A revista Estado da Arte é um periódico científico de Artes Visuais publicado semestralmente pelos grupos de pesquisa do Instituto de Artes da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU-MG): Grupo de Pesquisa Poéticas da Imagem (GPPI); Núcleo de Pesquisa em Ensino de Pintura (NUPPE) e Núcleo de Pesquisa em Artes Visuais (NUPAV). A revista Estado da Arte [ISSN 2675-4576] tem por objetivo divulgar resultados de investigações artísticas no âmbito das Artes Visuais e suas interfaces, privilegiando pesquisas que tenham por foco o contexto contemporâneo da obra de arte e de seus processos e sistemas, seja em relação aos desafios da produção poética no século XXI, ou a inserção e reverberação da obra histórica nos circuitos existentes ou em construção. Tendo em vista a situação geográfica de sua sede, busca evidenciar teorias e métodos que dialoguem com as novas perspectivas de descentralização da produção e dos discursos da arte.
Universidade Federal de Uberlândia - UFU
Copyright (c) 2025 Revista Estado da Arte
Copyright (c) 2024 Revista Estado da Arte
Art and Nature in the Age of Climate Change
This introduction proposes a transdisciplinary perspective on the relationships between art and nature in times of climate crisis, as addressed in this dossier. The selected contributions reflect on the coexistence of humans and non-humans, addressing ecological, symbolic, political, and poetic issues. Art is understood as a critical and sensitive force for reimagining environmental imaginaries, fostering new connections between aesthetics, science, spirituality, and education. Nature is approached not as an object of contemplation, but as an agent and partner.
The text is a critical review of the book Eco - Lógicas Latinas, establishes a cartography of Latin American the artistic practices of artists in eight Latin American countries who address the themes of “ecology” and “art”. It also presents the exhibition “Vitality” with works by sixteen artists. The works are presented from a methodological perspective of “ecosophy” articulated by Félix Guattari, in which ecological themes are presented from a philosophical approach. The publication expands the art and ecology approach by considering the balance and relationship between living beings – humans, animals, plants, artificial beings – and their direct and indirect environments, including the digital one. In this sense, we consider that the works presented are affiliated with the perspective, in addition to Félix Guattari, of authors such as Bruno Latour who question the duality of “nature and culture” from the perspective of Western modernity and develop a theory referring to the Gaia Hypothesis, for the analysis of environmental changes, of which the climate crisis is the most visible face.
Exposed material: fruit-musa (2025) are self-portraits in which I seek to immerse myself in the lush vegetation of tropical nature. I engage with the plants and landscape of the cerrado and the fields of Brasília as aesthetic inspiration and material — photographing their scenery, their elements, their parts. Thus, I imprint these images of what the earth engenders in photographs. In an aesthetic in which my body is exposed as a central element, it is possible to feel my skin wet with water and sweat: with my dilated pores; the color burned by the action of the sun, which also saturates the colors of the muse fruit I hold in my mouth — an element of ornamentation, but which is also food and form, material and word.
Living Fictions: The Forest Paintings by Hugo Fortes
This essay proposes five questions about the forest paintings by Hugo Fortes, a professor, artist and researcher who works with the relations between art and nature. The text is written as a letter. Although it is addressed to the artist, the letter is thought as if it is sent to everyone who is interested in the connections among art, culture and environmental education. The questions are related to artistic procedures, the various ways of seeing and reading paintings, the ways in which previous concepts can limit perceptions, the articulations between art and environmental education and the pedagogical intentions (or lack thereof) of creative gestures. While reading, various answers can be imagined and other questions can be constructed. Besides this, the text can activate unpredictable resonances. To sum up, nowadays there are many extreme climate events and the more they happen, the more sensitive aspects are necessary in pedagogical practices about nature.
When the Planet Blooms: Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss, and Artistic Creation explores the intersection of art, technology, and ecological awareness, presenting a vision for a sustainable future rooted in creativity and connection. Drawing from 3D-printed sculptures inspired by endangered and native flowers, it offers reflections on the fragility and resilience of nature amidst the escalating challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Highlighting the intricate interdependence of ecosystems, the artwork discussed in this article bridges science, art, and technology to emphasize nature's brilliant design and adaptability. This practice not only mourns ecological loss but also celebrates the interconnected beauty of life, urging collective stewardship and action. By fusing human ingenuity with nature’s wisdom, the creations serve as a call to reimagine our relationship with the natural world, blending wonder, reflection, and activism. This work underscores art's transformative power in shaping ecological awareness and fostering hope for a flourishing planet.
