"Occurring annually in Curitiba between 1969 and 1974 and virtually unknown by art historiography in Brazil, the episodic Encontros de Arte Moderna (Meetings of Modern Art) were an important aesthetic and cultural expression of Brazilian art in the context of the so-called "lead years" of the military dictatorship. Gestures of festive rebellion at the height of repression, the Meetings, through lectures, book launches, practical courses and radical artistic manifestations, ended up mobilizing a considerable portion of Brazilian artists and intellectuals. Avant-garde languages, the events tended to enhance the association between experimental art, behavioral freedom and counterculture, in a context in which artists such as Artur Barrio, Ana Bella Geiger, Pietrina Checcacci, Frederico Nasser, José Rezende, Pedro Escosteguy and
Josely Carvalho were present in Curitiba, in addition to critics such as Frederico Morais, Roberto Pontual, Mário Barata and
Walmir Ayala. [...] The third action, “Gincana Ambiental”, from 1974, was entirely conceived by artist Josely de Carvalho, and consisted of the re-edition of a “sort of collective experimental aesthetic laboratory” that had already been carried out in Mexico City a short time before. At the Meetings, the “Gincana” corresponded to a varied series of events, all involving the participation of passersby in public spaces. During the so-called Peça Pão, which was an integral part of the "Environmental Gymkhana", several groups spread around the MAC-PR sculpted bread and then invited the public to mold and eat the result, in an ephemeral action filled with aesthetic and existential meanings."

by Artur Correia de Freitas

O dilema da vanguarda: arte comportamental nos Encontros de Arte Moderna
The avant-garde's dilemma: behavioral art in Modern Art Encounters

(originally in portuguese, translated by the artist's assistant)