One of the enriching results of the first edition of the IEA Sabbatical Year Program is the performance of the video 'Dynamics, Fluctuations and Blindspots,' by cultural policy expert Lúcia Maciel Barbosa de Oliveira, a professor at USP's School of Communications and Arts (ECA), and filmmaker Priscila Lima.

Available on YouTube, the video is based on the research 'Contemporary Cultural Dynamics: Overlapping of Singularities, Collectives, Technologies and Cultural Institutions in the Common Perspective', developed by Oliveira at the IEA from March 2016 to February 2017.

The 24-minute long video synthesizes six hours of recorded interviews with artists, cultural producers, managers and researchers. The interviews were part of the work carried out by the researcher in the places of action of the cultural collectives, where she participated in discussions with their members and accompanied performances.

The realization of the video was made possible thanks to the scholarship of the Sabbatical Year Program granted to researchers by USP's Dean of Research. The production also had the support of ECA.

Oliveira has worked with cultural policy for many years, having even worked in film production before becoming a professor at USP. Producing something different from the usual writing of scientific articles has always been an aspiration: 'My desire was to produce a video to give voice to the people of the cultural collectives and to make the power of their work appear, which would be difficult in an article, which is something more descriptive.'

Given the academic compartmentalisation in the evaluation of projects by development agencies, however, she realized that this idea would be difficult to achieve: 'If I asked the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for resources to produce a video, I could hardly do it because it is not within the audiovisual area. I saw the sabbatical program at the IEA as was a very good chance to combine the realization of the video with my research proposal, which is a cut from a bigger project that I develop.'

Blindspots

The title of the video refers to the dynamics of the emergence of the cultural collectives and also to two aspects: "The term 'fluctuations' is due to the fact that culture itself is fluctuating, fugitive, procedural; and 'blindspots' is related to the quote in the beginning of video, by British researcher Terry Eagleton, taken from the book The Idea of Culture": 'Every culture has an internal blindspot where it fails to grasp or be at one with itself, and to discern this... is to understand that culture more fully.'

This statement by Eagleton, according to Oliveira, means that culture has aspects that are incomprehensible, untranslatable, non-verbalizable, that we must conform to the total misunderstanding of this universe. For her, certain aspects of the relationship between the dynamics of the cultural collectives and formal cultural policies are examples of blindspots, including the use of cultural equipment that embodies these policies.

Lúcia Maciel Barbosa de Oliveira was a sabbatical researcher at the IEA in 2016

'My intention was to balance the speech of some of the managers of cultural equipment in São Paulo with the words of some collectives. I wanted to understand this dynamics in a municipal administration [that of former mayor Fernando Haddad] that opened for a more active participation of the cultural collectives in the equipment and in which a certain disjunction between the discourses persisted."

Co-management

Oliveira explains that the cultural collectives do not claim a complete autonomy in the management and use of cultural equipment: "The groups that have created the House of Culture of the Ermelino Matarazzo neighbourhood have occupied a property of that subprefecture that was abandoned, and proposed a co-management contract, which was accepted by the Municipal Secretariat of Culture. Resources were passed on to a cultural collective with legal inscription in charge of management and accountability. "

At the time, the secretariat pointed to this co-management agreement as the embryo of a model for the São Paulo's culture houses, according to the researcher. 'This is not strange in other countries.'

The emergence of the cultural collectives

The cultural collectives are the result of the very public cultural policies, according to Lucia. "Many of these young people have been motivated by the programs and pageants that tried to expand the scope of the Municipal Secretariat of Culture to encompass the peripheries."

The cultural collectives have nothing of amateur or improvisational, according to Oliveira. 'They have clarity about what their work is, and their actions are very much discussed and elaborated.' Many of these people went to college, benefited from recent educational policies. They use whatever is possible, such as pageants, funding, media insertion and working with digital resources, all without giving up their references and the principles that govern the groups."

