ARTIGO publicado originalmente na revista Third Text 28/29 Autumn/Winter 1994
p. 117-128.
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"It has become a commonplace in the Brazilian art milieau to refer to Hélio Oiticica's work, usually associated with that of Lygia Clark and the Neoconcrete group, as the inaugural moment of what constitutes 'Brazilian Contemporary Art'. To understand such a term in Brazil is not as easy as may seem. Much more than the clear historical evidence through which we are able to recognize ourselves in the works and ideas of our time, the assertion here of what is contemporary calls for the mediation of an ideologically loaded field in which we strive to determine and historically justify the conditions of possibility of a Brazilian art truly emancipated from the colonial burden, and from a cultural position which merely reacts under the pressure of a peripheral context."