Flavio de Carvalho: Media Artist Avant la Lettre

Fig. 3. Experiencia #3, 1956, consisted of Carvalho's wearing and publicizing a provocative summer outfit of his own design. The ensemble, presented as men's attire, included short skirt, blouson and sandals to be worn with or without fishnet hosiery. The artist argued that under tropical heat men should use more comfortable clothes and not imported garments such as suits and ties. Carvalho paraded the new style (a) on the street (Photo © Archive J. Toledo); (b) in a newsroom (Photo Biblioteca e Centro de Documentano do Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand); (c) on television (Photo Archive J. Toledo); and in several other venues. The artist's pioneering television performance, realized in 1957, is among the earliest artistic manifestations to use video or live TV. (d) In 1958 the artist designed and produced a printed card to further disseminate the concept of his summer outfit. (Photo Archive Rui Moreira Leite)

This article is part of the Leonardo special project A Radical Intervention: The Brazilian Contribution to the International Electronic Art Movement," guest edited by Eduardo Kac.

For the print version of this article, see Leonardo Volume 37, No. 2 (2004), available from the MIT Press.

Updated 31 April 2010