Arte, Belém, do abstracionismo à visualidade Amazônica (1957-1985): transições movediças e tensões globais

Abstract

This research addresses the visual arts in the artistic field specialized in Belém, especially in the period between 1957 and 1985. This period marks in the city the contact and the absorption of values and practices of the internationalist artistic currents, such as the modernist abstractionism, the postmodern vanguards and the contemporary art. The way in which the local field has established relations of openness and resistance to these currents is studied from the theories of coloniality. Usually, the 1960s and 1970s are seen as the moment when contemporary art established itself worldwide, so this thesis can be understood as a narrative of 'history of contemporary art'. In Belém, the consolidation of this artistic paradigm was experienced through shaky transitions – slow, discontinuous and hesitant – in which there was a clear dispute between global values and local practices. The tensions between 'global' and 'local', in the art produced in the city in that period, conditioned the emergence of important artistic projects, which still little known and debated. For many of these projects, the ideas and images of the Amazonia were fundamental components – a topic that can add new information and approaches to the debate about 'Brazilian art' in those decades.