{"id":192191,"date":"2015-06-30T15:39:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T18:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=192191"},"modified":"2015-07-30T16:02:08","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T19:02:08","slug":"the-artigas-whirlwind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/the-artigas-whirlwind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Artigas whirlwind"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vilanova

Family Collection<\/span>Vilanova Artigas…Family Collection<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A thinker and activist in the fields of education, public policy, and urban planning, Jo\u00e3o Batista Vilanova Artigas (1915-1985) was constantly under the sway of architecture when carrying out his work. For the organizers planning the events to commemorate his Centennial, one of the challenges will be assessing his multifaceted legacy. According to Rosa Artigas, the architect\u2019s daughter and one of the curators of the Ocupa\u00e7\u00e3o Vilanova Artigas<\/i><\/em> exhibition (opening June 23, his birthday, at Ita\u00fa Cultural Center in S\u00e3o Paulo), her task is to \u201ctalk about the man, not the myth.\u201d On the next day, theaters will present Vilanova Artigas: o arquiteto e a luz <\/i><\/em>(Vilanova Artigas: the Architect and the Light), a documentary directed by Pedro Gorski and Artigas\u2019 granddaughter, Laura Artigas.\u00a0 This year also marks the publication of a yet untitled historical survey of the architect\u2019s work, as well as A m\u00e3o livre do vov\u00f4<\/i><\/em> (Grandpa\u2019s Freehand), a children\u2019s book inspired by the architect\u2019s drawings that illustrate the very stories he used to tell his grandchildren. Both works will be published by Terceiro Nome.<\/p>\n

In the academic world, Artigas scholars discuss his work critically, using a number of approaches.\u00a0 Although their views diverge at times, everyone who was interviewed agrees on one point: the urgent need to bring back the architecture that Artigas practiced\u2014an architecture that addresses cultural and urban issues. \u201cThis is possibly the most important part of Artigas\u2019 legacy: imagining the city in terms of its social and political implications, and not just as the subject of design,\u201d says Professor Leandro Medrano of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo School of Architecture and Urban Studies (FAU-USP) and co-author, with Luiz Recam\u00e1n, of Vilanova Artigas<\/i><\/em> \u2013 Habita\u00e7\u00e3o e a cidade na moderniza\u00e7\u00e3o brasileira<\/i><\/em> (Vilanova Artigas: Housing and the City in the Modernization of Brazil) published by Unicamp, exploring the architect\u2019s concept of the ideal city in his work from the 1940s to the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\"...from

Family Collection<\/span>…from various stages in his lifeFamily Collection<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Artigas, a native of the state of Paran\u00e1, is regarded as the first exponent of what is known as the \u201cPaulista\u201d school of architecture. Notwithstanding some Artigas experts\u2019 rejection of this classification, none disagrees that the transformation of the city of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2014its urban center, surrounding neighborhoods and industrial areas\u2014had a fundamental effect on his vision of architecture and urbanism. Among his most emblematic works are landmarks such as the C\u00edcero Pompeu de Toledo (Morumbi) stadium, the Zezinho Magalh\u00e3es Prado housing complex (also known as Cecap Park) in Guarulhos, the Louveira residential tower in the Higien\u00f3polis neighborhood, the Ja\u00fa highway in S\u00e3o Paulo, and, what is regarded as his masterpiece, the FAU-USP building on the university\u2019s main campus.<\/p>\n

A member of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) since 1945, Artigas\u2019 militancy gave rise to his overriding concern about the collective. In a film of one of his classroom lectures, Artigas is shown explaining the architect\u2019s role as that of \u201cintermediary between aspects of social will and his own understanding of the cultural value of architecture.\u201d Furthermore, Artigas was an \u201carchitect of the trade\u201d in the words of Felipe Contier, a doctoral candidate in architectural history at the Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies (IAU) of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo in S\u00e3o Carlos, and whose dissertation is on the FAU building. The expression not only refers to Artigas\u2019 militant approach to the teaching of architecture and the establishment of institutions associated with the profession, but also to the fact that he is an engineering graduate from the Polytechnic School at USP before there even was a FAU he would help found.<\/p>\n

\"Revered

Nelson Kon<\/span>Revered works: the Ja\u00fa highway…Nelson Kon<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Although Artigas and Oscar Niemeyer were friends and fellow members of the PCB, the history of Brazilian architecture usually considers Artigas responsible for having broken ranks with the generation that created Brasilia (Niemeyer and Lucio Costa) and whom some call the Carioca School. \u201cArtigas came to adopt a working technique that reflected his idea of the nation while projecting a different image of the identity of modern Brazil,\u201d says Professor Renato Anelli of IAU-USP, adding that \u201ccompared to Niemeyer\u2019s work, Artigas pushes the limits of structure, simplifying the process of design and construction. He uses open space, and interprets social questions through the medium of an architecture that is free of obstructions and doors, but not excessively under the spell of the freeform and that quality of exhibitionism that marks the Carioca School.\u201d<\/p>\n

