A meticulous operation between France and Brazil made it possible for the public of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo to enjoy the set of 129 pieces that make up the exhibition Entre a cabeça e a terra: arte têxtil tradicional africana, on show in the Praça da Luz building until February 2025. The exhibition's logistics involved the French company Chenue and the Brazilian companies Art Quality and Clé Reserva Contemporânea, all part of the same international group specialising in fine art logistics.
In France, the collection was collected by Chenue at the Maison Gacha, a cultural venue located in Paris. The French company was responsible for making bespoke crates for transporting the collections and for accompanying the air transport with a courier.
Founded in the 18th century, Chenue is an international benchmark in fine art logistics and, in Brazil, a partner of Clé and of Art Quality, which handled the Brazilian side of the operation. The work involved the customs clearance of the collection in São Paulo and its transport and unpacking at the Pinacoteca. The transport crates will be kept in storage at Clé Reserva Contemporânea, in climate-controlled spaces with pest control, until the end of the exhibition and the return to France.
The operation also involved collecting an item from the collection of the Museu Afro Brasil, in Ibirapuera.
According to the Pinacoteca, “this is the first time such an important set of works has been shown to the Brazilian public, which is still very used to associating African textiles with the colourful printed fabrics of industrial production. In the exhibition, visitors can come into contact with works that result from a body of ancestral artisanal knowledge, pieces whose production process can take weeks, even months”.
Pinacoteca Luz is open from Wednesday to Monday, from 10am to 6pm (closed on Tuesdays).
