A school that has a museum and, at the same time, a museum that has a school: the integration between art and education. This is the horizon of the Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR, a space aimed primarily at education, which has the Escola do Olhar as a structural axis of its activities, alongside the Exhibition Programme and its Collection.
The Escola do Olhar is a permanent hub of thought and training, focused especially on practice and reflection starting from the relationship between education and art. Its actions seek to deepen the public dimension of the museum, as well as bring into debate emerging questions from the fields of art and culture in the contemporary world.
Developed in articulation with the different sectors of MAR and in collaboration with a variety of people, groups and institutions, the activities of Escola do Olhar give way to experimental processes of artistic and pedagogical creation, which aim to enhance the capacities of each human being, as well as multiple ways of learning, generating and sharing knowledge collectively.
As part of its regular structure, the Escola do Olhar conducts a series of courses and workshops – theoretical and practical –, lectures and national and international seminars, which constitute a body of action that mobilizes different research, interests and audiences.
The activities of the Escola do Olhar are carried out in multi-purpose rooms, the auditorium, the Library and Documentation Centre, in the galleries of the exhibition pavilion, in the spaces of circulation within MAR and also outside its walls.
Library
The MAR Library is part of the Museu de Arte do Rio and aims to act as a cultural information centre for teachers, researchers, artists, curators and the community as a whole. The developmental lines of the collection – specialised in art and visual culture, artist books and contemporary art – are made up of the meaningful nuclei of MAR, through documentation and research based on the exhibition programme and in the context in which the institution is inserted – the port region of Rio de Janeiro. The Library is composed of two nuclei: basic and research.
Located on the fourth floor of the Escola do Olhar and with a space of over 270 m2, the library has a collection that focusses on the museum’s lines of work: art, Afro-Brazilian culture, visual culture, education, philosophy and the History of Rio de Janeiro, along with a relevant collection of more than 1,200 books of artists, from Brazil and overseas. The space is open to teachers, researchers, curators and the general public.
The collection is available for local consultation and the library is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm. For access to the special collections and artists’ books, a prior appointment is needed, by emailing biblioteca@museudeartedorio.org.br.