View from Edificio Italia

Seja marginal, seja heroi?

Yesterday things got exciting at the Bienal, but not in the way the curators had intended. Whilst my new friend Magnhild and I were waiting for the free Fischerspooner gig in the public square inside the Bienal Pavillion, a commotion rumbled through the building and doors were locked not letting people in or out. We couldn´t really understand what was going on, and it was a little frightening, particularly when a big group of teenagers began to run towards the glass, kicking it in a frantic attempt to get away. Very quickly one of them found a metal post, smashed the pane and 20 or so boys and girls ran off into the night whilst the crowd shouted at them.

A Brazilian man noticed Magnhild and I hiding behind a column with eyes wide and arms linked, and explained what had happened. The group had got into the ´void´and had tagged all over its clean white walls.



The open floor of the bienal has been a controversial proposal in this years Bienal. It is no secret that the Fundacio de Bienal have been very short of money this year and many think the void was conceived more out of necessity than through any conceptual means. The curators Ivo Mesquita and Ana Paula Cohen propsed that the purpose of the `void´ is to reveal the structure of Oscar Niemeyer´s building "and offer visitors a physical experience of the building’s architecture." Personally, I am grateful for the opportunity to see the floor of the extraordinary building empty- it is so light and open that to come from a busy gallery space from the floor above or below and to inhale this vast open plan one can really feel the quiet sensation of space.

The Brazilian man reassured us that it was nothing to be scared of. "These kids are marginal. It is their´s too, it is free" I very much doubt if the graffiti kids knew the conceptual consequences of their action, but I am sure they realised what a stir it would cause in what has otherwise been quite a sterile first couple of days of the show. I also doubt that the curators would have foreseen that their claim that "it is in this supposedly void territory that intuition and reason will find fertile soil to highlight the powers of imagination and invention" would be reappropriated by vandals. Though it is debatable whether the kids were armed with invention or just with the mimicked language of their gang, and questionable whether they are (to use Helio Oiticica´s indelible words) heros because they are marginal, they nevertheless got us all thinking which is more than I can say for a lot of the art I have seen in the Bienal so far...

The opening night of the Bienal was ok, but it was busy and I didn´t get to see much of the work so I don´t feel equipped to write too much about it as yet. I felt a little alien at the preview as I didn´t really know anyone and everyone else seemed to know everyone so I didn´t stay too long.

I was so grateful to meet Magnhild in my Pousada yesterday morning. She has come for the Bienal too, she also doesn´t know anyone here and she is a 23 year old art student from Norway who works in installation concerned with architecture and town planning!!!

Yesterday we got on another bus arranged for delegates and VIPs and attended Paralela, an exhibition with work from 61 Brazilian artists that runs alongside the Bienal every year. It was another champagne and canape affair so it was very nice to have someone to share it with!! Magnhild and I were chatting about the fact that in our own countries we would probably feel out of place at events with so many important looking people, but how being completely outside of it all really helps (so does 6 glasses of champagne...)








(Kids universally love playing in sand....look familiar?)

The show was really impressive. It reminded me why I love Brazilian art and it really put the weakness of the Bienal into perspective (more on this later, I promise).

A very full gallery tour - no Bienal void as yet...

I was wrong about the Bienal starting today. (If it is ready) it starts tomorrow. Nevertheless, showing up at Fundacio Bienal in Parque Ibirapuera after a leisurely stroll through the jardins punctuated by drawing couldn´t have worked out better. I managed to get myself onto a private tour of some of Sampa´s galleries, organised for press and other official representatives. Our guide was Debora, an artist and arts educator who lived in London a couple of years ago. Fortunately for me it was not well enough advertised, so I managed to tag along with a Cecilia, a Swedish woman who organises residencies and a curator from Santiago called Maria.

Our First stop was a gallery space in Centro Universitario Maria Antonia. Debora explained some history of the building to accompany photos of violent clashes outside the University in 1968. Like many cities in the world, Sao Paulo experienced student lead riots in 1968, only these were even more pertinent in the context of Brazil´s extreme military dictatorship at the time. The university building was home to the school of philosophy and sociology and was opposite a conservative, middle class educational institution and so violent protest ensued. These days many exhibitions, debates and lectures under the wide umbrella of the arts are held here. Also the University endeavours to offer many cheap or free courses to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it, though inevitably it is often only middle class students who have been able to reach this stage of their education.

Romulo Fialdini, Trabalhos em processo

The work shown at Centro Universitario Maria Antonia and at the adjacent Institututo de Arte Contemporanea was the most relevant I saw today. It was good to see an overview of 2oth century Brazilian art at the Pinoteca Galleries, particularly to see many works I had studied and to see them all together. Estacio Pinoteca also had an exhibition by the decorative Brazilian artist Beatriz Mihazes and a great show of contemporary Mexican art. It was interesting to discuss with Debora why Brazilian art is, in her words, more ´soft´and less politicised than the art of its Latin American neighbours though corruption and police violence is rife in the country. Could this be due to the ´happy´optimistic nature of Brazil´s people and the fact that much of the art that gets to be seen is institutionalised and very often sponsored by banks?

Beatriz Milhazes (through the windows of Estacio Pinoteca)

When we made it back to Parque Ibirapuera and the Fundacio de Bienal, I sneaked into the Bienal space. Though I had heard not so quiet whispers of disorganisation, I was still suprised to see an even emptier void than I had expected from `Ín living contact`. The exhibition looks as if it is opening next week, not tomorrow. I will reserve judgement until the opening... I hope it is ready.

This evening, though tired and unsure as to whether anymore images could fit into my brain, I attended the preview of Regina Silveria. Huge infectious insects had been plastered onto walls, floors, ceilings, decorative latrines and croquery in the upmarket gallery in Itaim. I was not sure about the work, but the champagne and canapes were lovely.

My first day in Sampa

...and so my journey begins!

I arrived at Sao Paulo Guarulhos airport early this morning. After a sleep and a shower, I took a walk from where I am staying on Rua Franca to Avenida Paulista - a 3 km long road lined with giant skyscrapers. Many of these are giant reflective glass priapices, accomadating international banks and businesses. Avenida Paulista seems a good road from which to orientate my wanderings (which, to agree with my Rough Guide to Brazil, is a `daunting prospect´in a city with a population of 12 million).

Today I have mostly ambled around here and south of Avenida Paulista in the ´leafy´middle class suburb of the Jardins. ´Leafy´as it has a few trees lining the gridded blocks of tall gated apartment buildings. It seems rare for a building in Sao Paulo to be less than 10 storeys tall- it is very much a modern sky-reaching metropolis. Very few of the Neo-colonial, Art Noveau and Art Deco buildings that appeared during Brazil´s coffee boom (on which Sao Paulo first prospered) seem still to exist- I am going to have to seek them out.



I have made just a couple of drawings today, a muddle of angles, verticals and horizontals looming over a busy bus stop around the corner from my pousada.

The Bienal begins tomorrow. I think I will take a long walk to Parque Ibirapuera in the morning, as I think I´ll be up early (no caipirinhas on the cards tonight!!). I am not sure what to expect- I will keep you updated...