During the 1990's, the presence of Brazilian Art became more and more visible in the international art scene. Curators and other international agents adopted a kind of "politically-correct" discourse according to which borders between center and periphery - that always organized the international artistic field - would disappear, thus allowing peripheral art to enter the most prestigious institutions of central countries. Nevertheless, most of the exhibitions, including Brazilian art, do not correspond to a democratization of the international artistic field and do not help to promote Brazilian art internationally. In fact, they reflect the perverse consequences of globalization, serving to raise the prestige and the economic power of a few institutions and individuals and to reduce Brazilian culture to stereotypes. In order to illustrate this idea we will analyze the following exhibitions in this paper: Brazil Body and Soul (Guggenheim Museum, New York), Hélio Oiticica Quasi-Cinemas (New Museum, New York), Un art populaire (Cartier Foundation/Paris), Tunga and Mira Schendel (Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris).
Brazil, art, culture, international exhibition