Brazzil
October 1998
Notes & News
RAPIDINHAS
Internet
Cyber Dreams
One of the most visited sites in Brazil and by far the most popular one in the state of Goiás is not a Yahoo-like Internet directory, a news location, or a hardcore X-rated site. It is a place where a 20-year-old, blue-eyed, family-girl blonde beauty with a photographer friend and a penchant for exhibitionism satisfies for free many if not most of the fantasies of the worldwide visitors to her site.
According to her own account online, Luanna recently moved from São Paulo to a little town in the interior of Goiás and is in her sophomore year of an administration college. She won't get into many details though, alleging that she lives with her parents and they haven't the slightest idea what she is being doing in her spare time. Under the insisting questioning by a reporter from the Goiânia's (capital of Goiás) daily Diário da Manhã if she were a call girl or worked as escort she seemed genuinely outraged that someone would think she was a prostitute.
"I am not a prostitute, never was and never will be. I take my clothes off for pure pleasure. I make absolutely no money with the site. All I want is to satisfy my ego, to show myself. Nothing else."
She doesn't discard the idea of charging to have access to her pictures in the future though. How did she have the idea to strip online? It was a friend's suggestion, she says, and at first she felt afraid of doing it. Luanna confesses that she feels more gratified for knowing that she is exciting people all over the world than for getting some kicks herself.
The Internet stripper revealed that she hates dirty talk, but likes and answers the letters of those who try to romance her. "But I doubt that any of these flirts will become more than an Internet fantasy," she says.
She seems to be having a good time. Her pictures are separated into themes, like pages of a diary. The selections have suggestive names such as Blue Dress or Vacations, Sweet Vacations. In the beginning of the story Luanna is invariably full dressed and little by little she starts the stripping. Lately she's become more daring, leaving nothing to the imagination, while in the first selections she wouldn't show more than her sizable boobies. She seems to always be teasing internauts to challenge her.
Luanna says that she has already received thousands of letters with all kinds of sweet and indecent suggestions and offers, among them invitations to pose nude, requests for sex, declarations of love, and marriage proposals.
For those interested, Luanna's online address was at the time of this writing http://members.xoom.com/Luanna/
Nation
Better-Being
Amid bad news of growing unemployment, serious deficiencies in the health and education sectors, unmanageable crime and a likely devaluation of the real, Brazilians found plenty of reason to celebrate the last UN report on the Human Development Index (HDI). Does Brazil really have any cause for cheering? In a list of the 174 nations belonging to the United Nations, Brazil came in 62nd place, behind countries like Uruguay (38th), Mexico (49th) and Colombia (53rd) and just slightly ahead of Libya (64th).
Despite the apparent low position however, Brazilians were commemorating the fact that their HDI more than doubled in the last 40 years and that the country went during this period from the lowest tier of development to the highest one. Based on income, but also education and life expectancy, the UN index gives marks from 0 to 1. Canada, the nation with the highest HDI gets a 0.960 followed by France, Norway and United States. Brazil got 0.809. The data are from 1995.
A score below 0.5 indicates a low Human Development Index. Scores between 0.5 and 0.8 show a medium degree of development while those nations with a higher than 0.8 score enjoy a high HDI. In 1960, Brazil with a score of 0.394, was among the countries with the worst HDIs. Ten years later it had improved to 0.507, what gave the nation one of the last spots on the intermediary group. By 1980 Brazil got a 0.673 score and by 1991, 0.787. With the latest result, a 0,809 score, the country enters though humbly the club of the nations with the highest Human Development Index.
While in 1970 90% of all municipalities were classified as having low human development (there was none in the higher category and 10% were in the middle), today this number was dramatically reduced to 40%. The UN study also reveals that Brazilians residing in small cities have the best living conditions. Nine from the 13 best-classified cities have less than 50,000 residents.
The current Brazilian progress has more to do with a growth in per-capita income than strides in education or life expectancy, two other items considered when evaluating the HDI. The disparity between the richest tier and the poorest, however, continues to be one of the worst in the world. The 20% on the top of the pyramid earn 32 times as much as the poorest 20%. The world average is that the richest earn seven times more than the poorest. This imbalance has been increasing dangerously. While in 1960 the poorest half of the nation had to share 18% of the nation's wealth, this number had been reduced to 11.6% in 1995. During the same period the wealthiest 10% increased what they took home from 54% to 63% of the total.
