Brazil’s Inhotim institute joins global wave of online museum tours

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Aiming to bypass the isolation barriers caused by the pandemic, museums worldwide have been offering virtual tours of their venues and collections since last year.

The Inhotim Institute, located in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, was among the adherents to this trend that is starting to take on new formats: with the “Inhotim para Todxs” project, the museum will hold free online guided tours. This Wednesday’s topic is “Som e Sentido” (Sound and Meaning). Visitors will be able to explore sounds that are part of the works of art as well as of the Institute’s beautiful natural landscapes.

Virtual museum visits have become very popular. One no longer needs to leave home and travel to Paris to appreciate some of the works at the Louvre, which is currently offering tours of its rooms and galleries on its website. Institutions use videos, texts, and 360º navigation for the public to feel as close as possible to the experience of visiting a museum.

In Brazil, such initiatives abound. Recently, the exhibition “OsGemeos: Segredos” at the São Paulo Pinacoteca was presented in a 360º virtual version. The MAM (Museum of Modern Art) also offers virtual visits to its exhibitions, as well as the option of scheduling guided meetings for groups of people and schools through platforms such as Zoom.

“We will discover and be enchanted by the sound of a walk on the pebbles in Magic Square #5 (Hélio Oiticica), and on the shards of glass in Através (Cildo Meireles), in addition to birdsong and even the silent calls of artistic and botanical collections,” said Laura Pimenta, education supervisor at Inhotim.

One of the world’s largest open-air museums, Inhotim is located between the rich biomes of the Cerrado (savannah) and the Atlantic Forest, offering visitors an experience that combines art and nature in a hybrid model, consisting of closed galleries and works scattered around a lush botanical garden.

Due to the pandemic, the Institute had its doors closed between March and November 2020, when it decided to reopen following all safety protocols. In January this year, the museum paused its activities again in compliance with Brumadinho’s city government, which had decreed a partial lockdown. The pandemic, which has led to over 80 employees of the institute being dismissed, came at a delicate time, one year after the Brumadinho disaster and the ensuing financial crisis. Currently, in addition to the virtual tour project, the museum is open from Friday to Sunday.