The exbibitions are part of the activities celebrating a decade since its inauguration
Eliete Viana
6/14/2023 – 08:07pm – Updated in 30/6/2023 11:51am
Two exhibitions are being held at USP’s Biblioteca Brasiliana Guita e José Mindlin (BBM): “Uma biblioteca viva – BBM 10 anos” and “Rubens Borba de Moraes: um
protagonista invisível”.
The exhibition “Uma biblioteca viva – BBM 10 anos” aims to show a little of the collection that makes up Brasiliana. Throughout nine exhibitors and two side showcases are displayed several works of great relevance that are considered essential to better understand the collection, which has about 32 thousand titles and 60 thousand copies.
One display case shows books from the collection of José Mindlin and another from Rubens Borba de Morais, the two main bibliophiles who donated their collections to BBM.
The nine exhibitors have books related to the three principal axes of the BBM collection: literature books, books as art objects, and travelers’ books. The literature section is divided into: children’s books, modernism, and the collection of first editions of Machado de Assis.
Check out presenter Elcio Silva’s interview with the director of USP’s Biblioteca Brasiliana, Professor Alexandre Saes, on “Cultura na USP” program broadcast by Rádio USP on 06/ 29/2023
Some books have already been exhibited on other occasions, but will now be presented in a different way. This is the case of the first editions of Machado de Assis, about which new elements have been discovered in the BBM collection.
At the end, the visitor is invited to reflect on the future of the library and how it should be thought and composed through a session of books that are not present in the BBM collection, such as those by Carolina de Jesus.
This exhibition will be on display until 15 September, Monday to Friday, from 08:30 am to 06:30 pm.
Rubens Borba de Moraes
The exhibition “Rubens Borba de Moraes: um protagonista invisível” has been on display at BBM since 16 May. This exhibition seeks to present the various facets of the professional performance and life of Rubens Borba de Moraes: modernist, librarian, bibliophile, and bibliographer, who is an important character for the formation of BBM since the collection of rare works was also formed by his collection.
The seven sections of the exhibition were set up as if they were shelves in his library so that the public feels like they are visiting his library. As the public walks through the shelves, they will be able to see different moments of his life and observe the intersections of his trajectory with crucial moments for cultural development in Brazil, starting in the 1920s, one of the milestones of which is the Modern Art Week of 22.
He was one of the precursors to think of the library as a cultural institution at the service of the formation of a Brazilian nation. Among the flags raised by him in the 1930s, we can mention the professionalization of librarians, the creation of a library system, and the creation of the first Associação de Bibliotecários (APB). In addition, he took the modernist ideas of the library where he worked as a librarian and teacher, such as the Biblioteca Nacional (1943-1948), the United Nations Organisation (1948-1958), and the Universidade de Brasília (1964).
The curators are Silvana Arduini and Nicholas Simão Betoni, respectively, Ph.D. in Information Science and Master in Museology, both from USP. This exhibition is organized by the Pró-Reitoria de Extensão Universitária e Cultura and the General Coordination of Libraries of the São Paulo State University Júlio de Mesquita Filho (Unesp).
This exhibition was first shown from 6 March to 5 April this year, in a cultural space in the capital of São Paulo. After BBM, the exhibition will be shown on a traveling basis at some Unesp campuses, such as Araraquara, the city in which Borba de Moraes was born.
The exhibition can be visited by the public until 29 June, from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 8 pm.
10 years
The celebrations of the first decade of USP’s Biblioteca Brasiliana Guita e José Mindlin (BBM) began on 23 March when BBM Publicações – the library’s publishing arm – launched two books on Modernism in Brazil: “Semana de vinte e dois: Olhares críticos”, organized by Marcos Antonio de Moraes, and “Releituras do modernismo: O legado de 1922 na cultura brasileira”, organized by Ivan Marques. Both are results of the Library’s 3×22 Project.
On May, 16, 17 and 18, the BBM held the Seminar “BBM 10 anos: uma biblioteca viva”. This event addressed several topics related to the Library’s activities and history, such as bibliophilia and collecting, the conservation of a bibliographic collection; the challenges of digital libraries of rare works; and the future of the brasilianas.
Service
Uma biblioteca viva – BBM 10 anos exhibition
When | 06/15, at 6 pm until 09/15, 8:30 am to 06:30 pm, Monday to Friday
Where | Rua da Biblioteca, 21 – Sala Multiuso – Cidade Universitária, São Paulo
How much| Free
Rubens Borba de Moraes: um protagonista invisível exhibition
When | until 06/29, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 8 pm
Where | Rua da Biblioteca, 21 – Sala BNDES, in the basement of the Livraria Edusp – Cidade Universitária – São Paulo
How much | Free
Translated by: Lara Yoshime Shizuko Fukushima