Ivens Machado's Untitled Sculpture on Uruguaiana Street: Installation, Permanence, Displacement and Abandonment

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the relationship between art, city, and cultural heritage, given the interdisciplinary interfaces in the construction of art history. Of these art works, we study public sculptures, specifically Ivens Machado's "Untitled," installed on Uruguaiana Street in Rio de Janeiro, where it remained for approximately 17 years. Through this work, we understand how the site presented itself as an artistic problem, addressing possible relationships between the work and the site, as well as the meanings attributed to this relationship. At the same time, we reflect on the displacement of this piece, initially temporary, which occurred over 10 years ago, revealing a neglect of the city's public art. In our research, we reviewed the relevant literature and conducted data collection, photography, and field research including semi-open interviews. Following these activities, we performed analyses on collected material.