Alternative Functions: Oscar Niemeyer and the Poetics of Modernity.

The essay discusses Brazilian modernism, with particular focus given to the work of the architect Oscar Niemeyer in the capital city of Brasília. The relationship between modernist aesthetics and Brazil's social problems including poverty, inequality, and economic stagnation is explored, and the author's assertion that Niemeyer's work displays an ambivalence inspired by the country's contrasts is commented on.