In the core of the production of artist and poet Wilton Azevedo, in his projects where he intensely uses words and their meanings, as well as images and their contexts, the gravity center seems to be in his faith, always reaffirmed through almost three decades of production, in expansion and mobility. This can be observed in a variety of manners: through his use of technology, by recovering a still possible transformative power in prose and poetry in this new century or, perhaps in a more clear way, through maintaining an optimistic belief – that it is necessary to rebuild the creator-spectator rapport by imagining that the distance between them will eventually dissolve.

In operations such as Interpoesia (Interpoetry, 2000), Loopoesia (Loopoetry, 2004) or Quando Assim Termina o Nunca (When Never Ends Like This, 2004), his formal choices (with important heritage and a whiff of the Concretist project from São Paulo) converge on a unique place, on a meeting point with his spectator in which each other’s positionsare challenged. The issue thus becomes that of a poetic work that is no longer donated,but shared, in the most literal of terms. In the artist’s own definition, in Interpoesia – Manifesto Digital (Interpoetry – Digital Manifest, 1998): “In the 20th Century artistic manifestos were considered highly important in order to bring together artistic languages regarding their semiotic interests, whereas in this new century interactivitygives users opportunities to create their own manifesto: interaction.”

Interactivity (as well as technology or virtuality) has been more celebrated than analyzed as experience throughout the past two decades – following the expansion of the Internet – quickly becoming the ultimate sign in a time of economic globalization, of multicultural dialogues, and of an “end in distances” provided by the digital age. In it,some supposed unheard-of participation in the world would occur. However, in the sounds, stories and verses worked by Wilton Azevedo, this whole project reveals itself as politically and aesthetically unfinished, still to blossom. Expansion and mobility must besought within a discourse on efficiency, rationality and the power of technology. This is now one of Mr. Azevedo’s missions.

Wilton Azevedo is the second artist in the Operação para as Massas [Operation For the Masses] series, comprising also Arnaldo Antunes and the duo Celia Catunda and Kiko Mistrorigo. Its aim is to investigate the presence of Projeto Construtivo Brasileiro [Brazilian Constructive Project] in the current national production in regards to its most revolutionary potential: that of establishing creative rapports with society.

Further info on this artist available at the collection