Oliveira's biggest project is to think of cultural policies for the 21st century from the demands of a civil society that has been expanding its participation. 'Culture is a field that allows certain flexibilities in experimentation, which can be broadened to other areas thanks to these co-management processes through participatory budgeting.'

Photos (from the top): 1. Taken from 'Dynamics, Fluctuations and Blind Spots'; 2. Leonor Calasans/IEA-USP

The issue is dedicated to the memory of councilwoman Marielle Franco, murdered on March 14, in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the driver who accompanied her, Anderson Gomes.

The editor of the journal, Alfredo Bosi, comments that measures to build legitimately democratic politics in the dossier "Politics and Money," which opens the edition, constitute "a complex equation of several unknowns whose resolution should not be postponed indefinitely". Measures include the need for "parties not to be mere labels or a sum of interests, but civilian associations endowed with coherent values and principles."

This is not enough, warns Bosi: "It is necessary to rid the nation of the ghosts of the colonial and slave-owning past and, at the same time, to design an economic regime that limits the abuses of financial-rentier capitalism without giving in to dirigiste statism."

The association between politics and money should not necessarily lead to disastrous results, but instead "ally itself for the common good, as shown in the text about spending on public health improvement," says the editor.

In the opening article of the dossier, "How to Save Politics?," Jacques Marcovitch, professor emeritus from USP's Faculty of Economics, Administration and Accounting, defends two sets of proposals favoring the emergence of leaderships that are "capable of presenting results and contributing to the well-being of the community."

The first set addresses party governance, the hypothesis of a reinvention of the media, and the role of academia as a space for debate. The second set contemplates the expected "protagonism of civil society, and possible contributions to substantive changes in the party agenda and in politics in its broader perception."

Former president at USP and former director at the, Marcovitch proposes that academic institutions, media and nongovernmental organizations take action for this transformation in order to "save politics from its misconduct."

According to economist Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, professor emeritus from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, financial-rentier capitalism is the appropriate denomination for the mixed character of the post-war capitalist social organization, especially since the 1980s. It is a society in which "capitalists are predominantly rentiers, while high technobureaucrats are either the top executives of companies or financiers."

In the article "Financial-Rentier Capitalism," Bresser-Pereira analyzes the development of this social organization in the 20th century and concludes that "the new importance of rentiers and financiers represents a serious trap for contemporary capitalism." In his opinion, although finances play an important role in the financing of investment, financiers are not interested in it. "Neither them nor the rentiers are committed to the growth of the country or to the well-being of the people. Both represent more a liability than a social asset." The economist concludes with a question that has no answer according to him: "Will there be endogenous mechanisms in capitalism and democracy capable of changing this situation? "

The approach of Fábio Konder Comparato, professor emeritus of USP's Faculty of Law, starts from the historical elements of the formation of Brazil. In the article "Is There Still Any Hope?," he comments on facts from the colonial and empire periods, which, in his view, shaped Brazilian society. These "congenital vices" are, according to Comparato: the absolute predominance of private interest over the public good, Brazil as the destination of criminals degraded by Portugal, the endemic addiction to corruption by public officials and oligarchic domination.

For the jurist, Brazilian history "does not repeat itself, it remains the same." Faced with this reality, he concludes with two questions: "Is there still any hope that sovereignty or supreme power will in the future actually belong, not in a purely symbolic way, to the Brazilian people? How long will we have to wait until all Brazilian citizens, including the poorest, are 'free and equal people in dignity and rights,' as proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?"

The dossier ends with a discussion of a practical example of the importance of improving the management of public resources for the benefit of the population. In "Public Health Expenses: Brief History, Current Situation and Future Prospects," Paulo Saldiva, a professor of pathology at USP's School of Medicine and director of the IEA, and Mariana Veras, a specialist in public policies and strategic planning, and a researcher in the same department of pathology, address the Unified Health System (SUS) in its almost 30 years of operation.

