Thursday, May 30, 2013

MAR - Museu de Arte do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro's Art Museum)


Recently founded in the heart of Rio's city centre, the Rio de Janeiro's Art Museum (MAR in Portuguese, which also means "sea") is a fusion between two epic architectural elements: it unites an old building from the historical centre of the city, with a new, modern one. This fusion of architecture and art created not only the museum I had the pleasure to visit, but also a school.
There were four different exhibitions: they developed the city's history, culture, nature and it's social problems. It is wonderful to see such a regionalistic feeling in a place like Rio, that, beyond the high number of tourists attracted each year, it's a place where  people are full of life, and carry an unbelievable cultural richness.
Unfortunately, moreover the fact you are not allowed to take pictures in all the exhibitions, I lost most of the pictures I took of my visit. I hope the photos left can give an idea of the museum and also hope everyone who comes to Brazil has a chance to visit MAR.


the miniature of the museum

The view from the last floor








the elevator architectural detail

delicate natural elements at one of the exhibitions

the history of Rio told with landscape photographs

advertisements and typical ads from each decade the city passed through


school students visiting the museum

a terrific picture that shows the city's social reality: two worlds collide between the richness, the nature and the "favelas".


 there was an installation that contained a video passing in three walls

 photos of this wonderful exhibition that showed the social reality with interviews with people and projects on how to make their lifes and homes better places.



 photos that illustrate the city violence

 A "favela" miniautre made with bricks by people who live there: a beautiful and complex installation that discuss the violence, the money, the social differences, the fear and the hope and possibility


"my dignity cannot be bought at the supermarket. It will never be bought, and that's why I am still here"

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Virada Cultural

(Virada Cultural's ad in a bus)

Now that I am leaving Sao Paulo to live in New York, I started to notice more the good things my city has to offer. I am also living each day here as the last one and enjoying every opportunity I have to feel and live Sao Paulo's life.

That's one of the reasons why I decided to register this weekend's major event: Virada Cultural. This weekend hundreds of concerts, shows, movies, dancing, food events, and other activities were hosted from Saturday to Sunday (starting in the afternoon + during the whole night + the other day until the afternoon) in various places of the city. All events are reachable by public transportation (a.k.a. subway) and the quantity of people in the streets is incomparable to any other day in the year.
Although it's not a perfect event (there are always security problems, shoplifting, lack of electricity, etc), I had the luck to go trough it without any of those and ended up having an experience that was worth the risk of any of the problems I could have found on the way.

My photos are blurry, pixeled and sometimes dark, but it's all part of the experience of lack of light, not having a professional camera, the fact that I was dancing or running when I took the pictures and the fact that photography is not my strength point. All photos were edited the "Instagram" style and were selected because they called my attention by their 1. life 2. colors 3. energy 4. simplicity and 5. beauty.

I hope through this photos I can catch a bit of the feeling of spending the night awake in such a beautiful city as Sao Paulo, that, beyond all the problems of government, money, security and location, is a place worth being for it's richness in life, colors, culture and unique beauty. :]


Why Virada cultural is an incredible event:
1. there is always something that matches your style: from hip hop to jazz, from classic music to rock, from concerts to movies, from eating street food to eating restaurant food; it's all there.

 The map of the event

2. They created a part of Virada specially planned for kids. And although they mean it for SMALL kids, I couldn't help but going to two of the shows. The first one is from a group called Palavra Cantada; which I used to hear in the car when I was a little kid. The memories of my childhood + seeing the band so close made me feel so happy..!




The city centre architecture during the night: Estacao da Luz


I took A LOT of photos of kids because I could not help how they looked focused and happy in "Viradinha"


The second band I watched for kids was on Sunday afternoon and is from a group called Pequeno Cidadao. This group has the most amazing songs I know and is composed by singers and compositors that are recognized for making good brazillian music. THis os one of my favorite songs.


this colorful balloons seen everywhere in the show.




the band..



and the kids!






(two of my favorite pictures...)


3. the style: there are a lot of different people wearing different things, all together!






4. The life, the movement..! 







inside the subway station





5. the city: Sao Paulo is a big city, yet rich in natural interference. You see trees everywhere!





6. The food: there is a place during the event where you can eat food from famous chefs for reasonable prices on the sidewalk.

 vegetarian food



potato rolls with lemon, ginger and mango sauce.

mexican food


 italian food

"Romeu e Julieta" ice cream flavor