Commented Walter Franco, a UN representative in Brazil: "Capitalism's globalizing model is an income concentrator and exclusionary. Brazil, which historically has a very bad income distribution, worsened its situation due to globalization and foreign trade. The report shows that in the same country coexist areas with Canada's index—the highest ranking—and Serra Leoa's, the lowest.
The Best
Florianópolis, capital of the southern state of Santa Catarina, is one of the cities whose development can be compared to Canada's. It was chosen as the capital city with the best living conditions. The island-city has banned all industries from its territory and increasingly promotes tourism as source of income.
The report confirms what everybody knew: Brazilians from the South are in a much better shape then their brothers from the North and life is better in the East (closer to the sea) than in the West. Among the 50 best cities in Brazil not even one is outside the South and Southeast regions. The first one making the list is Brasília, Brazil's capital, which appears in 51st place. For the first time, the UN study presented also a detailed report by regions and states, analyzing the GDI of the more than 5,000 Brazilian municipalities and comparing them to data from 30 years ago.
Feliz, which means happy—a 15,000-resident town 54 miles from Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state—came in first with a GDI score of 0.834. São José da Tapera, in the northeastern state of Alagoas, was considered the worst and got 0.265. In São José da Tapera, with a population of 27,000, infant mortality is 147.94 per 1000, life expectancy is 53.38, and 70.5% of the residents are illiterate. Less than 40% of the population has access to tap water and sewer. In contrast, illiteracy is 2.4% in Feliz, which has a life expectancy of 72.59 years and infant mortality of 5.9 per 1,000 residents. More than 73% of the residents are served by water and sewer here.
Movies
Picks of the
CenturyAfter presenting a list of the 50 best novels written by Brazilian authors this century Rio's weekly magazine Manchete came up with the 50 best movies ever made in Brazil.
Tied for the number of times they are mentioned—four each—are a contemporary director (Walter Lima Júnior) and a filmmaker from the pioneer years, Humberto Mauro, whose Ganga Bruta (Rough Gangue) is the first of the list. Nélson Pereira dos Santos appears three times in the list, including in the second position with Vidas Secas (Barren Lives).
In a surprising result for this kind of roster, two of the ten best movies were released in the last two years: Central do Brasil (Central Station) and A Ostra e o Vento (The Oyster and the Wind). It is also odd that Gláuber Rocha, considered a genius by many, had only one of his films (Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol) mentioned.
Although only recently there's been a revival of the Brazilian movie industry all but extinguished during the Collor era (Fernando Collor de Mello was Brazil's president from 1990 to 1992, when he was impeached accused of corruption) the cinema had its golden times in Brazil. Closer to the European art film model than to Hollywood's mold, Brazilian filmmakers have produced film gems since before the talkies, during the 20s. Arguably the best movie of the silent era was Limite (Limit) released in 1929 and directed by eighteen-year-old Mário Peixoto.
The best movie on our list, Ganga Bruta (Rough Gangue), was shot by Humberto Mauro, a director who also started during the silent-movies era. He also directed, among others, Na Primavera da Vida (Spring of Life) and O Tesouro Perdido (The Lost Treasure).
While Hollywood's first speaking and singing movie was The Jazz Singer from 1927, featuring Al Jolson, sound only was introduced in Brazilian movies by 1934. Early on, these talkies explored Carnaval celebrations and tunes without any serious consideration to plot. Este Mundo É um Pandeiro (This World Is One Small Drum) starring a then-unknown Carmen Miranda was the first Brazilian movie with sound.
In the '50s, cosmopolitan director and producer Alberto Cavalcante (1897-1982) brought prestige to the national movie industry heading Vera Cruz Studio and producing such movies as Caiçara (The Hunter) by Adolfo Celi and Tom Payne's Terra É Sempre Terra (The World Is Always the World). Cavalcanti has also made movies in France (Rien que les Heures, 1926), in England (The First Gentleman), 1947, in Germany (Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti, 1955), and in Italy (La Prima Notte, 1960).
