Glasstire Essay Asks How Museums Should Let Lygia Clark's Bichos Be Touched
The essay "Bichos: Pay the Piper," published by Glasstire as part of its 25th-anniversary series on Institutional Critique, delves into Lygia Clark's interactive sculptures and the policies regarding viewer proximity. The Dallas Museum of Art and The Warehouse enforce a three-foot distance, while the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston allows one foot, and the Museum of Modern Art mandates an arm's length. In 1957, Clark introduced immediate audience engagement and crafted nearly seventy "bichos." T Magazine recognized this series as the second most significant modern sculpture among 25. During her inaugural solo exhibition in Europe on February 4, 1964, Clark severed Bichos suspended on nylon threads. The essay also discusses institutional interactions, including a 2009 video from the Walker Art Center and a 2012 retrospective at Itaú Cultural, as well as the 2005 "gift to Dallas" and associated sales.
Key facts
- Glasstire published the essay in its 25th-anniversary series under the October theme Institutional Critique: Considering Power Structures
- The Dallas Museum of Art and The Warehouse require visitors to stay at least three feet from art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston requires one foot and MoMA an arm's length
- Lygia Clark typed 11 pages in 1957 proposing that artworks demand immediate spectator participation
- Clark produced nearly seventy works she named "bichos"; T Magazine ranked the series second among 25 sculptures defining the modern age
- At her first European solo show in Stuttgart on February 4, 1964, Clark cut down Bichos hung on nylon threads and placed them on the ground
- The Walker Art Center posted a 2009 video of curator Peter Eleey manipulating a 1960 Bicho wearing gloves
- Marguerite Hoffman's Rothko sold for $17.6 million in 2007 and resold for about $31 million three years later
- The Rachofsky house in Dallas was listed for $23 million in November 2025
Entities
Artists
- Lygia Clark
- Bruno Latour
- Félix González-Torres
- Gerhard Richter
- Franz Kline
- Mark Rothko
- Jeff Koons
- Lucio Fontana
- Louise Bourgeois
- Sigmar Polke
- Nan Goldin
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Francisco Goya
- Peter Eleey
- Marguerite Hoffman
- Howard Rachofsky
- Deedie Rose
- Rusty Rose
- Elisabeth Walther-Bense
- Andy Underwood-Bultmann
- Edouard Fraipont
Institutions
- Glasstire
- Dallas Museum of Art
- The Warehouse
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- Museum of Modern Art
- Tate
- T Magazine
- Christie's
- Sotheby's
- Walker Art Center
- Itaú Cultural
- Pinacoteca de São Paulo
- Uffizi Gallery
- Gallerie dell'Accademia
- General Archive of the Indies
- SITE Santa Fe
- Pussy Riot
- Purdue Pharma
- Sackler family
- Hauser & Wirth
- Fergus McCaffrey
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
- ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
- Studiengalerie, Technische Hochschule Stuttgart
- SFMOMA
- Meadows Foundation
- Dallas Morning News
- CULTURED
- Associação Cultural O Mundo de Lygia Clark
- Veneklasen Gallery
Locations
- Dallas
- United States
- Houston
- New York City
- São Paulo
- Brazil
- Stuttgart
- Germany
- Karlsruhe
- Venice
- Italy
- Seville
- Spain
- Santa Fe
- Hamelin