Hélio Oiticica’s Subterranean Tropicália Project: PN15

This immersive environment was the first realization of a 1971 plan by the late Brazilian artist. Oiticica envisioned PN15 while he was living in New York City, as part of a series of pavilions intended for Central Park.  Drawing inspiration from the city’s thriving underground culture, the circular structure of curving corridors provides visitors with a multi-sensory space to move through and explore. The 40 feet diameter space, filled with plants and projections, creates a play of light, shadow, opacity, and framing of perspectives. It was a place for collective creativity and leisure, or “creleisure” the word the artist coined to describe the experience of his work.

May 14 - August 14, 2022

Child viewing Helio Oiticica's PN15 with video of Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro inside
View peaking behind curtain inside Helio Oiticica's PN15
Person walking through red light corridor of Helio Oiticica's PN15
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Juliana Luna's workshop in Helio Oiticica's PN15
Visitors inside Helio Oiticica's PN15 under hanging tropical plants seen through screen
Fogo Azul drum band performing inside Helio Oiticica's PN15 with public viewing from outside
Detail of hanging garden inside Helio Oiticica's PN15
A viewer watching Helio Oiticica's video Agrippina in Rome inside PN15
Person walking inside shadowy corridor of Helio Oiticica's PN15
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Public looking into Helio Oiticica's PN15 playing a video by Regina Vater

Socrates presented PN15 as a structure both for visitors to drop-in and create their own spontaneous auto-performances and as a platform for planned performances by living artists, bringing new currency to Oiticica’s vision. Performers and workshops were held by: Mx Oops, Jazz Foundation of America, Juliana Luna, Raphaela Melsohn, Fortune Society, Fogo Azul, Dave’s Lesbian Bar, and Bel Falleiros.

The video projection program series in the interior of PN15 presented both historical video by the artist, his Latin American artist contemporaries, and recent video by Brazilian and queer artists who share overlapping interests. The artist wrote that he intended for the Puerto Rican drag queen and underground cinema star, Mario Montez, to perform inside PN15. The premiering video showcased Oiticica’s unfinished Super 8 film featuring Montez, Agrippina e Roma Manhattan. Americas Society curated a video projection program of Latin American artists living in New York during the same era as Oiticica. A third final program featured a recent sensorial video by Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro as a means of considering Oiticica’s legacy.

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