The present visual essay proposes a selection of works exhibited in the shows ANIMALIS IMAGINIBVS, presented at the 14th Bienal de Curitiba, Paraná/PR (2019/20), and ANIMALIS IMAGINIBVS – Conexões e Fabulações, at the Pinacoteca Ruben Berta, Porto Alegre/RS (2022/23), both curated by art critic Adolfo Montejo Navas. Using drawing, experimental engraving and a series of objects, the project involves a collection of animals found lifeless around Moinho da Capivara, the artist's rural studio located about 70 km north of Porto Alegre, and is tensioned by nomenclatures set in the simulated field of science and articulated by the lexicon named Dactilus Dialectus, language of the pseudoscientist Emanoel Leichter, the author’s heteronym, who conceives perceptions as quasi-utopian-poems or quasi-lyrical-enigmas that suggests mirrorings and ambivalences of meanings for existence, metamorphosis, transience, and points to questions about the authority established by the paradigm of scientific taxonomy.
Bioprinting, art-science-nature, transience, plurisymmetric cloud, cabinet of curiosities
ABSTRACT This article explores how the image of animals—specifically the octopus—has shifted in contemporary art from passive symbol or exotic spectacle to creative agent within the framework of the Chthulucene. Drawing on animal studies, ethology, and evolutionary aesthetics, and guided by theorists such as Deleuze, Haraway, and Morton, among others, the paper advocates for animal’s expression as a form of art. The octopus, known for its intelligence and unique physiology, is central to artworks that challenge anthropocentric views. Case studies include installations and performances by Pascal Marcel Dreier, Hörner/Antlfinger, Shimabuku, Laitinen, and Madison Bycroft, which engage in interspecies communication and relational aesthetics. These artistic practices invite sensitive, non-linear, and empathetic ways of knowing that destabilize binary and positivist thinking. Recognizing animal creativity is proposed as both a political and ethical act—one that expands the field of art and repositions the human. KEYWORDS Tentacular aesthetics, Interspecies art, Animal creativity
reckage and recovery: living with change. Interview with the duo Rodriguez Remor on art, ecology and decolonial practices at Mirante Xique-Xique.
In August 2024, Mirante Xique-Xique (MXX), a non-profit artist-led organization focused on the authenticity of the Chapada Diamantina in terms of culture, heritage, and environment, and created by Denis Rodriguez and Leonardo Remor, the Rodriguez Remor duo, welcomed Italian journalist and curator Matteo Bergamini as a resident researcher for the program. Over the course of three weeks, the duration of MXX's research residencies, organizers and researcher met weekly to discuss the particularities of this interdisciplinary project located in Chapada Diamantina National Park (Bahia), and which works at the convergence of Art, Community and Ecology. [ INTERVIEW ]
The article takes as its starting point the viral image of the "caramel horse" stranded on a rooftop during a flood in Brazil, exploring the impact of horses on the collective imagination, particularly within the Western context and amidst the urgency of climate emergencies. Based on Aby Warburg and John Berger ideas, it examines how artistic representations – from the Classical Tradition to contemporary times – have shaped human identification with the horse, positioning it as an ambivalent symbol of power, freedom, and vulnerability.
The Photographic Landscape of Antonio Saggese: Perception and Reality in Ipuã
This article proposes an analysis of a collection of works by Antonio Saggese, captured in regions of the Atlantic Forest in São Paulo. These works transcend the frivolity of mere visual documentation, evoking a perspective that is both poetic and critical on the idea of objective reality. Inspired by the reflections of theorists such as André Bazin and Susan Sontag, among others, Saggese explores the complex relationship between photography, technology, and perception of the world. His images, while drawing attention to the preservation of forests that, due to an increasingly unsustainable economic model, exist only as remnants, also question the very nature of photography, highlighting the role of light capture and technical enhancement in our conception of reality representation. Additionally, by evoking engravings by European travelers of the 18th and 19th centuries and the specific propositions of the landscape painting genre, the photographer creates a figuration that challenges our perception and opens space for a profound dialogue about the essence and interpretation of these landscapes, reaffirming photography as a form of scenographic and subjective creation.
The visual essay presents a sketchbook where it elaborated practices of oil painting taking as references foliage plants found in urban daily life, from visits made to the Flower Market of Campinas, as by the neighborhood. With the notebook it was possible to create reflections among the speculations about the origin of the arts, saying that it was probably just the observation of nature with its colors, smells, glows responsible for this awakening, as well as thinking specifically about the invention of painting, as its creation is also interconnected with the vegetable universe given to pigments, the canvas itself or papers made of cotton. With the exercises of the sketchbook also certain elements that are studied by painting have gained highlights as forms, colors and their compositions.