The authors acknowledge that the system has promoted advancements in the service to the population, but also presents "ills of financing and mismanagement". The article also discusses future challenges and principles that should guide actions for the country "to reach a more efficient level in health care."

Other themes

Examples of participatory democracy and cultural practices are portrayed in five texts of the second section of the issue, entitled "Politics". There are also further articles with contributions that "deepen the meaning of the struggles of great historical militants for justice: Tiradentes and Luiz Gama," says the publication's editor.

The third set of texts contains articles on Brazilian fictionists and poets. Besides poet and essayist Augusto Meyer, aspects of the work of modern and contemporary poets and writers (Mário de Andrade, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Rubem Fonseca and Raduan Nassar) and the romantic narrative (José de Alencar) are analyzed.

Issue 92 also includes articles on the contradictions of research and graduate studies in Brazil, and on Mosaico do Gurupi, the most threatened region of Amazonia, as well as four recently published book reviews on university Marxism in São Paulo, Machado de Assis, Nise da Silveira and José Murilo de Carvalho.

The list below contains the names of the authors who have contributed with each one of the addressed themes:

Politics and Money

Jacques Marcovitch
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Fábio Konder Comparato
Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva and Mariana Veras

Politics

Murilo Gaspardo
Daniel Afonso da Silva
Celso Frederico
Amanda Patrycia Coutinho de Cerqueira
José Murilo de Carvalho

Luiz Gama

Diego A. Molina
Lúcia Klück Stumpf and Júlio César de Oliveira Vellozo

Fiction Reading

Alfredo Bosi
Cristiane Rodrigues de Souza
José Feres Sabino
Belinda Mandelbaum
Simone Rossinetti Rufinoni
Fernando Paixão
Machado de Assis

Assorted articles

Paulo César Soares
Danielle Celentano, Magda V. C. Miranda, Eloisa Neves Mendonça, Guillaume X. Rousseau, Francisca Helena Muniz, Vivian do Carmo Loch, István van Deursen Varga, Luciana Freitas, Patrícia Araújo, Igor da Silva Narvaes, Marcos Adami, Alessandra Rodrigues Gomes, Jane C. Rodrigues, Cláudia Kahwage, Marcos Pinheiro and Marlúcia B. Martins

Reviews

Cecília Helena L. de Salles Oliveira
Yudith Rosenbaum
Pedro Meira Monteiro
Deni Alfaro Rubbo

Ricardo Ohtake, new holder of the Olavo Setubal Chair of Arts, Culture and Science.

To address the trajectory of art and culture in Brazil from the post-Second War period until the crisis of 2016, and to analyze the current situation of institutions and activities in the field with prospects for the future, are some of the goals of the new holder of the Olavo Setubal Chair of Arts, Culture and Science, created in 2015 and officially launched in February 2016 by the IEA in partnership with Itaú Cultural. Architect, graphic designer and cultural manager Ricardo Ohtake took office on March 17, in a ceremony in the University Council Room that was attended by authorities, sponsors of the Chair, artists and scientists.

"The discussion of the future is what matters most, mainly because of the new political, social, economic, administrative and institutional situation in Brazil, which we know has created a legal anomaly in the country, provoking insecurity for the population and certain insecurity in the cultural environment", said Ohtake.

While opening the ceremony, Martin Grossmann, academic coordinator of the Chair, professor at USP's School of Communications and Arts (ECA), and former director of the IEA, welcomed the new holder and thanked the work done by diplomat and essayist Sérgio Paulo Rouanet, former national secretary of Culture and author of the bill to encourage culture that bears his name. During the inaugural year of the Chair, Rouanet developed the approximation between the borders of knowledge in the personal, institutional and scientific scopes, as he recalled in his speech.

The new activities will include the debate on the actions and the thinking of cultural leaders, and the participation of institutions in the development of the artistic and cultural field, in a reflection that will go back to the cultural history of Brazil, Grossmann showed.

Ohtake recalled the evolution of Brazilian society and mentality - including its typical contradictions and complexities with which "a modern and medieval country" was built - and related this trajectory to the steps taken by the country in the cultural and artistic fields.

