TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary

Ernesto Neto

Ernesto Neto (b. 1964, Rio de Janeiro) is a leading Brazilian artist whose immersive, sensorial installations invite viewers into tactile, participatory experiences that challenge conventional boundaries between artwork and audience. Working primarily with organic and malleable materials such as cotton, spices, sand, lycra, crochet, and wood, Neto creates biomorphic environments that echo the forms and rhythms of the human body and the natural world.

Deeply influenced by Brazilian Neo-Concretism and its emphasis on bodily experience and viewer interaction, Neto's practice foregrounds themes of collectivity, ecology, ritual, and interconnection. His installations often function as living spaces—structures that can be entered, touched, smelled, and shared—blurring the lines between sculpture, architecture, and social encounter.

Neto has collaborated with TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, on various occasions, most notably on projects that foreground indigenous knowledge systems, ecological consciousness, and spiritual cosmologies, like his exhibition “Aru Kuxipa”. His collaborations with Huni Kuin communities of the Amazon have led to powerful works that embody a politics of care and mutual listening between cultures, bodies, and ecosystems.

Through his work, Neto articulates a vision of art as a healing and connective force—one that reawakens the senses and affirms the possibility of harmonious co-existence in an increasingly fragmented world.

Related works in the collection

Ernesto Neto
A Gente se encontra aqui hoje, amanhã em outro lugar. Enquanto isso Deus é Deusa. Santa gravidade, 2003

Ernesto Neto
BasnepuruTxanaYubé, 2015

Ernesto Neto
Esqueleto Glóbulos, 2001

Ernesto Neto
Humanóides, 2001

Ernesto Neto
Jiboia, 2015

Ernesto Neto
O tempo lento do corpo que é pele, 2004

Ernesto Neto
Yokumê Entitree Alegria, 2020