From the streets of the world into an exhibition space. The new exhibition on display at Itaú Cultural, in São Paulo, takes to the walls the art that appeared on walls and in public spaces and is easily accessible to the population. Called Além das Ruas: Histórias do Graffiti (Beyond the Streets: Stories of Graffiti), the exhibition presents an overview and historical outline of urban art (street art) and graffiti, this type of culture that carries a strong sense of intervention in the public scene. “Among other great projects, I believe this was one of the greatest opportunities we had to expose this culture”, says Binho Ribeiro, artist and curator of the exhibition. “This work shows the recognition of a great institution. For me, as a curator and as a participant in this whole scene, I understand this as part of a process. This has been built on in several other exhibitions such as the Graffiti Biennials”, he reveals. “This dialogue with the street and with this production is already something that happens in other areas of the institution. We had already done an exhibition about graffiti, but not in this dimension. And when we look back at this culture, we want to bring a historical look to this production, how it arrived and what its influences are. The challenge for the exhibition was to bring a narrative to look at this production, which is recent”, adds Juliano Ferreira, visual arts coordinator at Itaú Cultural. With 76 works by 51 graffiti artists and under the careful eye of Binho Ribeiro, one of the pioneers of this art in Brazil, the free exhibition will end on July 30th. Most of the works are by Brazilian artists, but the exhibition also features works from other countries, such as T-Kid, from New York; Farid Rueda of Mexico; Saturn, from Spain; and Chilean-Canadian Shalak Attack. Graffiti or graffiti is a fundamental expression of urban spaces. Its origin goes back to cave paintings and inscriptions in caves, but its consolidation took place with the counterculture movements in the United States and France, in the 60’s. , occupying public spaces and coloring the sometimes oppressive landscape of cities. Other manifestations Graffiti composes what is called street art, which also includes other manifestations such as painting, performances, theater and posters. Its emergence came as a form of protest and with the aim of being a democratic, independent and accessible art. In an interview with Agência Brasil, Binho says that he started to have contact with urban art in his youth. “I have always drawn, since I was a child. When I won a competition, at age 12, I was sure there that I wanted to make a living out of art. At age 14, he worked at Galeria do Rock. [um espaço dedicado ao rock no centro da capital paulista] making photolithographs and, during that same period, skateboarding, breakdancing and that’s when he had this connection with the world of graffiti”, he recalls. Exhibition Beyond the streets: stories of graffiti on display until July 30 Photo – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil During this period, says Binho, information about graffiti was still difficult to reach in Brazil. But this art begins to establish itself in the country from the 1980s onwards, when Brazilians come into contact with the film Beat Street. [chamado por aqui de A Loucura do Ritmo]. “This film basically showed us that there was a different culture in the world, which was graffiti, which I fell in love with and never left”, he emphasizes. Since then, Brazilian artists began to specialize and are now recognized all over the world. “Our own difficulties with information, our way of looking for alternatives because the materials were very expensive, all these elements of difficulty made São Paulo graffiti, initially, later logically Brazilian, stand out on the international scene. It is difficult today to have an event of great impact outside Brazil without the participation of a Brazilian urban artist”, he points out. On the floors of the cultural center Of the artists participating in the exhibition, 17 executed their works directly on the walls and other supports of the three floors of the building that were reserved for the exhibition. Each floor of Itaú Cultural was dedicated to a different theme from this universe of street art. On the 1st floor, for example, the public will find a historical section of this art. In the first basement (-1), the focus is on street art. Finally, the second basement (-2) highlights hip hop culture. It is on this floor that, on Saturdays, break dancing performances are held. “We didn’t want an exhibition of just panels, of murals. We wanted to bring a route that would allow the visitor to have this historical experience, understand a little about this culture, what its influences are and how the scenario is today”, explains Juliano Ferreira. The exhibition begins on the 1st floor. On this floor, visitors are welcomed with a large colorful sculpture by André Gonzaga Dalata. Afterwards, he is faced with a timeline, which traces the path of graffiti, from the times of the caves to the arrival in Brazil. On this floor, there are Brazilian artists with great international recognition such as the curator of the show, in addition to Kobra, OSGEMEOS and Kátia Suzue, considered one of the 10 most active women in Brazilian street art. On this floor there are also works by the Californian John Howard, who came to Brazil in the 1970s and became a pioneer of graffiti in the country. “For this exhibition, I put together a story and a script for it. I looked for artists who helped me tell this story”, highlights the curator. “I think we’ve managed to put together a very comprehensive show of graffiti and street art,” he adds. On this first floor, there is also a room reserved for an installation by Walter Nomura, known as Tinho. To reflect on the transition between graffiti and contemporary art, the room is made up of mirrors that simulate kaleidoscopes and large stuffed animals, which are taken to the place by the public – and which will later be donated to institutions. “Tinho has a character – a stuffed animal. There is even a tactile work that was made available for this exhibition. And when we asked him for this doll, for reasons of accessibility, his work already included these stuffed animals in space. This was the artist’s own idea of collecting these donations so that a donation could later be made to an institution. And people are bringing their pets,” reports Ferreira. The other spaces are dedicated to street art and hip hop. “Floor-1 brings a more urban proposal with references to murals that are in buildings”, he emphasizes. “On the underground floor (-2) there is an entire floor dedicated to graffiti and hip hop. There’s a train covered in graffiti produced by an artist from New York, who participated in this scene in the 70s, at the beginning of the graffiti culture”, adds Binho. Workshops and accessibility In parallel to the works, the exhibition also promotes hip hop concerts, workshops and other educational activities. In May, the workshops are focused on break dancing, a modality that will feature for the first time in an Olympics: in Paris, in 2024. In June, the workshops will deal with rhymes. The exhibition is rich in strokes and colors Photo – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil “The idea was to have a dance floor so that people could take ownership of the space”, assured Ferreira. “We called the Matéria Rima collective, which already has this work on the outskirts of São Paulo, to present these graffiti actions, slam [batalha de rimas ou de poesias], rhyming, dancing and DJing,” says Ferreira. Itaú Cultural’s Training Center has also prepared a special program that ranges from tours along Avenida Paulista to the construction of a collaborative panel to be made up of creations from the public. One of the highlights of the exhibition is that it has accessibility resources. There are 11 tactile works, in addition to flooring, video guides with interpretation in sign language and audio description on all floors. “In this exhibition, in addition to visiting the works, there are also some interactive installations. There are several works that are also accessible. There is also a part of technology and augmented reality”, concludes Binho. More information about the exhibition, which is free, can be obtained on the institution’s website.
Agência Brasil
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