GIANNI RATTO - 100 YEARS

The exhibition Gianni Ratto – 100 anos commemorated the centenary of the director, set designer, costume designer, illuminator, writer and actor of Italian origin who immigrated to Brazil and, here, was an essential figure for modern national theater.

Exploring the scenic language of theatre, the exhibition presented the playwright’s extensive professional career. Curtains, ropes and temporary panels built a familiar environment to Ratto’s production, represented by drawings and photos arranged in the exhibition space configured as a stage. Curated by Elisa Byington and Antonia Ratto, Gianni’s daughter, the exhibition was born as a result of nearly two years of research into the Ratto Institute’s collection and the theater archives with which he collaborated in Italy.

Through the work of Gianni Ratto, it was possible to apprehend both the course of the reconstruction of the Italian national theater in the post-war period, as well as that of the creation of a modern theater in Brazil. He immigrated to the country in the 1950s and, in 1958, he was invited to teach at the Federal University of Bahia. In Salvador, he came into contact with the effervescent cultural and intellectual environment of the Brazilian northeast of those years; an environment that allowed a brief crossing with the trajectory of Lina Bo Bardi. In honor of this meeting, the Instituto Bardi / Casa de Vidro made a simple contribution to the exhibition, by borrowing a working lamp from the architect.