Five essays on MASP – Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement Isaac Julien

Presented for the first time in Brazil, the film installation explores the legacy of Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) and will be exhibited on the second floor of the Pietro Maria Bardi Building. Two of the most celebrated Brazilian actresses and both Academy Award nominees, Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro interpret Lina’s writings, give voice to Bo Bardi’s writings, bringing to life her ideas on the social and cultural potential of art and architecture, particularly her experiences with Afro-Brazilian culture in Bahia.

Curated by Adriano Pedrosa, Artistic Director, MASP, with curatorial assistance from Matheus de Andrade, Curatorial Assistant, MASP, the film installation consists of nine simultaneous projections that wave a non-linear narrative, merging archival footage, architectural records, and staged performances. Since the 1980s, Julien has directed and produced films and artworks that examine the display and significance of non-European material culture in western art museums unifying dance, photography, music, theater, painting, and sculpture. His work revisits historical figures offering different perspectives and subverting the dominant narratives. Inspired by Bo Bardi’s concept of time, the exhibition’s title originates from one of her reflections: “But linear time is a Western invention; time is not linear, it is a marvellous entanglement where, at any moment, points can be chosen, and solutions invented, with no beginning or end.”