Members of the public aren’t often able to access the Embassy of Brazil located in Cockspur Street in London. But for a limited time, the diplomats have opened the doors for a group exhibition featuring four Brazilian artists (What Separates Us, until 2 July) held in the Embassy’s Sala Brasil. This historic room, bedecked with wooden panels and seascapes, was once the ticket hall for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, the Titanic ship operator. The participating artists—Tonico Lemos Auad, Adriano Costa, Rodrigo Matheus and Matheus Rocha Pitta—explore travel, transatlantic links and art as a bankable asset against this backdrop of international commerce. Or as the press statement says: “The exhibition questions value systems, relationships with commodities, products and exchange mechanisms echoing transatlantic enterprises dating from the sixteenth century to current international interest in Brazil as a commercial partner.” Lemos Auad presents a sound installation, Desafinado/Out of Tune (2003/08), while Rocha Pitta’s Brazil Series (2013) is a startling sequence of eight photographs showing red earth scattered with raw meat. T-shirts designed by Costa exemplify art as merchandise (a charitable donation of £10 per t-shirt will help support the Guarani and Kaiowá indigenous peoples in Brazil). The exhibition is curated by the London-based organisation HS Projects.