For more than a decade, starting in the early sixties, a generation of young filmmakers made waves worldwide with cinema novo (new cinema). Among these directors there were Gláuber Rocha, Ruy Guerra, Cacá Diegues, Leon Hirzman, Paulo César Saraceni, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Roberto Farias, Roberto Santos, David Neves and Arnaldo Jabor.
The Manchete selection was made by a group of critics, historians and researchers, which explains why some of the most popular movies like the 1950s chanchadas (musical comedies), comedian Mazzaropi's works and those of contemporary Trapalhões never made the cut. On the other hand the list includes little-known gems from the beginning of the century like Humberto Mauro's Tesouro Perdido and Adhemar Gonzaga's Barro Humano.
The movies were chosen by movie experts Alberto Shatovsky, Antônio Moniz Vianna, Dejean Magno Pellegrin, Ely Azeredo, Fernando Albagli, Geraldo Queiroz, Gil Azevedo Araújo, José Lino Grünewald, Jurandir Noronha, Michel do Espírito Santo and Valério de Andrade. Many of them have dedicated their lives to the films, collecting them, writing about them and sometimes making them themselves.
1. Ganga Bruta (Rough Gangue) by Humberto Mauro (1933). Just one of several classics left by the pioneer director from the little town of Cataguases in the State of Minas Gerais. Mauro has also directed such classics as Brasa Dormida (Reposing Ember) and Descobrimento do Brasil (The Discovery of Brazil)
2. Vidas Secas (Barren Lives) by Nélson Pereira dos Santos (1963). Considered by many the best Brazilian movie ever made, the black and white work about poverty and despair in the Northeast backlands is based on Graciliano Ramos's book of same name. Dos Santos, whose 70th birthday is being celebrated nationwide, continues very active as a filmmaker.
3. O Pagador de Promessas (The Promise Keeper) by Anselmo Duarte (1962). It won the Cannes Festival Golden Palm. Based on a play by Dias Gomes, the film tells the story of a Nordestino (someone from the Northeast) who decides to give all he has to the poor and intent on fulfilling a vow against a priest's wishes to get a cross inside a church.
4. Amei um Bicheiro (I Loved a Numbers Game Runner) by Jorge Ileli (1953). The love story of a lowlife from Rio was a national big hit starring Jece Valadão and Wilson Grey.
5. Assalto ao Trem Pagador (The Pay-Train Robbery) by Roberto Farias (1962). Based on a true police story that happened in Rio.
6. Central do Brasil (Central Station) by Walter Salles Jr. (1998). Brazil's hope for the next Oscar, Central has been getting cheers and provoking tears all over the world. It is the most recent movie in the list. This story of a lady swindler turned into a good Samaritan was already awarded the 1998 Berlim Festival main prize, the Golden Lion.
7. Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (God and the Devil on the Land of the Sun) by Glauber Rocha (1963). The critic loved this masterpiece by the most polemic and gifted of Brazilian filmmakers.
8. Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (All the Women in the World) by Domingos Oliveira (1966). A comedy that perpetuates the talent and charm of Leila Diniz, who died prematurely in a plane crash.
9. O Cangaceiro (The Bandit) by Lima Barreto (1953). The best known and most cited Brazilian movie overseas until the appearance of Pixote (1980). A romantic presentation of an outlaw on the Brazilian northeastern backlands.
