Exhibition on Roberto Burle Marx explores urban ecology and features projects in São Paulo

Read the original version in Portuguese here.

Published on November 04, 2022

The Fiesp Cultural Center (CCF) is hosting the exhibition Built Landscape: São Paulo and Burle Marx through February 2023. Curated by Guilherme Wisnik, Helena Severo, and Isabela Ono, the exhibition features works from the Burle Marx Institute collection, highlighting urban ecology projects conceived by Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) and his collaborators in the city of São Paulo. It also showcases dialogues between his work and that of renowned architects like Rino Levi and Paulo Mendes da Rocha, alongside unbuilt proposals for public spaces such as Trianon Park, Ibirapuera Park, Vale do Anhangabaú, and Praça da Sé. The exhibition highlights his environmental activism and pioneering advocacy for the preservation of South American biomes through green city planning.

Visitors have the opportunity to see the landscape architect's most iconic projects and an "Ephemeral Garden" featuring vertical structures at the entrance of the building on Paulista Avenue, designed by the Burle Marx studio. Additionally, an animation will be projected on the facade of the FIESP building.

The selected pieces reflect the diversity of seven decades of work through drawings, models, blueprints, sketches, photographs, and videos, highlighting the contemporary relevance of Burle Marx's narrative and legacy in rethinking urban living and public space design.

“Building on the legacy of Burle Marx and his collaborators, the Burle Marx Institute works with this highly contemporary concept of collective construction. For us, the collection is a powerful tool to inspire and rethink the urban experience, encouraging plural, affirmative, and collaborative perspectives,” says curator Isabela Ono.

Débora Viana, Executive Culture Manager at Sesi-SP, explains that hosting the exhibition reinforces the institution's commitment to fostering the cultural and artistic scene, engaging the public with works and artists to spark creation, reflection, and experimentation. “For Sesi-SP, cultivating new audiences for the arts, alongside promoting free access to culture, is of utmost importance. To this end, we develop and implement projects across various fields, inviting the public to immerse themselves in the world of knowledge and art,” Viana says.

Burle Marx was ahead of his time; forty to fifty years ago, he was already working to implement concepts as contemporary as urban rewilding. He possessed a long-term vision—a crucial asset for large cities today as they face the need to rethink their models and structures due to extensive soil sealing and a lack of green spaces.

The sections "Urban Ecologist" and "Projects in São Paulo" take on a more political tone, presenting several projects designed by Burle Marx for the city of São Paulo at the request of public authorities.

"Burle Marx is recognized as the most important and innovative Brazilian landscape architect of the 20th century. By transforming gardens into testing grounds for modern art, he introduced a new paradigm, breaking away from European tradition. The exhibition Built Landscape: São Paulo and Burle Marx presents little-explored aspects of his work. Burle Marx pioneered the concept of urban ecology by incorporating native flora into his designs to contrast with the hard, geometric forms of concrete. While it is often said that he pointed to the need to rethink the concept of the city, the exhibition also presents several unbuilt projects he designed for São Paulo, including Ibirapuera, Trianon Park, and Praça da Sé, among others," confirms curator Helena Severo.

The Three Sections of the Exhibition

Urban Ecologist: Activism for Sustainability – Documents, Reports, Photos, and Footage of Burle Marx's Expeditions

This section presents documents and political struggles in which Burle Marx engaged to protest the deforestation of Brazilian forests, particularly by the government and large corporations. Burle Marx was a fierce advocate for nature conservation and fought against monoculture. "He frequently raised alarms about monoculture—such as clearing a species-rich forest only to plant eucalyptus," notes curator Guilherme Wisnik.

Iconic Works: Significant Projects in the Creation of Public Space, a Living Memory of a Modern Brazil Reverent to Nature

This second section features highly influential projects designed to improve public space. Visitors can view images of the extensive boardwalk along Rio's South Zone beaches, as well as photographs of Burle Marx's landscaping for Flamengo Park (Rio de Janeiro) and Parque del Este in Caracas, Venezuela. This section also includes an immersive sensory darkroom, referred to as a "penetrable space," featuring image projections onto suspended fabrics. The installation showcases photographs of gardens and pavements created by Burle Marx and his collaborators, offering an immersive experience of the notable projects developed by the Burle Marx studio. This sensory experience is set to the music of Tom Jobim—another leading figure of modern Brazilian and Carioca culture.

Projects in São Paulo

Occupanying the central area of the exhibition design, this section features a collection of projects built by Burle Marx and his team in the state of São Paulo, most of which are private commissions. Here, visitors can see gardens and paving designs for buildings, houses, and estates, alongside collaborations with renowned São Paulo architects such as Rino Levi, Marcello Fragelli, Hans Broos, and Paulo Mendes da Rocha. In addition, unbuilt proposals for the city's public spaces are presented, including designs for Trianon Park, Ibirapuera Park, Praça da Sé, and Vale do Anhangabaú. An animated video produced for the exhibition showcases these three unbuilt projects (Ibirapuera Park, Praça da Sé, and Vale do Anhangabaú), transitionally overlaying Burle Marx's plans onto current aerial photographs of the sites, accompanied by a narration that guides the viewer through the envisioned spaces.

About Roberto Burle Marx: Insights from Guilherme Wisnik

Burle Marx was a pioneer who was always ahead of his time, implementing ideas that would only gain widespread traction decades later, such as sustainable practices. His career as a landscape architect began in the 1930s with his first projects in Rio de Janeiro. He later moved to Recife, where he was hired as Director of the City Parks Department, establishing a solid career in public space design. Over the years, he gained international recognition, becoming a leading authority in the field.

“He [Roberto Burle Marx] focused not only on observing nature and cultivating specific plant species but also on preserving them. Much of the richness of his work stems from his numerous expeditions across Brazil and South America to discover new species and study ecosystems. He would collect cuttings of the plants he encountered along the way,” explains curator Guilherme Wisnik.

Burle Marx cultivated these specimens at his estate, "Santo Antônio da Bica"—now known as the Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, managed by IPHAN (National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage) and located in Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro. “The estate was essential because it became a vast nursery. He would plant and grow all the specimens he brought back there; as a result, when designing his gardens, he had direct access to these plants and did not have to rely on what was commercially available. This gave him far greater freedom and creative potential,” Wisnik notes.

His expeditions—to the Cerrado and the Brazilian Amazon, for instance—greatly politicized his outlook. Witnessing the rapid destruction of the Brazilian forest, he began publishing major manifestos in newspapers. In the 1970s, Burle Marx engaged in open conflicts with major corporations, including the German automaker Volkswagen, which had purchased a ranch in Pará and cleared and burned large areas of forest to set up agricultural and ranching operations.

Built Landscape: São Paulo and Burle Marx