This paper focuses on a digital media-art artifact titled "Dão água aos mortos que já não têm sede", which combines video performance with a multisensory installation to reflect on the current climate crisis. The creation process of the artifact followed the a/r/cographic methodology (Veiga, 2021), accompanied by a Digital Logbook where all stages of the creative process were recorded. In this study, the scope of the artifact expands to encompass the multiple realities of the body, as described by Santaella (2003), envisioning the performer’s body in this video performance framed within the installation as a plugged body integrated into a visual and sound narrative. The installation is highlighted by the transition from natural landscapes to environmental desolation across seven screens, intensifying the emotional impact of the work. The physical component of the artifact, which contains materials such as plastic and straw, engages viewers in a visual, tactile, and olfactory experience, reinforcing the connection between humans and technology in addressing environmental themes. This artistic project functions as a form of artivism, challenging public perceptions about the relationship between humans and the environment, while underscoring the urgency of sustainable actions.
Ecologies of Sensitivity, or the critical role of art in the climate crisis
Contemporary times have been marked by complex challenges that demand interdisciplinary analysis and robust political, social, economic, and scientific responses. At the heart of the climate crisis, art has emerged as a critical field of research due to its power to stir up subjectivities and raise awareness of environmental and social problems. In an effort to expand the debate on what art can do in the face of the uncertainties posed by environmental and social problems, this study articulates the ideas, concepts and research of three researchers - Guattari, Humboldt and Descola - weaving together the fragments of a theoretical review that outlines perspectives for thinking, acting and producing in the face of the crises of the contemporary world marked by unprecedented climate problems and socio-environmental ruptures, pointing to the urgency of rethinking civilizational paradigms.
Letters od affection to the banks of the Amazon
The Letters of Affection are works of textile art, in small formats, measuring 10 x 10 cm. In this article, they recall the riverbanks of the Amazon River, with its leafy trees in infinite shades of green, their transparency and reflections on water. I dedicate the Letters to the Amazon River, as protection, as memory, as civilization genesis, water route and territorial border. I collected beautiful things that I found along the way – wool, threads, beads, fabrics, branches, leaves and vines. Here I present some Letters of Affection, with fibers dyed with plants, seeking to intertwine matter, memory and concept. Each Letter has seven layers, like the seven seas that receive the river waters and bathe our planet. I seek connections with the works of artist Valeria Scornaienchi and the artist Hugo Fortes. The image mirros my contact with the real. Each small work is like an impression, a visual trace of a time that I now get in touch with, as Didi-Huberman tells us, in these images that touch reality.
Editorial da edição V5 N2, jul - dez. 2024
Partindo de um convênio firmado em 2023 entre a Unicamp/Instituto de Artes – IA e o Instituto de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo – IAC, estabelecemos a proposta da elaboração de resenhas para a coleção de publicações do IAC, doada à Biblioteca do Instituto de Artes, como parte das atividades programadas pelo acordo que ainda prevê novas reuniões, palestras, seminários e visitas técnicas. Para tanto, o envolvimento do Programa de Pós Graduação em Artes Visuais, por meio de seus docentes e, em particular pela participação ativa da disciplina obrigatória deste PPG, intitulada AV 123 - Métodos e Técnicas de Pesquisa ministrada pelo prof. Dr. Edson Pfutzenreuter no primeiro semestre de 2024, garantiram a atenção especial dispensada por nossos alunos pós-graduandos à pesquisa de artistas, documentos e coleções modernas e contemporâneas representadas na atuação qualificada das exposições e publicações feitas pelo IAC, nos últimos anos. A escolha dos materiais para a elaboração das resenhas teve também como meta clara, a lateralidade possível e desejável entre as pesquisas discentes em curso, a vocação própria das Revistas Acadêmicas que acolheram esta proposta e o desejo de dinamizar conteúdos sobre arte, artistas e projetos expositivos que podem ser (co)memorados a partir da capacidade longeva que carregam os livros.
Believing that the maintenance, archiving and dissemination of Visual Arts and their interfaces in contemporary art is of great importance, as well as promoting the insertion and reverberation of historical work in existing or under construction circuits, the scope of this text, which is the result of observation of the exhibition catalog of the artist Lothar Charoux in accordance with the premise of the magazine Estado da Arte, proposes to publicize and promote the significance of the aforementioned artist in the scenario of national contemporary artistic production, offering visibility accredited by a scientific academic approach, the basis that supported the content presented.
