18JAN Lina Bo Bardi - lecture by Renato Anelli

Renato Anelli: Lina Bo Bardi in the frame of Brazil
evening lecture summary

Renato explained at the beginning that he talks about Lina Bo Bardi, because he thinks there is too much emphasis on Oscar Niemeyer. 

The lecture was a chronological summary of Lina Bo Bardi's projects on the background of the history of art and architecture in Brazil. 

Lina Bo Bardi and her husband Pietro Maria Bardi lived in Italy, after the war they decided to move to Brazil to experience the 'freedom of modernity' which sprung up in Brazil after the nationalist revolution in the 30s. 
Modern paintings of the time show mountains and infrastructure in simplified geometrical shapes, emphasise the horizontality and the 'smallness' of men. The early examples of modernist architecture bear similarities with the simplicity of the visual arts. 
Lina started her career with the design of the Institute of Contemporary Art, including the visual identity, architectural magazine and furniture. The trend amongst the modernist architects was to open up buildings to the landscape and to use the interior as a display for pieces of art, furniture, often historic furniture – transparent house. 
During the 60s the idea to create a 'social Brazil' became important. Lina started designing MASP – a museum of modern art which lifts off the ground and leaves the public space underneath for everyone. 
In the 70s Lina works on stage design. 
In the 80s the post-modernism strives in Brazil, Lina distances herself from this wave, yet never criticises Oscar Niemeyer's late work. 
Lina died in 1992. 
Venice Bienale curated by Kazuyo Sejima in 2010, with a small room dedicated to Lina Bo Bardi started new interest and fascination with Lina Bo Bardi's work. 

I enjoyed the extensive use of drawings and visual arts references, which were used throughout the presentation and supported what was being said in a subtle an surprising way. It would have been interesting to compare the work of Lina Bo Bardi with what was happening in Europe at the time – Bauhaus, functionalism, Adolf Loos, etc.