’s work, the viewer was able to connect to themselves and then connect to the art. His work really brought the viewer back to themselves. In a way, he brought us back to our present self.
His very own title for his exhibition relates to this. To Organize Delirium could represent how to bring the viewer back to the present and forget all the external problems surrounding them. The exhibit targets the viewers senses specifically to bring the viewer back to themselves and only feel their almost primal instincts and reactions. Especially now in a very chaotic political world, these pieces of art brings us back to what we are inherently made of.
Claire Ng
Hello! I really agree with your ideas of a shifting perspective in the geometric pieces. The first thing I did when I entered the exhibit was circle around and around all the 3D pieces! I like the emphasis you put on being a participator in all of Oiticica’s artworks, because Tropicala is obviously meant to be interacted with, but until you said that I didn’t relate that to the geometric pieces as well. I also love the comment you made on having your senses heightened while moving through Tropicala, because the idea of focusing on your surroundings became truly prevalent in this piece, and immersed the body and mind into this scene. Great observations!
Claire Ng Review: As I read through the reviews, I chose “How to Understand Hélio Oiticica’s Journey From Art Visionary to Coke Dealer and Back Again,” by Ben Davis and Holland Cotter’s, “Politics Cool Heat: An Art Outlaw Who Still Simmers.” There were only small parts of each review that I related to. In Davis’ work, he mentioned how Oiticica’s work heavily emphasized interaction of the viewer to the art. I totally agree with this and I feel that Oiticica’s work especially wanted this in order to enhance his overall purpose to connect the viewer to his art more personally. Both Davis and Cotter mentioned the immense impact politics made on Oiticica’s work. I agree in this regard. His work truly broke the traditional roles of art and truly made it contemporary. Even today, the overall tone and message behind the art relates to the political chaos we see all around us. Oiticica’s work is extremely timely now in all the “delirium” we are plagued with today.