Este texto apresenta a resenha do catálogo “Sergio Camargo: Construtor de ideias”, publicação bilíngue em portugues e inglês, elaborada no ano de 2013 pelo Instituto de Arte Contemporânea (IAC), a partir da exposição de mesmo nome realizada no Paço Imperial do Rio de Janeiro.
When the Planet Blooms: Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss, and Artistic Creation explores the intersection of art, technology, and ecological awareness, presenting a vision for a sustainable future rooted in creativity and connection. Through 3D-printed sculptures inspired by endangered and native flowers, the artist, Darlene Farris-LaBar reflects on the fragility and resilience of nature amidst the escalating challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Highlighting the intricate interdependence of ecosystems, the work bridges science, art, and technology to emphasize nature's design brilliance and adaptability. The artist’s practice not only mourns ecological loss but celebrates the interconnected beauty of life, urging collective stewardship and action. By fusing human ingenuity with nature’s wisdom, the creations serve as a call to reimagine our relationship with the natural world, blending wonder, reflection, and activism. This work underscores art's transformative power in shaping ecological awareness and fostering hope for a flourishing planet.
"Foram três meses organizando o mídia tática Brasil":
Here we present an interview with the media activist, artist and producer from Belém Pará, based in New York, Giseli Vasconcelos. Giseli comments on her trajectory, interspersed with the historical context of media-activism in Brazil, from the late 90s to the present.
Dossier: How Are You, 2013? Political Struggles and Artistic Practices in Contemporary Brazil
Presentation of the dossier “HOW’S IT GOING, 2013? Political struggles and artistic practices in contemporary Brazil.”
Is it still possible to stay dry amidst disruptive chaos?
The article uses the historic 2024 flood in Porto Alegre as a starting point to explore, through the video art “Avenida Amazonas” (2024), the complex relationships between the climate crisis, technology, and disinformation. The analysis is based on concepts such as the "Gaia theory" by english environmentalist James Lovelock, expanded by french anthropologist Bruno Latour, as well as the ideas of "metatechnology" by Italian philosopher Luciano Floridi and "technodiversity" by chinese philosopher Yuk Hui. The text offers a critical reflection on the role of art as a mediator of the global unconscious, capable of capturing latent issues and acting as a catalyst for critical thinking. By exposing contradictions and problematizing political discourses and controversial technological solutions, art positions itself as a subversive and transformative tool. The article emphasizes the urgency of adopting a more sensitive and contextualized perspective to rethink the interactions between technology, politics, and the environment, contributing to a deeper and more conscious debate on contemporary challenges.
The disenchanted landscape is the concept here developed to designate a contemporary photographic production about the landscape based on an aesthetic of disenchantment. Landscape, as we know, is the form of representation of space created simultaneously with modernity itself, through linear perspective and the emphasis on the representation of nature as opposed to culture. Photography inherited, to a large extent, the task of representing modern space and the ruins of the past in the form of perspective. The disenchantment described here manifests precisely the loss of belief in the modern project and the melancholy it provoked. If Modernism exalted the idea of ​​progress in much of its production, a century later the confidence in technological utopia was emptied in the face of the destruction caused by the exploitation of natural resources on a planetary scale and the proposition of a geological era caused by human intervention, the Anthropocene. But is photography, the form of modern representation par excellence, capable of problematizing modernity itself? This is what I will attempt to verify based on some works on the ruins of the Amazon rainforest.
Divided into two parts, this article seeks to reflect, based on photographic images, on the exiguity of the human presence in relation to the temporal scale of the Earth – what in geology is called deep time. The initial part of the text presents a first-person account of the conception and production of the work Escala (Scale), a large-scale photograph taken by the author inside the Itaimbezinho canyon, on the border of the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The second segment examines a very specific type of image that served as a reference for the conception of Escala: 19th-century landscape photographs that use the human figure as a parameter for measuring natural space and its elements. Therefore, this reflection is based on authors from different areas of knowledge: from the history and philosophy of art, to geography and geology.
Artistic production in dialogue with Minas Gerais Savanna's biodiversity
Dialogues between artistic production and the Minas Gerais Savanna's biodiversity are emphasized in the connection between art, science and biology and promote questions about climate change and the happening of human and non-human life in flux and significant alterities. Artistic and scientific practices carried out in collaboration are broadened by nature studies and the creative force of a biologist in intersection with multi-species perspectives in this narrative research in immersion with life, guided by Coccia (2020), Haraway (2021, 2022), among others.as, we present biodiversities in a drawing with digital collage and narratives.