Rio! Rio? Rio.

After much procrastination, here I begin a record of living and making art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
I had been fortunate to be selected for a two month residency at Largo das Artes, one of the prominent art studios/galleries in the Centro area of this bustling megapolis. This is my first time in South America, at a location below latitude 32° N, and it is also the first time to have managed to wrangle our schedules to coordinate research travels with my husband, Sándor Kovács.
While I'm working at Largo das Artes,  Sándor is a guest researcher at IMPA, which is located in the beautiful Jardim Botânico district in the "Zona Sul"(South Zone). Although the residency was kind enough to offer housing in the historic Cosme Velho neighborhood, we decided to split the commute difference between our respective work places and rent an apartment in Copacabana. With advise from local friends, we narrowed down our apartment hunt to Bairro Peixoto, a lovely residential block tucked away between the mountains. For those never been to Rio, this area is a gem: Entirely peaceful, with weekly fresh produce markets (feira), kids on the playground, retirees walking their tiny-apartment-sized dogs, housewives carrying loaded grocery bags, and older men watching soccer on the TVs of the ubiquitous mini-bars that spill their battered plastic seating to the sidewalk. The beach (praia) is only 5 blocks away—a completely different experience.

Map of Rio Centro and Zona Sul, with home and both of our work places marked. This map shows only a fraction of metropolitan Rio de Janeiro. 

View of Zona Sul from Christ's feet (Corcovado Mountain).

Largo das Artes is a short flight of stairs up from a bustling street in the heart of SAARA (pronounce: Sahara), which stands for Sociedade de Amigos das Adjacências da Rua da Alfândega. In former life SAARA was where immigrants from the Middle-East had settled and established a market. Now, it is the place where everyone goes to snatch up some bargains. Absolutely everything is available here, from useless plastic trinkets to serious professional materials like leathers, fabrics, construction materials, uncommon spices and semi-precious stones. In between the shops, stalls and street vendors feed the hungry shoppers with fried foods and sweets. What an inspiring location for art making! A cacophony of sounds and smells from SAARA waft through the open windows into the cavernous spaces of Largo das Artes all day long. My walk from the subway station to the studio is a constant and exciting exploration of possibilities for new sculptural materials.

View of the square in front of Largo das Artes. This place is a tiny oasis in the crowded maze of alleyways of the SAARA. This photo was taken during a participatory project by resident artist, Marta Ferracin. Marta offered to give away cooler boxes in exchange for people's creativity of wrapping these with colorful tape. Many of the street vendors and homeless were eager to participate. We were all sitting on the pavers, wrapping, laughing, and making awkward conversations in Portugese.
More about the project on Marta's terrific blog: http://martaferracinartblogtwo.blogspot.com.br/2015/04/largo-das-artes-day-74.html

Largo's banner with our beautiful floor to ceiling studio windows.

At Largo das Artes, the studios are hopping with international and Brazilian artists who are part of the residency program, and also with local artist who rent studios here. This month, besides Marta Ferracin (Italy via Australia), there are Bodo Korsig (Germany), Sarah Beatty (USA) and Ricardo Càstro (Brazil). We are joined by several other Brazilian artists, including Devaney Claro, Júlia Hartung and Pablo Ferretti. 

Perhaps not surprising that my first project has been a map. I carry a large Rio map in my bag and it is my to-go reference for every sight, store, or bus-stop that I need to locate. I'm intrigued by how we make sense of maps in relationship to the real physical space and what these maps reveal and leave out. For example, the favelas don't have any maps. Many of them are not even on the map. The same is true for exclusive government, police or military facilities, which Rio has plenty of. The city has a real temporal and spacial existence. Many of the stores, restaurants and bars have no street presence outside of their open hours. During the time when they are closed, business hide behind unmarked metal shutters and locked impenetrable gates. 

Drawing the map on the back of a large sheet of synthetic leather. Photo by Marta Ferracin. 

Working on the map. It took about a week to cut out all the spaces between the streets.

Wearing the map (half-done). Photo by Ricardo Castro.
I forgot to mention: The map is GOLD. More about this in the next blog entry.