Dico Kremer - People at MON

For more than 50 years, Dico Kremer has photographed people. His attentive and always sensitive eye on the record of spontaneous reactions captured thousands of images of anonymous visitors to the Oscar Niemeyer Museum between March 2016 and November 2019. Many striking moments of special and unique moments, such as the impression of someone appreciating a certain work of art, were immortalized by his camera.Curated by Professor Fernando Bini, 84 photos were selected from more than 5,000 records and were transformed into the exhibition “Gente no MON” (People at MON), a realization of the Museumu.Dico can be considered a natural observer of people. Always attentive to the arts, in the many years he lived in Europe, being a frequent visitor to the main museums in several countries, he felt interest in the reaction of visitors to the works. There began the conception of the exhibition that was carried out at MON.The character of the photos gathered here today makes us reflect even more – and in a different way – on the value of those scenes recorded by Dico Kremer. These are images that convey feelings, unique and valuable moments for so many people.Presenting this exhibition at the time of the Museum's reopening is a way of recovering all that, making sure that nothing replaces the face-to-face visit. We know that we will never be the same in the post-pandemic, as well as the institutions. Something has changed forever and that includes the value that we start to give to the essential, to live together, to exist.It is with this feeling that we present the exhibition “Gente no MON” and extend the invitation of our reflection to each one of you, so that you celebrate with us being together. [Juliana Vellozo Almeida Vosnika | Oscar Niemeyer Museum]

I was a child, maybe 6 or 7 years old, when I first entered a museum. My mother took me to the Paranaense Museum. It was located at 200 Buenos Aires Street, on the corner of Benjamin Lins, near my parents' house. I returned many times to the place to walk around and look at the countless works and objects. The floor was so fantastic that, to get in, we had to put on slippers. Who reminded me of the fact was my friend Fernando Bini. Later, I attended the museum at the former headquarters of the Curitiba City Hall, when its director was Professor Oldemar Blasi.On our trips to Europe, Carmen Lúcia and I visited the most important museums, the ones that most caught our attention. The list is long, very long. There are several kinds of museums. There are those that have works by a single artist, objects, pinacothecas, and the long list of themes: sacred art, weapons, music, automobiles, etc.

In Curitiba, we have great museums, among those of the public authorities, and those administered by the private sector. In addition, there is one that has become an icon, or a postcard of the city: the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON), also called Museum of the Eye. It is more than a museum, in the classic sense of the word. In addition to its collection, it also functions as a gallery, with temporary exhibitions, of varying durations, by artists from Brazil and abroad. I believe that this characteristic attracts an audience interested in what is new, modern, and contemporary in the field of the arts. It has undoubtedly become a blockbuster. Since its opening, I have been to the museum many times.I saw the works, I saw the visitors, I saw the attentions, I saw the emotions, I saw the inattentions, I saw the mirror of time. And, what I saw I decided to record with my camera. I scrolled through the museum's various rooms 66 times, from March 30, 2016 to November 2, 2019. Almost every day of the week was visited, but I gave preference to Wednesdays, because on this day, admission is free and the affluence of audiences is greater and diverse.

I tried to be as discreet as possible and not invade people's privacy. With these photos, I wanted to establish an approximation between those who appreciate the works exhibited and their interaction with them. I almost certainly think that, apart from the museum security, no one noticed that I was photographing the visitors. I would like people who look at these photos to feel the same emotion that I felt when taking them, that unique moment captured in x/second of a second that will never be repeated. The Latin title I took from a quote from the short story "Utopia of a Man Who Is Tired", from Jorge Luis Borges's "Livro de Areia", which means: "to be is to be portrayed", or "to be is to be perceived". [Dico Kremer]