Hena Lee

In this dissertation, I proposed the formation of a bottom-up mid-size art institution out of a group of existing self-organisations as an alternative for the current institutional scene in São Paulo, Brazil. This alternative institution could be a way to expand the impact of existing self-organisations and increase the role of curators as social and political agents in order to destabilise dominant practices.

Along with curatorial and institutional methods used by proponents of New Institutionalism and directions employed in self-organisations in São Paulo, this new mid-size institution would re-establish curators and artists’ autonomy in order that more critical socio-political content can be produced. It encourages collaboration between artists and curators, breaking with existing hierarchies and merging the roles of artists and curators. Also, it proposes more flexible programmes in order to adapt the institution according to the artists’ needs and be less dependent on artwork collections to produce knowledge. Furthermore, it understands its public sphere as agonistic, using the concept theorised by Chantal Mouffe. According to her, the agonistic public sphere contributes to a proliferation of different voices and offers alternative discourses to neoliberal hegemonic practices. When applied in São Paulo’s institutional context, it helps to disrupt the traditional prescribed top-down approaches used in many large institutions when dealing with the public. It also contributes to an increase of critical discourse that aims at large-scale social transformation in the city. The solutions proposed in this thesis are offered in the belief that art has a special role to play in triggering societal change.