INTEGRATED SERIES OF PUBLIC EXPERIMENTS / EVENTS WITH VARIOUS MEDIA
ART
AND COMMUNICATION
12th
SAO PAULO BIENNIAL
OCTOBER 1973
AWARDED
THE BIENNIAL’S GRAND PRIZE IN COMMUNICATION
The
goal of this series of provocative actions undertaken under the
cover of art was to create symbolic/utopian spaces of popular free
expression in the mass media and the street in defiance of the ruling
military junta. Elements included a nationwide call-in operation
using specially installed telephone lines, blank spaces for reader
response published in several newspapers, the use of radio and television
to orchestrate unusual experiments in public participation (e.g.
a taxi rally through the streets of the city), a videographic “mini
museum of consumerism,” and a street demonstration in which
participants carried blank signs: “The City Invaded by Blank
Space.” This last endeavor led to the artist’s arrest
by the political police.