CURATION
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from this page:
by Matrix
Network Node
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Name:
Bené Fonteles
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City/Place:
Salvador, Bahia
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Country:
Brazil
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Hometown:
Bragança, Pará
Life
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Bio:
José Benedito Fonteles é um polivalente artista, atuando em múltiplas áreas como a arte plástica, jornalismo, edição, escrita, poesia e composição musical.
Sua trajetória artística teve início em 1971, quando expôs no 3º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas do Ceará. Paralelamente, em Fortaleza, dedicava-se ao jornalismo. Durante as décadas de 1970 e 1980, participou de inúmeras exposições coletivas, tanto nacionais quanto internacionais, focando em arte postal e na exploração de novos meios de expressão. Destaca-se sua participação em quatro edições da Bienal Internacional de São Paulo (1973, 1975, 1977 e 1981), além de várias exposições individuais a partir de 1974, realizadas tanto no Brasil quanto no exterior.
Entre 1983 e 1986, assumiu a direção do Museu de Arte e Cultura Popular (MACP) da Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso (UFMT). Durante os anos 1980, se engajou em projetos e movimentos de preservação ecológica, buscando entrelaçá-los com sua expressão artística. Em 1991, transferiu-se para Brasília, mantendo sua atuação como ativista ecológico e organizador de eventos artísticos. Destaque para sua contribuição em 1997, quando organizou a montagem da sala especial dedicada ao artista baiano Rubem Valentim no Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAM/BA).
Além de sua contribuição no campo das artes visuais, José Benedito Fonteles também se destacou como escritor, com obras como "O Livro do Ser" (1994) e "O Artista da Luz" (2001), este último dedicado a Rubem Valentim. Sua incursão na música resultou no lançamento do CD "Benditos" em 2003, que reúne três trabalhos anteriores: "Bendito" (1983), "Silencioso" (1989) e "Aê" (1991). Reconhecimento de sua trajetória veio em 2003, quando recebeu da Presidência da República a comenda Ordem do Mérito Cultural.
Em 2016, ele apresentou sua obra de instalação "Conversas para Adiar o Fim do Mundo" na 32ª Bienal de São Paulo, com a colaboração do líder indígena Ailton Krenak. A instalação, intitulada "Oca Tapera Terreiro", foi montada como uma ágora dentro do Pavilhão da Bienal, recebendo artistas, ativistas, ecologistas, antropólogos, educadores e curadores para uma série de debates.
Os discos de Benés incluem a participação de Luiz Gonzaga, Tetê Espíndola, Belchior, Egberto Gismonti, Luli & Lucina, Duofel e Ney Matogrosso.
English:
José Benedito Fonteles is a versatile artist, working in multiple areas such as visual arts, journalism, editing, writing, poetry, and musical composition.
His artistic journey began in 1971 when he exhibited at the 3rd National Salon of Plastic Arts of Ceará. At the same time, in Fortaleza, he was dedicated to journalism. During the 1970s and 1980s, he participated in numerous collective exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, focusing on mail art and exploring new means of expression. His participation in four editions of the São Paulo International Biennial (1973, 1975, 1977, and 1981) stands out, as well as several individual exhibitions starting in 1974, held both in Brazil and abroad.
Between 1983 and 1986, he directed the Museum of Art and Popular Culture (MACP) at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT). Throughout the 1980s, he engaged in projects and movements for ecological preservation, seeking to intertwine them with his artistic expression. In 1991, he moved to Brasília, maintaining his role as an ecological activist and organizer of artistic events. A highlight of his contributions came in 1997 when he organized the special exhibition dedicated to the Bahian artist Rubem Valentim at the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia (MAM/BA).
In addition to his contributions in the field of visual arts, José Benedito Fonteles also distinguished himself as a writer, with works such as "The Book of Being" (1994) and "The Artist of Light" (2001), the latter dedicated to Rubem Valentim. His foray into music resulted in the release of the CD "Benditos" in 2003, which brings together three previous works: "Bendito" (1983), "Silencioso" (1989), and "Aê" (1991). Recognition of his trajectory came in 2003 when he received the Order of Cultural Merit from the Presidency of the Republic.
Em 2016, he showcased his installation artwork "Conversations to Postpone the End of the World" at the 32nd São Paulo Biennial, with collaboration from indigenous leader Ailton Krenak. The installation, titled "Oca Tapera Terreiro," was set up as an agora within the Biennial Pavilion, hosting artists, activists, ecologists, anthropologists, educators, and curators for a series of discussions.
Benés records include the participation of Luiz Gonzaga, Tetê Espíndola, Belchior, Egberto Gismonti, Luli & Lucina, Duofel, and Ney Matogrosso.
Clips (more may be added)
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
Wolfram Mathematics
This technological matrix originating in Bahia, Brazil and positioning creators around the world within reach of each other and the entire planet is able to do so because it is small-world (see Wolfram).
Bahia itself, final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other place on earth throughout all of human history, refuge for Lusitanian Sephardim fleeing the Inquisition, Indigenous both apart and subsumed into a brilliant sociocultural matrix comprised of these three peoples and more, is small-world.
Human society, the billions of us in all the complexity of our relationships, is small-world. Neural structures for human memory are small-world, neural structures in artificial intelligence are small-world...
In small worlds great things are possible. In a matrix they can be created.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"I'm truly thankful ... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
—Nduduzo Makhathini (JOHANNESBURG): piano, Blue Note recording artist
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
Dear friends & colleagues,
Having arrived in Salvador 13 years earlier, I opened a record shop in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for Bahian musicians, many of them magisterial but unknown.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Bahians and other Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix (people who have passed are not removed), then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Recent access to this matrix and Bahia are from these places (a single marker can denote multiple accesses).
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL
Nduduzo Makhathini
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Matt Garrison
RÁDIO MATRIX