10. A Ostra e o Vento (The Oyster and the Wind) by Walter Lima Júnior (1997).
The Top 50
1. Ganga Bruta (Rough Gangue) by Humberto Mauro (1933)
2. Vidas Secas (Barren Lives) by Nélson Pereira dos Santos (1963)
3. O Pagador de Promessas (The Promise Keeper) by Anselmo Duarte (1962)
4. Amei um Bicheiro (I Loved a Numbers Game Runner) by Jorge Ileli (1953)
5. Assalto ao Trem Pagador (The Pay-Train Robbery) by Roberto Farias (1962)
6. Central do Brasil (Central Station) by Walter Salles Jr. (1998)
7. Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (God and the Devil on the Land of the Sun) by Gláuber Rocha (1963)
8. Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (All the Women in the World) by Domingos Oliveira (1966)
9. O Cangaceiro (The Bandit) by Lima Barreto (1953)
10. A Ostra e o Vento (The Oyster and the Wind) by Walter Lima Júnior (1997)
11. Limite (Limit) by Mário Peixoto (1931)
12. Rio 40 Graus (Rio 104 degrees F) by Nélson Pereira dos Santos (1955)
13. Os Cafajestes (The Scoundrels) by Ruy Guerra (1962)
14. A Hora e a Vez de Augusto Matraga (The Hour and the Turn of Augusto Matraga) by Roberto Santos (1966)
15. O Bandido da Luz Vermelha (The Red Light Bandit) by Rogério Sganzerla (1962)
16. Macunaíma (Macunaíma) by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade (1969)
17. Pixote, a Lei do Mais Fraco (Pixote, the Law of the Weakest) by Hector Babenco (1980)
18. Noite Vazia (Empty Night) by Walter Hugo Khouri (1964)
19. São Paulo S. A. (São Paulo Inc.) by Luiz Sérgio Person (1966)
20. A Intrusa (The IntruderLady) by Carlos Hugo Christensen (1980)
21. O Baile Perfumado (The Fragrant Ball) by Paulo Caldas and L. Ferreira (1997)
22. Favela dos Meus Amores (Shantytown of My Loves) by Humberto Mauro (1936)
23. Simão o Caolho (Simão the Cross-Eyed) by Alberto Cavalcanti (1952)
24. Os Fuzis (The Rifles) by Ruy Guerra (1963)
25. Menino de Engenho (Sugar Mill Boy) by Walter Lima Jr. (1965)
26. Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Bruno Barreto (1976)
27. Inocência (Innocence) by Walter Lima Júnior (1982)
28. Memórias do Cárcere (Memories of Jail) by Nélson Pereira dos Santos (1984)
29. Moleque Tião (Street Kid Tião) by José Carlos Burle (1942)
30. O Padre e a Moça ( The Priest and the Maiden) by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade (1965)
31. Viver de Morrer (To Live From Dying) by Jorge Ileli (1970)
32. Chuvas de Verão (Summer Rains) by Carlos Diegues (1996)
33. Lira do Delírio (Delirium Lyre) by Walter Lima Júnior (1977)
34. Bye Bye Brasil (Bye Bye, Brazil) by Carlos Diegues (1977)
35. Gaijin (Foreigner) by Tizuka Yamasaki (1980)
36. Eles Não Usam Black Tie (They Don't Wear Black Tie) by Leon Hirszman (1981)
37. A Marvada Carne (Mean Flesh) by André Klotzel (1985)
38. A Hora da Estrela (The Hour of the Star) by Suzana Amaral (1985)
39. Fragmentos da Vida (Life's Fragments) by José Medina (1929)
40. Tesouro Perdido (Lost Treasure) by Humberto Mauro (1926)
41. Barro Humano (Human Clay) by Adhemar Gonzaga (1928)
42. Alô Alô Carnaval (Hi, Hi, Carnaval) by Adhemar Gonzaga (1936)
43. Carnaval no Fogo (Carnaval in the Fire) by Watson Macedo (1950)
44. Tico-Tico no Fubá (Tico-Tico Bird in the Corn Flour) by Adolfo Celi (1951)
45. O Canto da Saudade (The Longing Corner) by Humberto Mauro (1952)
46. Agulha no Palheiro (Needle in the Haystack) by Alex Vianny (1953)
47. Absolutamente Certo! (Absolutely Right) by Anselmo Duarte (1957)
48. Mulheres e Milhões (Women and Millions) by Jorge Ileli (1961)
49. O Grande Momento (The Great Moment) by Roberto Santos (1958)
50. Carlota Joaquina, a Princesa do Brasil (Carlota Joaquina, the Princess of Brazil) by Carla Camurati (1996)
Language
Academy
WordsBrazilians deal everyday with hundreds of words in newspapers, billboards, books and TV, that don't exist officially. Most of them are technical terms with or without a correspondent in Portuguese that are borrowed from the English. In an extremely modest accommodating gesture, the ABL (Academia Brasileira de Letras—Brazilian Academy of Letters) has included 37 computer related terms to its updated Vocabulário Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa (Portuguese Language Orthographic Vocabulary) also known by its acronym VOLP. The VOLP hasn't been updated since 1981. Distinct from a dictionary, the VOLP only lists the word and it grammatical function without giving its meanings.
