Inhotim, Brazil, started as the vast estate and art collection of mining magnate Bernardo Paz. But what began as an oasis of beauty has become a laboratory for Paz's vision of a better society. Simon Nakonechny heads south to find out if one man's dream can become a region's salvation.

Over the past decade Bernardo Paz has been converting his vast private estate into a mind-bending art complex and botanical garden.

Inhotim is one man's vision of paradise on Earth. But Inhotim is about more than art.  It's about a radically new way of living. Paz believes his project is a transcendent force for change: expanding minds and improving the fortunes of the region that surrounds it.

But can art, even art in a botanical garden, do what Bernardo Paz wants, and transform the world?


Principal voices in the program:

Bernardo Paz, Founder, Inhotim

Leticia Aguiar, Botanical Garden and Natural Environment Manager, Inhotim

Allan Schwartzman, Art Advisor and Curator, Inhotim

Henrique Maximiliano, Interpreter/Guide, Belo Horizonte

Daniel Oliveira, Arts Journalist, Belo Horizonte

Diomira Faria, Adjunct Professor, Tourism, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte

Marcos Hill, Professor, Fine Arts, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte

Luzia Gontijo Rodrigues, Professor, Art History, Escola Guignard, Belo Horizonte


Image Gallery - Photographs by Simon Nakonechny

Artworks Referenced

Doug Aitken, Sonic Pavilion, 2009

Olafur Eliasson, Viewing machine, 2001-2008, stainless steel

Hélio Oiticica & Neville D'Almeida, Cosmococa series, 1973

John Ahearn & Rigoberto Torres, Abre a Porta, 2006, automotive paint on fibreglass

John Ahearn & Rigoberto Torres, Rodoviária de Brumadinho, 2005 automotive paint on fibreglass

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Forty Part Motet, 2001, sound installation

Olafur Eliasson, By Means of a Sudden Intuitive Realization, 1996, fiberglass igloo, water, strobe light, water pump and plastic

Chris Burden, Beam Drop Inhotim, 2008

Yayoi Kusama Nagano, Narcissus garden Inhotim, 2009 stainless steel

Valeska Soares, Folly, 2005, video transferred to dvd, 5', wood, glass, air-conditioning, sound track


Related Websites

• Inhotim

• Inhotim on Youtube