Art and utopia in a Brazilian favela

As part of the Creative Lab arts residency in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Cecilia Dinardi was one of the curators of the collective video-art installation Micro-utopias: Inventive Practices and Imagined Futures which featured the work of filmmakers Michele Cinque and Evangelia Kraniotti at the Galpao Bela Mare, an arts venue located in Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela. The installation consisted of an interactive, sensor-based map painted on the floor with fluorescent light, which projected 16 short video-portraits of favela residents engaged in creative initiatives, describing what utopias meant for them and sharing their hopes for a better future. Cecilia wrote the curatorial statement of the installation, which commemorated the 500^th anniversary of Thomas More’s publication, Utopia, and explored the relevance of the utopia concept for understanding the place of favelas in contemporary cities. The installation also included the work of photographers Ratao Diniz, Douglas Lopes and Antonello Venneri, showing ordinary life at the Mare favela. The photographs were projected onto a wall through a mechanism activated by riding a bicycle.

Cecilia also organised and moderated a panel on Utopias and Representations: maps and bodies with speakers Prof Jailson de Souza e Silva (Favela’s Observatory), Marcus Faustini (Young People’s Networks Agency), and Gilberto Vieira (Favela’s Observatory), at Mare’s Arts Centre, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Both activities were part of the Multiplicity Festival Creative Lab programme.The Creative Lab e-book containing information about various collaborative projects can be read on: http://labcriativo.org/ebook/

Photo by Michele Cinque