Hélio Oiticica’s Tropicália is a landmark of early installation art, which invites us to actively experience an environment of sand, tropical plants, poetry and live birds. Throughout his career Oiticica explored ways to develop the dynamic and sensory qualities of the work of art, encouraging the participation of the viewer, and eroding the boundaries between art and everyday life. In the interactive environment of Tropicália, Penetrables PN 2 ‘Purity is a myth’ and PN 3 ‘Imagetical’ he combined these ideas with distinctly Brazilian imagery. The statement ‘A Pureza e um Mito’ (‘Purity is a Myth’) is inscribed on one of the cabins; referring partly to the hybrid national culture of Brazil, it is also a disavowal of the artistic purity of European modernism in favour of disorder, freedom and communal experience.