He mentioned the beginnings of the cosmopolitanization of Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, with the emergence of icons such as the Vera Cruz Cinematographic Company, the TBC Brazilian Theater of Comedy, art institutions, the Biennale and museums, among them the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), created by the coffee bourgeoisie.

To expose and develop his own trajectory as a cultural leader in the context of the city, the country and internationally will be one of Ohtake's pursued goals. He will also invite critics, cultural leaders, artists and historians to participate in debates and testimonials; approach the relationship between art and politics and the role of exhibitions in the art debate; and analyze the role of cultural leaders in the development of institutions and thinking.

The new holder intends to bring his experience of more than 50 years in this field. He has been Secretary of Culture of the State of São Paulo, Secretary of the Green and Environment of São Paulo, director of the São Paulo Cultural Center, and director of the Museum of Image and Sound and the Brazilian Cinematheque. He has lectured in several architecture, communications and plastic arts faculties and was curator of the Brazilian participation at the Architecture Biennale of Venice in 2010.

The Ohtake family is one of the most influential for the arts and architecture in Brazil. Ricardo Ohtake is son of artist Tomie Ohtake (1913-2015) and brother of architect Ruy Ohtake, who signs the project of the famous building that houses the Tomie Ohtake Institute. He has graduated from USP's Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU), and currently directs the Tomie Ohtake Institute.

"If, on the one hand, cultural activity is always provided by very limited resources, on the other hand it always requires a lot of imagination and daring for propositions to be solved. The leader does not have to be an intellectual, but he must know where the concepts, the variations of approaches, the artists, the history of art, and also the engineering of the activities take place. As the resource is never enough, knowing how to give priorities and alternatives is fundamental to make sense of everything that is done," he said.

While reviewing his own career, Ohtake recalled his childhood, when he invented things and plays on the street in the 'Mooca' neighborhood, in São Paulo. "I realized with surprise that I internalized what critic Mário Pedrosa said in the 1950s to my mother: 'The key is to be original.' I understood that I always had to be original, not only in artistic creation."

From the left: Eduardo Saron, Ricardo Ohtake, José Roberto Sadek, Vahan Agopyan, Sérgio Paulo Rouanet, Roberto Setúbal and Paulo Saldiva.

Tributes

The Olavo Setubal Chair of Arts, Culture and Science, created to foster interdisciplinary reflections on academic, artistic-cultural and social issues in the regional and global contexts, has been taking the form of an "experimental platform for freedom", according to Grossmann.

"If Rouanet practiced the permanent exercise of criticism by producers, and academic and cultural institutions during this period, Ricardo Ohtake intends to explore the experimental exercise of freedom, be it as a public figure, as a cultural manager, or through his wisdom and his constant thinking that produces an exemplary practice in the field of the arts and culture," said Grossmann.

In almost 12 months of activity as holder of the Chair, Rouanet has sought broad approximations and interactions in the epistemic, institutional or even personal fields, he showed. "The participation of so many colleagues in the effort to give prestige to other areas of knowledge, culture, arts, psychoanalysis, science and philosophy was an attempt to minimize the gap between the human sciences and other sciences," he said.

For Rouanet, the Chair has been a unique opportunity to deepen the effort to unify science a little more; an effort that was extended to the institutional field, with USP interacting with other institutions.

In the words of IEA's director Paulo Saldiva, the ceremony brings the symbolic sign of generosity and passion expressed in the "action of sponsors such as Itaú Cultural, or in the work of people like Ricardo Ohtake, who come to share their experience, teach and illuminate the spirit."

The Chair also celebrates the union between academia, artists, intellectuals and young people who could see the example of rare values such as leadership and enchantment, Saldiva said. "Values such as generosity, passion and enchantment for study are sorely lacking for our youth today. These are feelings that make things happen despite all the difficulties," he emphasized.