Proof of the narrow scope of the additions are all the currently used words that were left out. Among them xerocar (pronounced sherocar), which for decades has been used as synonym for fotocopiar (to photocopy). Other frequently used terms that were ignored: backup, browser, butar (to boot a computer) megabytes, RAM, setup, site, and upgrade.
While off line, for example, was adopted, on line did not make into the new vocabulary. Celso Niskier, a computer professor and director of Rio's college Faculdade Carioca talked about the need for these changes: "The vocabulary is a live organism and it is natural the ABL concern to implement changes." It was Faculdade Carioca that presented the Academy with the new technological terms. Even though 101 words were presented, the Academy only adopted 37 of them.
While some criticize the changes as being too timid, others as literary critic Wilson Martins complain that the new terms are contributing to what he calls a "linguistic denationalization." For Niskier the changes only show that the Portuguese language is dynamic and attuned with the global evolutions." Martins reasons: "Why should we use deletar when we have anular (to void) or apagar (to erase)? The verb escanear (to scan) however might be nationalized. Now, to use the word sítio (little ranch) for site this is even worse than using the English original."
These were the computer-related terms included in the VOLP, most of them maintaining the English format: assíncrono (asynchronous), bit, broadcast, buffer, byte, cartucho (cartridge), chip, coaxial, conectar (to connect), deletar (to delete), drive, e-mail, faxear (to fax), formatar (to format), hardware, imputar (to imput), interface, internet, intranet, job, joystick, laser, layout, menu, network, off line, overflow, overlay, pointer, reformatar (to reformat), ROM, scanner, síncrono (syncronous), software, spool, web, and winchester.
There were 6242 new words introduced to a vocabulary that now has 349.817 terms. Some of them are used only in small regions of the country, like arabaca, which means old car in the state of Bahia. The VOLP was organized by a group from the Academy, which has 40 members, and outside experts. The academicians were renowned philologist Antônio Houaiss, Evaristo de Morais Filho, Eduardo Portella. Lexicographers Antônio José Chediak (he was the book's coordinator), Sílvio Elia, Evanildo Bechara and paleontologist Diógenes de Almeida Campos also contributed.
To those who fear the discharacterization of the language by the adoption of too many Anglicisms and other isms, Duarte noted that there was a rigorous selection process and that most of the additions were names and adjectives and not verbs, which he calls the "tongue's backbone".
Among the slang words incorporated into the vocabulary there are biritar (to have hard liquor), agito (party), auê (confusion), amasso (petting), chacrete (TV cheerleader) and caipirosca (vodka-based margarita).
The Aurélio, the most used Portuguese dictionary in Brazil, lists around 140,000 words and contains many words that only now are being adopted by the vocabulary. Hebrew words adopted: Chanuká, bris (circumcision), chalá (type of bread), tsedaká (a good deed), gefiltefish (fish cake), and shofar (religious music instrument).
Some words like printar (from to print) were not accepted since the Portuguese already has the verb imprimir. Trying to catch up, the Academy is already working on the next edition of the VOLP, which might come out in the next few months. The public is being encouraged to send suggestions of terms to be included. The address: Academia Brasileira de Letras - Comissão de Lexicografia - Avenida Presidente Wilson 203 - 4º andar - Centro - Rio de Janeiro - 20030-02. The 795-page VOLP is on sale at the ABL bookstore for $25.
Culture
No, Thanks!
In what amounts to a courageous manifesto against a slipshod press, renowned author João Ubaldo Ribeiro, a member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras (Brazilian Academy of Letters) announced his decision to limit drastically the number of interviews he gives the media. August 30 he wrote in his Sunday column at dailies O Globo from Rio and O Estado de S. Paulo:
"Hardly anyone does his homework before starting the interview. They ask me where I was born, what books have I written and when, where do I live (and this inside my house), how many children I have and other things of great public interest, which those who are interested are tired of knowing and those not interested don't want to know.
