Page 113 - ARTE!Brasileiros #38

Andrés Milanés, Jesús Palomino, Humberto Vélez and Gu Xiong, the areas. The project aims at opening production fronts linked
responsible for the feats, mostly comprised of new pieces. He had to cultural activities, introducing the debate between the old
previously visited both Panama and the two curators who, in turn, and the contemporary, while also seeking to bring teacher and
wanted to give the message: working on Panama City, considering it students closer and to lead the region’s young residents into
a multiple, diverse and diffuse entity. Every non-Panamanian artist new professional experiences.
was accompanied by a local young artist and by several collaborators. There is a parallel with Instituto Cultural Inhotim, founded by
Among the works shown that month in 2003 were: the 150 ice blocks Bernardo Paz in Minas Gerais, and Fundação Edson Queiroz, in
installed by Juan Andrés Milanés for Panamanian boys and girls to Fortaleza, managed by the collector Airton Queiroz. The works
play, sliding on their surfaces; the minutes of silence called by Francis produced at Usina also sprawl throughout open-air spaces, in
Alÿs and Rafael Ortega (the second minute of silence coincided direct relation to the land’s fauna and natural resources. The
with a bombing in Baghdad, a fact that added to the meaning of project’s intention is to establish a dialogue between experienced
the happening); and Brooke Alfaro’s complex initiative, who worked and novice artists.
for over a year with the members of two rival gangs from Barraza, Among the most well-known ones is Hugo França, who
one of the city’s poorest and most dangerous districts, shooting kickstarted the project developing his pieces outdoors with
videos of the members and projecting them on buildings. The work, local manpower and materials. He was the one who suggested to
titled Nueve, was followed by citizens who had never come close Ricardo Queiroz that the project should be open to other artists.
to those districts and passionately mentioned by gang members, In this perspective, the Usina (Mill) features works made by six
who reconciled. artists – in addition to Rufino (the curator), Paulo Meira, Marcelo
Those who were divided because of art were the public authorities Silveira, Márcio Almeida, Francisco Brennand and Paulo Bruscky.
and part of the private sector. Three of the panels, which criticized There are also two artists who completed a residency inside
the political system, made by Ghada Amer, were removed in the the project: Vanderlei Lopes and Laís Myrrha – she participated
nighttime, illegally, despite having been granted all necessary in the latest edition of Bienal de São Paulo last year.
authorizations. Five of the then panels conceived by Gustavo Araújo The use of the building’s entire ground floor results in a
(those that read the local modish slang “Things Are Tough”) were workshop with groups experimenting with painting, sculpture,
taken down after pressure by entrepreneurs, who believed the collage. In total, there are six floors with huge windows.
sentence went against their interests. Jesús Palomino built huts The botanical garden, with 29,000 hectares, and not yet
that were removed, because property owners thought they were fully formed, has received 4,000 species of the native
built by the homeless. Atlantic Forest. The aim is to obtain 35,000 specimens of
Perhaps the most bizarre case was the one involving Cildo plants from outside of Brazil, under the orientation of the
Meireles. His work Panamini was to comprise a small boat biologist Eduardo Gomes Gonçalves, who collaborated in
that would cross the Panama Canal. Authorities denied the development of Inhotim. According to the creators of
permission and, additionally, the entrepreneur responsible the Usina, the relationship between the artistic production
for the boat’s construction, Chris Rabito, fled with the money and the environment will be closer when compared to the
without delivering the work – yet another Panamanian pirate. institution of Minas Gerais. “We won’t build art galleries as
The curator Adrienne Samos gave a speech afterwards about this in Inhotim. We want pieces that resist time and get involved
urban art event, mentioning the abuses the artists went through, with the environment, creatively,” Ricardo explains.
and claiming that such facts “exposed the repressive disposition of The high point of the program open to the general public is the
the many instances of power in this society: more than managers festival Usina houses in the second semester, and which this
of the public space, they are its owners and masters, or servants year comes to its third edition. Two curators share with Ricardo
to these owners and masters. The works of CiudadMULTIPLEcity and his wife the challenges of the Festival Arte na Usina (Art in
served to expose these hideous realities.” the Mill Festival), which was created in 2015: together with José
Rufino, Fábio Delduque collaborates in the project. He already
1 | INTERVENCIÓN EN EL MUSEO DE HISTORIA (2003), PERFORMANCE BY GUSTAVO ARTIGAS worked with several attending artists, including Leda Catunda,
Laura Vinci, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Hélder Vasconcelos and
2 | BUHONEROS Y PRECARISTAS (2003), JESÚS PALOMINO Luiz Braga. This year, Saint Clair Cemin, Sandra Cinto, Marcelo
Moscheta and Renata de Melo are expected.
NEW SPACES ART AT THE MILL | PAGES 72 TO 74
PERNAMBUCO IDENTITY
MILL OF IDEAS The spirit of decentralization of the Brazilian culture comes to
the forefront in Pernambuco. In the 1990s, its artists reinvented
the Brazilian music with the Mangue Beat movement; in the
PROJECT TURNS AN OLD PERNAMBUCO SUGAR CANE MILL INTO AN following decade, cinema snatched international prizes; in the
OPEN-AIR ART WORKSHOP AND AN ARENA FOR ARTISTIC RESIDENCIES visual arts, artists, curators and institutions from Recife capture
the attention of foreign critics, such as Charles Esche, the
BY LEONOR AMARANTE curator to the 31st Bienal de São Paulo. “Of Brazil, the only
state that surprises me today with its novelty and uniqueness is
SHUT DOWN TWENTY YEARS AGO, the Santa Terezinha sugar Pernambuco,” Esche praises, when he showed support for Ocupe
cane mill gradually lost the title of symbol of Pernambuco’s opulence Estelita (Occupy Estelita), a political demonstration that defended
to become the opposite, an open field for art workshops and artist a historical area in Recife threatened by property speculation.
residencies. The initiative came from the entrepreneur Ricardo
Pessoa de Queiroz, the great-grandson of the mill’s first owner, and 1 | THE PHOTOGRAPHER LUIZ BRAGA REGISTERS A PERFORMANCE BY THE CHOREOGRAPHER
his wife, Bruna. The curatorship is signed by the artist José Rufino. LUCIANA BRITES IN THE 2016 EDITION OF FESTIVAL ARTE NA USINA (ART IN THE MILL
This team is transforming the place, located in Pernambuco’s Coastal FESTIVAL)
Plain (Zona da Mata), in workshops where creativity extends to
the community of five thousand people living in its surrounding 2 | WORK BY HUGO FRANÇA AT USINA SANTA TEREZINHA

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