Niemeyer in the Desert. Presences of the Russian Avant-Garde in Ibirapuera Park

Abstract

This article traces how Oscar Niemeyer and his team’s early draft of the Ibirapuera Park project (1951–1954) employs resources from the art and architecture of the Russian avant-garde of the early 20th century. It presents similarities with two projects by architect Ivan Leonidov regarding formal citations and the dispersion of volumes in space. It states a strong link between the Brazilian architect’s work and the suprematist conception of space, which employs empty space as a “desert condition” that aesthetically elaborates on the isolation characteristic of the modern condition. Such use of space articulates Niemeyer’s tragic perception of the modernization process in Brazil. However, the marquee in Ibirapuera Park suggests an integration of the otherwise dispersed volumes. It allows for the social appropriation of space and the coexistence of diverse groups, thus producing a space where integration between bodies remains possible.