Mario Pedrosa's 1978 Museum of Origins Proposal Inspires Major Exhibition at Instituto Tomie Ohtake and Itaú Cultural

The exhibition 'Ensaios para o Museu das Origens' at Instituto Tomie Ohtake and Itaú Cultural revisits critic Mario Pedrosa's radical 1978 proposal for a plural museum model, conceived after a fire destroyed Rio de Janeiro's Museu de Arte Moderna. Curated by Paulo Miyada and Izabela Pucu, the show features over 20 diverse organizations from across Brazil, ranging from small resistance initiatives to more established institutions. Pedrosa's original vision, structured around five axes—Museums of the Indian, the Unconscious, Modern Art, the Black, and Popular Arts—is expanded to address fundamental questions of erasure and domination through a class logic. The exhibition operates as a network, prioritizing listening and strengthening contexts over mere cataloging. A comprehensive catalog documenting the processes and works will be published in December. Concurrently, Itaú Cultural presents 'Ocupação Mario Pedrosa,' tracing the critic's trajectory, highlighting his under-read status despite being a major 20th-century figure.