Fig. 5.



(a) Nildo, of the Mangueira samba group, wearing one of Hélio Oiticica's Parangolés, Rio de Janeiro, 1964. (Photo courtesy Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro)




(b) The X-Art Foundation's Blast 4: Bioinformatica exhibit at the Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, 1994. (Photo courtesy Sanda Gering Gallery)



Oiticica's radical experience of the Parangolés with Mangueria samba dancers, initiated in 1964 in Rio de Janeiro, was revisited 30 years later by the X-Art Foundation in New York City. The X-Art Foundation recreated many colorful Parangolés that could be worn by participants both at the physical space of the Sandra Gering Gallery and in the virtual space of Blast's MOO (Multi-User Object-Oriented Dimension, a text-based form of virtual reality located on the Internet). As participants wore the virtual Parangolés in the MOO, the computer screen was projected on the gallery wall, displaying the interaction between gallery visitors and remote participants. This exhibit added new meanings to Oiticica's work, as it expanded the Parangolés' interactive nature in analogy to digital interfaces.







Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica







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