Habitat

About this book

Major catalogue of the exhibition co-organized by MASP, Museo Jumex, and the MCA Chicago. "This exhibition addresses the life, work, and legacy of the Italian-Brazilian architect, designer, curator, editor, set designer, and influential thinker Lina Bo Bardi (19141992). She is the author of two iconic buildings in the city of São Paulo, MASP and Sesc Pompeiaa center of culture and leisure. Both reveal striking features of her architecture and her thought, with its extraordinary fusion of European modernism and Brazilian popular culture. Married to Pietro Maria Bardi (19001999), the founding director of MASP, Lina arrived in Brazil in 1946 at the age of 31. Here, she immersed herself deeply in the countryœs diverse cultures, turning her South American habitat into the setting for the creation of a unique and radical idiom. The exhibition borrows the title from the magazine Habitat, founded by Lina and Pietro, and edited by them between 1950 and 1953, a publication that innovated in graphic design and critical writing on art and architecture in Brazil." --MASP webpage. Curated by Julieta González, artistic diretor, Museo Jumex, Mexico City; José Esparza Chong Cuy, former Pamela Alper Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; and Tomás Toledo, chief curator, MASP, São Paulo Brazil.