PARQUE LAGE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS RIO DE JANEIRO

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EAV Parque Lage’s current headquarter is

housed in a heritage listed building, formerly

home to Brazilian businessman Henrique Lage

(1881-1941) and Italian opera singer Gabriella

Besanzoni (1888-1962). The mansion was

designed in the twenties by Mario Vodret -

an Italian-born architect who later built Rio de

Janeiro’s Synagogue. The eclectic-style mansion

is located within the beautiful tropical park

designed by British landscape architect John

Tyndale, who was appointed around 1840 to

reshape the pre-existing sugar cane farm.

LOCATION

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Nowadays all of this is a 52 hectares portion of

Tijuca National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage

Site. Just below Corcovado’s iconic statue of Christ

the Redeemer, this gorgeous Rio de Janeiro’s nature

and biodiversity site used to be a location for cult-

movies as Glauber Rocha’s Terra em Transe (1967)

and Joaquim Pedro de Andrade’s Macunaíma

(1969), among others.

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Deliberately inspired by the School of Visual Arts

in New York, EAV Parque Lage was founded by

artist Rubens Gerchman in 1975 as an Open School

(Escola livre) funded by State Government.

HISTORY

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Despite the dictatorship running the country, EAV Parque Lage

implemented pioneering experimental teaching by artists, designers,

architects and historians as Helio Eichbauer, Lina Bo Bardi, Mario

Pedrosa, Roberto Magalhães, Celeida Tostes, Lelia González, Alair

Gomes, Paulo Herkenhoff and others. Situated at multidisciplinary

crossroads, EAV Parque Lage has produced and hosted remarkable

shows by theatre director José Celso Martinez Corrêa (Teatro

Oficina), as well as by leading brazilian musicians Caetano Veloso,

Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Fagner, Chico César, etc.; also, it

was the location for a historic dodecaphony music event by German-

Brazilian composer and educator Joachim Koellreutter, as well as the

site where Lacanian avant-garde of Freudian School landed in Brazil,

and where the seminal gay magazine “Lampião da Esquina” was

edited and published.

Prominent intellectuals as Darcy Ribeiro, Roberto da Matta and

Ferreira Gullar actively taught cinema studies in the seventies, when

EAV Parque Lage Cine Club used to screen censored films, artists

movies, Super8 and short films.

HISTORY

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MISSION

An Open School for artists and professionals of contemporary visual

arts, EAV Parque Lage currently focuses on Teaching and Learning,

Research, Public Education and Dissemination. Through an emphasis

on interdisciplinary and transversal issues, EAV also covers dance,

cinema, theatre and literature - based both on practice and theoretical

approach.

EAV Parque Lage is led by a committed directorship plus a curatorial

team aiming at implementing a self-sustainable agenda to match with

contemporary issues. School curricula include post-colonial studies

jointly with Afro-Brazilian and native Brazilians subjects — it is worth

to mention the “Oca”, the indigenous ritual structure in the park.

School’s perspective is informed by the humanities and by cross-

cultural interests, indeed.

For planning, curating and producing art exhibition events to be

instrumental to EAV Parque Lage’s mission, in 2018 School display

facilities hosted Queermuseum — an exhibition previously censored

elsewhere, whose the presentation turned an internationally

significant statement on diversity.

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Art as activism is currently a way for EAV Parque Lage to

implement projects in partnership with Rio de Janeiro’s

low-income communities, within the School’s general

strategy focusing on scholarships and free courses.

Children education unit Parquinho Lage significantly

contributes to achieve the School’s social inclusion target,

with a range of workshops for children and families from

anywhere in town.

A specific international network by means of partnerships,

workshops and grants is presently the way for EAV Parque

Lage students and professors to connect back and forth

with relevant institutions all over the world.

MISSION

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Former EAV Parque Lage students include artists

Beatriz Milhazes, Daniel Senise, Adriana Varejão,

Arjan Martins, Ernesto Neto, Marcos Chaves,

Laura Lima, Suzana Queiroga and Lucia Laguna

nowadays working and exhibiting all over the world.

All of them are in contact with EAV Parque Lage to

take part in talks, workshops and exhibitions.

ALUMNI

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FRIENDS OF EAV

EAV Parque Lage has a board of trustees plus

a growing network of more than 500 engaged

national and international friends generously

supporting and funding several of the school’s

activities.

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The mansion’s historical premises accommodate:

two conference rooms; multiple classrooms/

ateliers; administration offices; a library focused on

contemporary art plus the school archive.

The nice bar-restaurant set around the swimming

pool is the place to catch a glimpse of Corcovado

mountain and Christ the Redeemer.

Recently restored Cavalariças (horse stables) host

exhibitions, temporary ateliers and workshops.

All of this fits within the 52 Hectares (ab.128,5 Acres)

outstanding biodiversity park which includes also

waterfalls, grottos, aquarium, plus a couple of folies

pavilions.

In order to provide a convenient hosting for visiting

students, artists and professors, EAV Parque Lage

has set up a partnership with a next-door hotel

offering full services (including swimming-pool) at a

special price.

FACILITIES

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Fabio SzwarcwaldParque Lage School of Visual Arts | Managing director+55 (21) 2334-4297 I mob. +55 (21) 99321 6057 fabio.szwarcwald.eavparquelage@gmail.com

Prof. Giacomo Pirazzoli, architect PhDParque Lage School of Visual Arts Head of International Affairs mob. +55 (21) 98340 9269gp.eavinternational@gmail.com

www.eavparquelage.rj.gov.br

CONTACTS