Experimental Art and the Body: Parangolé and the Collective Body

The article deals with the changes in Brazilian art from the 1950s to the 1970s, from concrete art to experimentalism, taking into particular account the importance of the artistic production of Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica. It can be said that both artists contributed to a radical questioning of the concept of the work of art and its traditional supports, and also provided a new relationship between the work of art and the viewer in contemporary art. In fact, Brazilian experimentalism anticipated at least a decade ahead of similar questioning of contemporary art posed by European artists and institutions.