USP's Vice-President Vahan Agopyan has stressed the importance of interlocution between academia and external sectors provided by chairs and interdisciplinary instances as the IEA. "I often say that the IEA is the think tank of USP: a place for debates on cross-cutting themes and, as well as the chairs, capable of promoting interaction with society. Dialogue with society is a challenge of the 21st century for all universities, and with the support of Itaú Cultural we are managing to increase this interaction," said Agopyan.

Roberto Setúbal, executive president of Itaú bank, when speaking about the support for the Chair, preferred to recall his father's personality and his tradition of appreciation for culture, his career as an entrepreneur and an engineer graduated from USP's Polytechnic School (POLI). "Severe, firm and demanding, but always very open to dialogue and new ideas. A man of science and research - he has worked at the Institute of Technological Research (IPT). A mayor who created the São Paulo Secretariat of Culture, a gesture that made me very proud in my student days and that shows how he valued culture and was open to the new," he said.

Eduardo Saron, director of Itaú Cultural, recalled the important role of Ohtake in the democratization of culture and arts in Brazil. "The democratization of access to culture, so much discussed by managers in the country, is a theme that will remain for a long time. Art and culture are beyond the needs and rights of the citizen. If the artist thinks of art as a field of desires, managers and actors of cultural politics need to think about culture in this aspect. It is not a matter of democratizing access only. It is about autonomy and freedom of expression. Cultural democracy thinks and understands the individual as an actor of self; an autonomous citizen who has the right to freedom of expression; to see and experience all cultures," said Saron.

Professor Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, from USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH), was invited to give the reception address to the honoree. She recalled the work done with Ohtake and the projects undertaken at the Tomie Ohtake Institute.

Lilia Schwarcz, from USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH): "Ricardo Ohtake has distributed gifts in the fields of art and culture".

"A visionary of the arts, an intellectual of culture, an academic of the world of museums, of the arts in the broad sense, he knows that culture is what it does. In Ricardo Ohtake's words, among the various ways of assessing the success of different art forms, there is a unifying question, which is the transformation that the viewer of art undergoes before a work, and the emotion that provides a new knowledge, a new sensitivity, and / or a new experience," said Schwarcz.

For Schwarcz, Ohtake has "distributed gifts": he has toured the fields of architecture, graphic arts, decoration, urbanism, drawing, theater, education, cinema, publishing, dance, photography and the plastic arts; he has made exhibitions, documentaries, film festivals; sponsored concerts; created drawings for many books. "He has inspired generations, having passed through numerous institutions until landing at the Tomie Ohtake Institute, which opened for all kinds of experimentation."

"It is impossible to meet Ricardo without being deeply affected by his history, his smile, his generosity, his very noisy silence, and his transforming affection. I congratulate USP for realizing that Ricardo is a born scholar in the sublime function of being a cultural multiplier, and thus an immense distributor of gifts, an intellectual open to diversity, plurality and equality in this unfortunately unequal country," said the professor.

The State Secretary for Culture of São Paulo, José Roberto Sadek, highlighted the important link between the university and society promoted by the Chair, and the promotion of non-polarized dialogue, treated with the complexity and nuances that the theme requires.

Based mainly on community ties and experiences of political resistance to the social oppressions that occur in the peripheries, cultural collectives "reinvent forms of productive organization, constituting local arrangements based on other logics, distinct from the neoliberal productive paradigm," according to Professor Dennis de Oliveira, from the Department of Journalism and Publishing at USP's School of Communications and Arts (ECA), a participant in IEA's Sabbatical Year Program in 2019.

From July to December, he will develop the project "Insurgent Outskirts: the Culture and Communication Collectives in the Peripheries of São Paulo," in which he will map the performance of these groups and analyze three aspects:

• the experiences of the collectives in relation to the role of communicative processes as guiding axes of their organizational perspectives;
• the resignification processes of the peripheral territories from the collectives' action;
• the relations maintained by the collectives with government agencies, companies, universities, and other institutions.