Antonio Manuel: I Want to Act, Not Represent

Antonio Manuel (born 1947) helped define the groundbreaking neo-avant-garde movement that emerged in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s. Making his mark in 1970 at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship with “The Body is the Work” (in which he submitted his naked body to the Museu de Arte Moderna), Manuel’s conceptual and performance work and manipulation of mass-media materials would expand the possibilities of experimental art as a means to political subversion and liberation. Assembled with the direct collaboration of the artist himself, Antonio Manuel: I Want to Act, Not Represent! is the first U.S. publication devoted to his work, and includes a range of never before seen images and documents, a substantive interview, and a facsimile reproduction of Phallic Weapon, a photo-novel starring Hélio Oiticica, which has never been published outside of Brazil.