In the 1980s the mining magnate Bernardo Paz started converting his private 3,000 acre ranch 60 km outside of Belo Horizonte into a sprawling botanical garden after a design of his friend Roberto Burle Marx. The art collector then started placing pieces of contemporary art within the garden both in pavilions and outdoors. What was first conceived only for him and his friends opened to the public in 2006 and has since become an international destination for contemporary art. 

The collection comprises works – many of which are site-specific installations – of both the Brazilian and international art ‘elite’. In 2011, it attracted nearly 250,000 visitors from all over the world. Inhôtim now sprawls over 5,000 acres and employs 1,000 people, costing Bernardo Paz $60 to $70 million for operations each year. In order to make the project financially self-sustaining he plans to expand Inhotim with 10 or more new hotels, a 15,000-capacity amphitheater, and even a complex of ‘lofts’ for those who want to live amid the collection.

Brumadinho is a rural settlement of 18,000 inhabitants, which has more or less over night become part of global streams and forces due to its immediate proximity to the Inhotim project. Its modest economy and infrastructure is now confronted with the needs and means of international art tourism. A arguably uneven relationship has developed between Brumadinho and Inhôtim. This work maps and conclude the dependencies or lack of dependencies between the stakholders and the role of the landscape and its transformation.