Starting 13 September is ArtRio 2012, an international art fair that will play host to 120 art galleries and further establish the Brazilian city as a Latin American cultural hub.
With Rio de Janeiro hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and Summer Olympic Games in 2016, the beachside Brazilian city is on travellers’ minds now more than ever before.
But they’re not the only ones rushing to the
city. The contemporary art fair ArtRio
2012, now in its second year, draws art collectors from all over and has established
Rio as a Latin American cultural hub. One hundred and twenty galleries are
slated to present this year between 13 to 16 September — half international and
half Brazilian — and more than 60,000 visitors are expected to pass through
its doors.
International highlights include the eminent Gagosian Gallery, which is making its debut
in South America. The gallery will display $130 million in art, including works
by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacommeti and Takashi Murakami, with
Brazilian designer Claudia
Moreira Salles arranging the gallery’s two spaces. Famed art auctioneers Christie’s and Sotheby’s, both of which operate
offices around the world, will be hosting events with the New York-based Museum of Modern Art’s International
Program, holding talks as part of ArtRio’s series of
curatorial discussions. New York- and London-based art gallery David Zwirner will be presenting for
the first time in South America, featuring works from artists including
American painter Alice Neel and minimalist artist Dan Flavin, famous for
sculptures and installations that use fluorescent lights. Preeminent
international contemporary art gallery White
Cube will be showing US abstract artist Mark Bradford and Mexican
conceptual artist Gabriel Orozco, among others.
Home grown talent will also be prominently
showcased at ArtRio, including installation mastermind Ernesto Neto; the vivid,
geometric paintings of Beatriz Milhazes, which are inspired by Brazilian
culture; and Adriana Varejao, a
multidisciplinary artist whose work often draws from her country’s history.
Rio, one of the most visited cities in South
America, counts a number of artistic destinations among its must-sees, including
the vibrant, mosaic-tiled stairway Escaderia
Selarón that bridges the artsy neighbourhoods of Lapa and Santa Teresa, and
the massive sacred Cristo
Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) that tops the Corcovado peak overlooking the
city. Even the sidewalk running along Avenida Atlántica, the city’s main
thoroughfare, displays an undulating white and black pattern, an iconic symbol
of Rio, eternalised in images and
memorabilia.
ArtRio will cover more than 80,000 sqft in four
waterside warehouses along the Guanabara Bay at Pier Maua in the northeast of
the city. Tickets are available for purchase on the official site and cost 30 real,
or 15 real for concessions.
