Renata Lucas's retrospective at Pinacoteca de São Paulo reconfigures museum space with interactive interventions

Renata Lucas's exhibition 'Sunday in the Park' at Pinacoteca de São Paulo features works from the past two decades that radically alter the museum's architecture and surrounding park. A 12-meter diameter circle has been cut into the park's surface for 'Roda-gigante' (Ferris Wheel, 2024), rotating pavement, earth, and curbs. Inside, the entire 900-square-meter gallery floor is covered with hinged plywood panels in 'Falha' (Failure, 2003/2024), allowing visitors to reconfigure the space. Pool balls from 'O Perde' (The Lose, 2022) travel through ducts from the fourth floor to the entrance hall, sometimes escaping toward the street. Another installation includes pivoting walls that spin vinyl records embedded in the floor when rotated by visitors. Lucas previously executed similar spatial disruptions at Berlin's KW and Neugerriemschneider 15 years ago. The exhibition runs through April 6, 2025. Technical issues emerged during the show: billiard balls occasionally jumped their channels, and vinyl records sometimes failed to play. These malfunctions highlight institutional challenges in maintaining such interactive works. The presentation contrasts with Lucas's 2024 solo show at São Paulo's Luisa Strina gallery, which featured only one central sculpture—a silkscreened MDF box with a Brazilian e-commerce logo. Lucas's practice references Lygia Clark's 1960s explorations of folding space and audience participation while maintaining an anti-neoliberal focus on unproductive action.