Ballroom Marfa presents a free digital screening of João Vargas Penna’s Landscape Film: Roberto Burle Marx on May 16th at 8pm CST through our Ballroom Marfa Film channel on vimeo. The film is a journey through the art and life of the Brazilian landscape architect and painter, Roberto Burle Marx, best known for the iconic black-and-white mosaic promenades that line Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.

This documentary explores Burle Marx’s passion for native flora, and the many new species he discovered on his research trips. From his investigation, Burle Marx was able to pioneer a new form of tropical landscaping by organizing native plants in accordance with the aesthetic principles of Cubism and abstractionism. Ballroom presents this free screening as a complementary program to our current exhibition Longilonge, with Brazilian artist Solange Pessoa.

Highlights in the film include the Burle Marx Site, Flamengo Park and Moreira Salles Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Tacaruna Farm and Vargem Grande, in addition to Euclides da Cunha Square in Recife, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasilia, and projects in France and Venezuela.