The 1997 exhibition Escultura Plural held at the Museu de Arte Moderna de Rio de Janeiro included works by Carla Guagliardi (b. 1956), Eduardo Coimbra (b. 1955), Ernesto Neto (b. 1964), Jorge Barrão (b. 1959), Tatiana Grinberg (b. 1967), Marcos Chaves (b. 1961), and others.
Art critic and freelance curator Ligia Canongia has been active on the Brazilian art scene since the late seventies, though her work in the field intensified in the eighties thanks to her support of the artists that emerged during that decade. Canongia has undertaken a number of studies that analyze experimental production from Brazil and its legacy. In 1994, both Canongia, and art critic Fernando Cocchiarale, wrote essays for the catalogue to the exhibition Escultura Carioca held at the Paço Imperial de Rio de Janeiro. That show attempted to take stock of Brazilian art produced in the nineties [see ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 1110952 and doc. no. 1110953)].
Participants in the exhibition Escultura plural included Carla Guagliardi, an artist who currently resides in Berlin and whose work became known in the nineties; Eduardo Coimbra, an artist who also emerged in the nineties and formed part of the Rio de Janeiro-based Visorama group active in that decade while also editing the magazine Item and coordinating Agora (Agência de Organismos Artísticos), which would later become Espaço Agora-Capacete; Ernesto Neto, an artist who emerged on the art scene in the late eighties and soon became one of the most eminent artists from Brazil active internationally; Jorge Barrão, an artist who emerged in the midst of what was called the Geração 80; both Marcos Chaves and Tatiana Grinberg surfaced during those years as well, though Grinberg received widespread recognition later, in the nineties, for her work with the body and malleable materials.
