Cildo Meireles is one of the most prominent artists of his generation, whose work includes installations, sculptures, drawings and political interventions. Permeated by political and philosophical actions and propositions, his approach to conceptual art is one of the most striking influences on Brazilian artistic production in recent decades. The artist operates in such a way as to point out the fallibility of structures that govern human life daily, whether perceptual, physical, aesthetic, economic, political or social. To this end, Cildo uses operations such as monochromatic reductions of real space; condensation of meaning in small objects or propositions; multiplication and accumulation of elements and matter to produce excesses, interfere and disrupt systems of circulation of goods and ideas; or altering the scale and ambience of industrial objects. 

In 1958, after moving with his family to Brasília, Cildo Meireles began his training with the artist Felix Barrenechea Avilez. His first solo exhibition took place a few years later, in 1967, at MAM Bahia. That same year, after returning to Rio de Janeiro, he briefly attended the National School of Fine Arts. In 1969, he took part in and won an award at the Salão da Bússola at MAM Rio de Janeiro. In the early 1980s, some pictorial elements were incorporated into his installations and sculptures. The artist turned his attention to criticizing colonial mechanisms for conquering lands and minds in favor of the metropolis. 

With his polyphonic and critical work, Cildo Meireles has become one of the most important artists of contemporary art in Brazil. He took part in numerous group exhibitions that marked the era and defined important moments for contemporary art, such as: Information, MoMA, New York, USA (1970); Magiciens de la Terre, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1989); Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century, MoMA, New York, USA (1993). Cildo Meireles was the second Brazilian artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Tate Modern in London in 2008. The previous year, an exhibition dedicated to Hélio Oiticica had been presented. 

Among his most important solo exhibitions are: Cildo Meireles: desenhos, MAM Bahia, Salvador, Brazil (1967); Cildo Meireles – retrospectiva, MAM São Paulo, Brazil (2000); and Entrevendo, SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil (2019). His works are part of the most important art collections in the world, such as Tate Modern Collection, UK; MoMA, USA; MASP, Brazil; Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil; MAM Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP – MAC USP, Brazil; among others.