This book on artist Cildo Meireles forms part of the ABC—Arte Brasileira Contemporânea—a collection published by the Fundação Nacional de Artes (Funarte), a governmental organization with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The volume contains the text “Freqüência imodulada” by art historian Ronaldo Brito, as well as fragments of statements by Meireles and writings by the poet Eudoro Augusto Macieira. In Brito’s words, “Meireles’s work gives shape to an entire circuit of intelligibility that, like shadows, twists about, never crystallizing in established forms; it stretches to give rise to densities that shift indifferently from the extremely singular to the extremely plural with absolute disregard for the hierarchies of the real while paying close attention to any alteration or disturbance in order.” The works featured in the book include Cantos (1967–1968), the Arte Física series (1969–1970), MEBS/CARAXIA (1970), Inserções em circuitos ideológicos (1970), Inserções em circuitos antropológicos (1971), Zero cruzeiro (1974–1978), Eureka-Blindhotland (1970–1975), Conhecer pode ser destruir (1970), and Sermão da Montanha: Fiat Lux (1973–1979). 

The ABC—Arte Contemporânea Brasileira—a collection launched by the Fundação Nacional das Artes (FUNARTE) in 1978 would become a bibliographical point of reference due to its pioneering approach to Brazilian art from the sixties and seventies. The series, which was published over the course of sixteen years, included books on major artists of the period such as Anna Bella Geiger (b. 1933), Carlos Vergara (b. 1941), Rubens Gerchman (1942–2008), Artur Barrio (b. 1945), Antonio Dias (b. 1944), Wesley Duke Lee (1931–2010),  Lygia Clark (1920–1988), Cildo Meireles (b. 1948), Waltércio Caldas (b. 1946), Lygia Pape (1927–2004), and Antonio Manuel (b. 1947). The outstanding art historians and curators who contributed to the collection were, among many others, Ronaldo Brito (b. 1949), Paulo Sergio Duarte, Fernando Cocchiarale, Helio Oiticica (1937–1980), Mario Pedrosa (1900–1981), Paulo Venâncio Filho (b. 1953), Frederico Morais (b. 1936), and Ferreira Gullar (b. 1930).

Cildo Meireles emerged on the Brazilian art scene in the late sixties, particularly after submitting award-winning work to the Salão da Bússola [Compass Salon], an emblematic exhibition held at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-Rio) in 1969. He participated in events like Do Corpo à Terra (1970), organized by art critic Frederico Morais in Belo Horizonte (see “A geração tranca-ruas,” doc. no. 1110681). In the mid-seventies, he exhibited work at the MAM-Rio’s Project Room. For further information, see “Sala Experimental” (ICAA digital archive doc. no. 1110602), written by Anna Bella, Ivens Machado, and Paulo Herkenhoff. During the seventies, Cildo cofounded the journal Malasartes. He is now one of the most important contemporary artists from Brazil. Retrospective exhibitions of his work have been held at major museums in Europe and the United States.  

For the artist’s comments on “Eureka/Blindhotland,” one of his most celebrated installations, see ICAA digital archive doc. no. 1110594">1110594">1110594">1110594. For further discussions of his work from the seventies and eighties, see doc. no. 776747 and doc. no. 1110594">1110594">1110594">1110594.

Meireles presented his Inserções em circuitos ideológicos-Projeto Coca-Cola in the journal Malasartes (issue no. 1, Rio de Janeiro, 1975) (see doc. no. 1110615). He contextualizes his series Eureka/Blindhotland in the essay Eureka/Blindhotland (Rio de Janeiro: Museu de Arte Moderna, 1975) (doc. no 1110594">1110594">1110594">1110594). In the late seventies, an essay on Meireles’s art entitled “A estratégia de Cildo Meireles,” written by Wilson Coutinho, was published in the journal Arte Hoje (No.13, Rio de Janeiro: July 1978) (see doc. no. 1110613).

Ronaldo [Correia de] Brito (b. 1951), who is from the state of Ceará, is one of the most important and influential art critics active in Brazil today. His essays have been published in books, journals, and exhibition catalogues. A founder of the magazines Malasartes (1975-1976) and Gávea revista de histo´ria da arte e arquitetura (1984), he is a regular contributor to the newspaper Opinião. In the seventies, Brito was a leading figure in the re-assessment of the Neo-Concrete movement and its legacy for contemporary art from Brazil.