Antonio Manuel

Videos and documentation gravitating around and developing from the concept of his seminal work O Corpo é a Obra (1970); and live performance Ligaçoes poeticas, Poetics connections, Legami poetici.

Courtesy the artist. Co-curated by Francesca Carol Rolla.

Antonio Manuel. Exhibition view at the III Venice International Performance Art Week 2016. Image © VestAndPage

Antonio Manuel. Exhibition view of O Corpo e a Obra (1970) at the III Venice International Performance Art Week 2016. Image © VestAndPage

Antonio Manuel. Ligacoes Poeticas, Poetic Connections, Legami Poetici. Performance at the III Venice International Performance Art Week 2016. Image © Lorenza Cini

Antonio Manuel (born 1947 in Avelãs de Caminha, Portugal) focuses on the body as a vehicle for his artistic propositions: radicality and subversion. Antonio Manuel had a preeminent role in the development of the groundbreaking neo-avant-garde movement that emerged in Rio de Janeiro in the sixties. During the most repressive years of the Brazilian military dictatorship (1968-1974) Antonio Manuel's artworks and actions instigated and were many times at the center of controversial debates concerning institutional censorship. While some of his closest friends associated with Tropicalismo and the intellectual milieu of Rio de Janeiro were forced into exile during the military regime, Antonio Manuel managed to remain in Brazil. Throughout this time he created a politically potent and visually striking corpus of experimental work that blended Neoconcrete, Pop, and Conceptual art. Antonio Manuel represented Brazil at the 56th Biennale of Venice together with André Komatsu and Berna Reale. 

At the VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK 2016, Antonio Manuel shows selected videos and documentation gravitating around and developing from the concept of his seminal work O Corpo é a Obra (1970), as well as the live performance Ligaçoes poeticas, Poetic connections, Legami poetici.

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