Sabine (Artpress), Camila (exhibition organiser), Ute and Alexandra at the Brasília opening. © Photo Sittig Fahr-Becker
How do you create the perfect city?
The originators of Brasília wanted to do just that and they started practically from scratch in the middle of the jungle.One of the most incredible things is that this city, which was to provide room for half a million inhabitants, was created in the time it normally takes to build a single building. Within four years, all of Brasília was conceived, designed and built out of nothing (image)
The buildings were designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who passed away last year at the age of 104. His sketches for the buildings – that still look modern and unique today, some fifty years later – can also be viewed in the exhibition.
ARTPRESS was there for the busy opening at the Brazilian Embassy in Berlin. The exhibition clearly shows that the metropolis did not build itself. Over 50,000 so-called candangos, workers, were engaged. Beautiful photos by Marcel Gautherot and Peter Scheier show the stark contrast between the hypermodern buildings and the old school look of its workers, often dressed shabbily, using a motorbike to transport three people at once, their sunburnt faces frequently missing teeth. The photos of the architecture also show that underneath the gleaming facades, fragile-looking structures held these buildings together, whilst the glossy architecture was founded on mud and sand.
Marcel Gautherot, Construction of the Dome of the Federal Senate, 1958 © Institut Moreira Sales, Brazil.
Even before it was completed, the city was a hotbed of creativity, attracting not only architects and city planners but also photographers, sculptors and painters. Izolete and Domicio Pereira, the parents of Claudio Pereira were friends with many of them and managed to build up a beautiful art collection which boasts works by João Câmara and José Zanine Caldas, and artistic designs by Brasília’s city planner Lúcio Costa.
Claudia Pereira stands among the exhibits from his parents’ collection with the curator, Danielle Athayde on the left, and the ambassador of Brazil to Germany, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti on the right. © Photo Sittig Fahr-Becker
ARTPRESS spoke to Claudio Pereira about what it was like growing up in a place like that: “My parents had been spoon-fed the idea of art collecting. My grandfather owned a lot of religious art. But my parent’s collection was something different, a lot more modern.” So did it feel like living in the middle of nowhere in the early years? “No, never. Everyone came to us, architects, artists from all over the world. There was always something going on. It was very exciting and unusual place to be in as a child.”
Have a look for yourself and see the art, the dirt and the beauty of this unusual metropolis.
Brasília is on until the 16th of February 2014. Free entry.
