Place of Being

In dialogue with Fernanda Fragateiro, Filipe Feijão, Mónica de Miranda, Juan Araujo, Lourdes Castro and João dos Santos Martins

Place of Being: The Burle Marx Legacy takes as its starting point twenty-two landscape projects for public spaces developed over the course of seven decades by Roberto Burle Marx (1909–1994) and his collaborators. Widely considered one of the most innovative landscape designers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in shaping Brazil’s urban landscape, Burle Marx is closely associated with the modern imaginary of cities like Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.

As a landscape architect with a deep interest in botany, he expanded knowledge of Brazil’s native flora and identified dozens of endemic species, while also warning of the urgent need for environmental conservation. His use of these species in landscape projects gave rise to a distinctively modern language that subverted the geometry and order of European gardens. The symbiotic lines and organic forms of his designs also reflect a strong affinity with modern art and architecture. For over forty years, Burle Marx was a committed advocate for Brazil’s diverse biomes, especially the Atlantic Forest, the Amazon, and the Cerrado.

Bringing together compositional studies, sketches, drawings, photographs, and press material, the exhibition unfolds across five thematic sections—”Building the City and Public Space,” “Aesthetic and Ethical Commitment,” “Modern Project,” “Environmental Activism,” and “Botanical Heritage.” It also enters into dialogue with the work of six artists currently living and working in Portugal: Juan Araujo explores modern architecture, especially in Brazil and Latin America, through a critical lens; Filipe Feijão reflects on notions of construction and ruin; Mónica de Miranda draws attention to the “invisible” gardens found on Lisbon’s outskirts; Fernanda Fragateiro emphasises the right to aesthetic experience in public gardens; Lourdes Castro enters into dialogue with the native botanical heritage of Madeira; and João dos Santos Martins explores the relationship between choreography and the garden. In conversation with the exhibition’s five core themes, each of these artists opens up new perspectives on Burle Marx’s work.

Curated by Instituto Burle Marx and Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro – Isabela Ono, Pablo Lafuente, Beatriz Lemos. Adapted and curated for MAC/CCB by Nuria Enguita, Marta Mestre. Guest artists Juan Araujo, Fernanda Fragateiro, Mónica de Miranda, Filipe Feijão, Lourdes Castro, João dos Santos Martins.

Exhibition Design Diogo Passarinho Studio + RAR.STUDIO

MAC/CCB thanks Michael and Jessica Gailing for their contributions to this project.

◾ Gardens: Ways of Seeing  SOLD OUT
Saturday, March 21, at 11:00 am
With Ivo Meco
Inviting a contemplative look at botanical species and sharing curiosities about each of them, Ivo Meco leads us through the green spaces and gardens around the CCB. A teacher of Botany, Biology, and Geology, and the author of Jardins de Lisboa: Histórias de espaços, plantas e pessoas, he guides a walk-and-talk that opens up new ways of looking at gardens.

Free admission with prior registration.

◾ Alarve
Friday and saturday, March 27 and 28, at 6:00 pm
Performance by João dos Santos Martins
The body can serve as a site of negotiation between nature and construction. Starting from this premise, João dos Santos Martins approaches dance as a practice of unlearning and reinvention. Drawing on his personal experience of moving from a rural to an urban environment, and on the idea of adaptation (of both body and self), he finds a point of connection with Roberto Burle Marx. Just as the landscape architect understood the garden as an “adjustment of the ecological environment to the demands of civilisation,” migration also entails a continuous adjustment of gestures.

Free admission with prior registration. Subject to capacity.