Facade of the Claudio Santoro National Theater, concrete panel by Athos Bulcão, Brasília

Vincent Fournier French, born Burkina Faso

Not on view

This striking photograph by French artist Vincent Fournier, part of his 2012 series Brasilia, portrays the sculptural facade of the National Theater of Brasilia. Completed in 1966, the theater is the largest arts building in Brasilia designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012). The composition and framing creates an image where neither verticality nor horizontality can be clearly differentiated. This lack of perspective, coupled with the figure of the man at lower left center, produces the illusion of the geometrically patterned façade as a floor, portraying the friction between the human presence and the materiality of the building.

Facade of the Claudio Santoro National Theater, concrete panel by Athos Bulcão, Brasília, Vincent Fournier (French, born Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 1970), Inkjet print on Hahnemühle Baryta Paper mounted to Dibond

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