Brasília hosts new art exhibition and film examining its modernist heritage

The exhibition "Utopias em Construção: Brasília nas dobras do tempo" is a collaborative project of Metrópoles Arte and the Arquivo Público do Distrito Federal that will run from August to October 2026 at the Museu Nacional da República. Curated by Marcus Lontra, Marília Panitz and Rafael Peixoto, it presents historic documents, sketches by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, panels by Athos Bulcão and photographs alongside contemporary works by artists such as Christus Nóbrega and the Coletivo Transverso. Institutional support comes from the Fundação Athos Bulcão, the Oscar Niemeyer Office and Portugal’s Casa da Arquitectura.

The film "Pequenas Criaturas," written and directed by Anne Pinheiro Guimarães, is set in Brasília during the mid‑1980s. It follows Helena (Carolina Dieckmann) and her children André and Dudu after the father abandons the family, depicting their personal crises against the backdrop of the city’s stark, modernist architecture. The story explores themes of infidelity, isolation, teenage bullying and the search for connection, featuring Letícia Sabatella, Caco Ciocler and other supporting actors.