The Sala Experimental at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) was a very well-known exhibition space in Brazilian art circles because it hosted events (such as this one) that explored a wide variety of languages. The Sala was extremely active from 1975 to 1978, whereupon a fire damaged part of the museum (and a substantial portion of the work by Torres García that were being exhibited at the time), and the Sala Experimental never recovered.
Antônio José de Barros de Carvalho e Mello Mourão who went by the name “Tunga” (1952–2016), began to make a name for himself in Brazilian contemporary art circles in the late 1960s. He went on to be regarded as one of the major artists in the country, and worked in various fields, including painting, sculpture, drawing, film, video, and experimental installation. In the mid-1970s, in the early years of his career, Tunga had two exhibitions at the MAM-RJ (Museo de Arte Moderno de Río de Janeiro), both in 1974. The following year his exhibition Ar do Corpo [Air of the Body] explored the interactive dynamics at play between the audience and the work of art, and the sexual relationship between the subject and the body.
For more information about the exhibition and about Tunga’s work during that period, see the following essay by the critic Ronaldo Brito “Transparência do Desejo” (doc. no. 1110561). In the 1970s, Tunga became even more successful as his fame spread to the international visual arts circuit. Another Brazilian critic, Paulo Venancio Filho, discussed the experimental works produced by both Cildo Meireles and Tunga in the essay he wrote for Situações limite (doc. no. 1110974), the 1989 exhibition of work by both artists presented in Belgium.
