Rio: Desire of a City

The exhibition Rio: desejo de uma cidade (1904–2024) [Rio: Desire of a City (1904–2024)] celebrates the 120th anniversary of Roberto Marinho’s birth, in whose memory Casa Roberto Marinho was established, and leads into the celebrations of the city’s 460th anniversary in 2025.

Few men have loved, produced, and promoted their birth city so intensely. Journalist and media mogul Roberto Marinho’s publishing and broadcasting outlets produced a visual vocabulary that reflects 20th-century life in Rio de Janeiro. His legacy lives on through new generations in communication companies and, on an intimate scale, in the sharing of his art collection and the transformation of his residence into a cultural venue for the people of Rio.

This exhibition – curated by Marcia Mello, Victor Burton, and me – features photographs, paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures that, throughout these 120 years, had Rio de Janeiro as their theme or main inspiration. In the works on display, visitors will discover a dynamic and vital city that thrives on its merits and, not infrequently, on its vicissitudes.

Creative resilience has always been, since the outset, one of our traits. It seemed unfeasible to establish a human settlement on such a rugged, albeit dazzling, terrain. Successive engineering feats allowed for the invention of an urban nucleus by incorporating, valuing, and – nothing is perfect – wounding the beautiful nature. As stated by Paulo Mendes da Rocha: “Rio is a stubbornness made possible by the mechanics of flows.”

During the centuries that Rio was the nation's capital, the city strove to fashion itself as a tropical metropolis, emulating Lisbon or Paris. Finally, letting go of these misleading civilizing desires, it chose the pain and delight of simply being Rio de Janeiro.

After all that time when the city itself was identified with the country, when speaking of Rio was to speak of Brazil, we can now catch sight of its unique enduring quality: the inexhaustible capacity of Cariocas (people of Rio) to produce images and invent memories of their city and its role for Brazil.

A city that experiments with new ways of reinforcing its own identity, with its qualities and hardships, without ever wanting to resemble any other.

The urban fabric is united here, intermingling contrasting topographies and communities. Its refusal to be divided makes it dig tunnels to achieve a synthesis that links the airy coastline with the breezeless lands behind the mountains.

When it seems that nearly nothing remains, we take refuge in the production of images and sounds that echo the desire for beauty, a desire that is also fueled by the inequalities stemming from the longstanding tragedy of prejudiced inequality.

On one occasion, Roberto Marinho received a public figure, with whom he had significant disagreements, in his panoramic office atop the Botanical Garden building. It is not known for certain what they discussed. The meeting’s only surviving detail is the journalist’s comment, colored with both surprise and sadness: “He didn’t take a single look at the landscape...” You can’t get more Carioca than that!

Lauro Cavalcanti
Director of Casa Roberto Marinho
May 2024

Some artists present at the exhibition

Ratão Diniz
Nova Maré, 2013
Inkjet print, 50 x 75 cm
Coleção do artista

Marcos Bonisson
Balada de um corpo solar, 1998
Inkjet print, 80 x 80 cm
Coleção do artista

Jean Manzon
Sem título, 1951
Acervo Jean Manzon

Leonardo Aversa
Carnaval #02, 2018
Inkjet print, 60 x 60 cm
Coleção do artista

Luiz Baltar
Instantes Cruzados, 2017
Coleção do artista

Monara Barreto
Luzes do Alemão, 2011
Inkjet print, 50 x 75 cm
Coleção da artista

Vincent Rosenblatt
Ezequias - Funk Body #051- Yolo Love Party - Fundição Progresso, Lapa, 2018
Inkjet print, 100 x 66 cm
Coleção do artista

Claudia Jaguaribe
Vidigal e Rocinha da série Entre Morros, 2014
Methacrylate, 110 x 259 cm
Coleção da artista

Mauricio Valladares
Brasil Central, Carnaval, 1980
Inkjet print, 100 x 70 cm
Coleção do artista

Marcos Chaves
Buda, 1999
C-print, 135 x 200 cm
Coleção do artista

Thiago Facina
Escadas 10, 2014
Inkjet print, 59,4 x 42 cm
Coleção do artista

Rogério Reis
Da série Ninguém é de Ninguém, 2014
Inkjet print, 155 x 107 cm
Acervo do artista

Gais Ama
Casas de subúrbio, 2017
Acrylic on canvas, 110,3 x 100,3 cm
Coleção Roberto Marinho, Instituto Casa Roberto Marinho

Joelington Rios
Aqualtune, da série O que sustenta do Rio, 2018
Inkjet print, 90 x 80 cm
Coleção do artista

Anna Kahn
Sem título, 2010
Inkjet print, 80 x 100 cm
Coleção da artista

Carlos Vergara
Poder, 1972
Inkjet print, 100 x 150 cm
Coleção do artista

Cesar Barreto
Vista da Igreja da Penha, 2011
Coleção do artista

José Roberto Bassul
Sem título da série Linhas de Sombra 1 e 2, 2019
Inkjet print, 75 x 50 cm
Coleção do artista

Andre Cypriano
Membros do Surfavela, 1999
Inkjet print, 90 x 120 cm
Coleção do artista

Milan Alram
Rua Uruguaiana esquina com Rua do Ouvidor, 1957
Plotagem digital, 100 x 150 cm
Coleção da família

Victor Arruda
As gêmeas, 2013/2024
Acrylic on canvas, 70 x 100 cm
Coleção do artista

Previous exhibitions

Landscape and Memory

Casa Roberto Marinho

Rio de Janeiro - AUG 15 TO NOV 17 2024

Trusteeship: Cristina Canale

Cristina Canale

Casa Roberto Marinho

Rio de Janeiro - AUG 15 TO NOV 17 2024

Trusteeship: Pollyana Quintella