If, in these aspects of Artigas\u2019 architecture, Anelli sees an attempt to \u201canticipate a completely free society\u201d in line with his political beliefs, the published research of Medrano and Recam\u00e1n interprets the architect\u2019s housing projects (and even the FAU building) as manifestations of the disjuncture of this ideal of \u201ccomplete freedom\u201d in the context of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s expansion under the controlling influence of market interests and their segregationist schemes.\u00a0 It follows that he and Recam\u00e1n find in Artigas\u2019 work buildings designed with a focus on their interior spaces, and in which, indeed, the utopia of unrestricted coexistence is evident. \u201cThese buildings accept their condition\u2014the isolation of their lots\u2014and devise free-flowing and open functions in relation to the capital city,\u201d says Medrano, adding that \u201cthis would not make sense today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"...the

Ol\u00e9 Productions<\/span>…the Louveira building…Ol\u00e9 Productions<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Social interaction
\n<\/b><\/strong>The researcher believes that present-day S\u00e3o Paulo is trying to better understand the values that are inherent to cities, such as coexistence and social interaction in public spaces. Artigas\u2019 concerns, however, remain current. They are, in essence, \u201cplacing architecture at the service of certain political and social demands;\u201d and he would see his ambitions realized through the methods and theories intrinsic to this complex discipline. Medrano recalls that the questions faced by the cities where Artigas chose to intervene remain evident and unresolved: public housing, coexistence and segregation, green spaces, and mobility.<\/p>\n

Though not nearly as recognized around the world as Niemeyer, Artigas, unlike Niemeyer, founded a true architectural movement\u2014reinvigorated and in its third or fourth generation, according to\u00a0 Medrano. Besides being \u201cPaulista,\u201d this movement is also known under the classifications of \u201cBrutalism\u201d or \u201cArtigism\u201d\u2014all with their advocates and critics. In the past two years, international exhibitions in venues such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the Venice Biennale have celebrated the work of Artigas.\u00a0 But as Anelli points out, this interest only came about when the work of the architect\u2019s disciples\u2014Paulo Mendes da Rocha\u2014came to the fore.<\/p>\n

\"...and

Ol\u00e9 Productions<\/span>…and the interior of the family homeOl\u00e9 Productions<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Unadorned concrete
\n<\/b><\/strong>\u201cBrutalism\u201d refers to a worldwide movement (not exclusively architectural) whose most obvious characteristics are the use of reinforced concrete\u2014usually exposed\u2014and basic lines, free of ornamentation. Artigas is recognized for having used color as a device to soften these features. After comparing Artigas\u2019 work with that of Brutalists worldwide, Anelli concludes in his recent research that, should Artigas\u2019 programmatic vision of society bear many similarities to the movement outside Brazil, his work nonetheless \u201csprang from its own roots.\u201d Furthermore, there is one fundamental difference: Artigas worked on the basis of the continuity of spaces\u2014the Brutalists on their fragmentation.<\/p>\n

In Brazil, Brutalism emerged from the ideas of progressive thinkers preoccupied with the collective, but who, says Contier, eventually dissociated all visible reinforced-concrete architecture from its founding ideals, relegating it to the structural form itself. Contier points out that aesthetic expression in general was incorporated by\u00a0 the military regime in public works projects\u2014among other purposes and at least in theory\u2014in order to erect less-costly, low-maintenance and more stylistically austere buildings. By displaying a certain degree of monumentality, these buildings helped usurp the original meaning of the Artigist movement.\u00a0\u00a0 Banned from the classroom by the regime, Artigas still signed off on a number of public works projects during the period of military dictatorship.<\/p>\n

Beyond questions touching on architecture and academic studies, among those who associated with Artigas and who are now responsible for the exhibition and the biographical film, there emerges an architect and educator who has always been part of Artigas\u2019 work\u2014in classrooms, through the Institute of Architects, and in the homes she built for her family.\u00a0 Laura Artigas, who was four years old when the grandfather she does not remember died, reflects on the documentary she directed: \u201ca heart-felt graduate program,\u201d she calls it, adding that \u201cthe testimony we gathered points to a restless mind that made others think about what they hadn\u2019t imagined before.\u201d Artigas goes on to say that \u201cto be able to put into practice something in which he really believed\u2014the power of social coexistence\u2014is a compelling achievement that the film succeeds in showing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projects<\/strong>
\n1.<\/strong> The production of the building of the School of Architecture and Urban Studies of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (FAU-USP) at the Armando Salles de Oliveira Campus (1961-1969) (No. 2013\/03331-8<\/a>); Grant mechanism<\/b><\/strong>: Scholarships in Brazil – Doctorate; Principal investigator:<\/b><\/strong> Renato Anelli (IAU-USP); Grant recipient<\/b><\/strong>: Felipe de Ara\u00fajo Contier (IAU-USP); Investment:<\/b><\/strong> R$81,574. 34 (FAPESP).
\n2.<\/strong> Vilanova Artigas: housing and urban spaces in Brazilian modernization (No. 2013\/25319-0<\/a>); Grant Mechanism:<\/b><\/strong> Support for Research Publications; Principal investigator:<\/b><\/strong> Leandro Medrano (FAU-USP); Investment:<\/b><\/strong> R$3,500.00 (FAPESP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artiga’s centennial includes his legacy as educator, militant and thinker","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[203],"coauthors":[137],"class_list":["post-192191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humanities","tag-architecture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192191"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=192191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}