Or they come with the conviction that, for being a person of modest notoriety, I'm able to give my opinion on every kind of subject like the quality of Cuban cigars, Russia's economic policy, or the performance of the Milan Opera tenors. I don't know, I don't fake that I know, but the interviewer becomes angry when I reveal my ignorance about these and other vast amount of subjects."
Ribeiro recalled the episode with a lady reporter whose first question was: "You are a writer, aren't you?" Writes he: "`No,' I wanted to answer but I didn't. `I'm your mother's gigolo.' What the hell! Hasn't she read even her assignment that stated on the top: `interview writer João Ubaldo Ribeiro about such and such subjects.'"
After speaking of several cases, in which what he said was entirely misunderstood, and an occasion on which he had to change his schedule to accommodate an interviewer who still came much later, the writer concludes that "interview is work that should be paid."
Ribeiro agrees with those who say that the interviews often promote his books and image and admits that in this case this is payment enough.
The author goes on: "You go to a TV studio, you have to leave your ID card at the reception desk, strap a badge to your shirt and to be subjected to a series of indignities. Everybody is making money, from the prompter to the host. The only ones who don't earn a thing are the program's core, that is, the interviewee. I thought again and again and I know that with this I might be ending my TV career, but I have decided: from now on I will only go if they pay for it at least the way Jô pays me. (Jô Soares has a very popular late night interview show in which he promotes the work of his guests.) Farewell, TV spectators."
Art
Cannibals
With Brushes
Bishop Sardinha, a character from the early Brazilian history, whose main claim to fame derives from the fact that he was eaten by Brazilian cannibals is the great inspiration for the just-opened 24th Biennial in São Paulo, the world's third most important art exhibit, just behind the Venice Biennial from Italy and the Documenta exposition from Kassel, Germany. The bishop's deglutition had already inspired in the early '20s the so-called anthropophagic movement, which proposed the cannibalizing of the European culture. The same idea was again adopted by the tropicalista music movement from the late '60s.
In 1928, writer Oswald de Andrade, one of the leaders of the Movimento Modernista, wrote the celebrated Manifesto Antropófago after looking at Tarsila do Amaral's painting Abaporu, one of the stars of the exhibit. United by the anthropophagic theme there are foreign geniuses like Belgian René Magritte, British Francis Bacon, and Dutch Vincent van Gogh as well as William Blake, Auguste Rodin, and Salvador Dalí. From the Brazilian side besides Tarsila do Amaral, there are other heavyweights like Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark. These works were insured for half a billion dollars, $100 million of which to cover 15 paintings and 13 drawings and prints by Van Gogh. The Bienal itself consumed $15 million to be organized.
All these names may give the impression that after decades—the event started in 1951 by the hands of São Paulo Maecenas Ciccillo Matarazzo — promoting avant-garde and cutting edge art, the Bienal has become a museum. Not quite. These are just the decoys for close to 1000 works by 270 artists from 55 countries. And for the first time there is a section entirely dedicated to the Brazilian contemporary art. Among the close to 60 Brazilians artists there are Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, Alfredo Volpi, Leonilson, and Tunga.
Among the innovations introduced in the latest version of the Bienal it is the so-called contamination. According to the organizers, every work was chosen as an illustration for the anthropophagic theme, the global inter-borrowing of ideas. The idea of artistic contagion continues inside the expo, which abolishes the geography and time to purposefully juxtapose the old and the new, the classic and the experimental, the national and the foreign. In a way that you can admire in the same room the distraught faces of Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and the Trouxa (Bundle of Clothes) of Brazilian sculptor Arthur Barrio. Barrio created his trouxas at the end of the '60s during the most repressive phase of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. They reminded people of the "presuntos" (literally, hams), cadavers who were found on the streets and covered by a sheet or newspaper waiting to be picked up by the police or the coroner.
Organizers are expecting that 450,000 will be lured by the international mixing and will come to the show that will remain open until December 13. A hailstorm with gusty winds on the opening day (October 3) provoked panic and the building on the exhibit in the Ibirapuera Park had to be closed for four days while the place was cleaned up and repaired. According to the organizers there was no irreparable damage to the paintings and other works of art.
During the press conference held the day after the accident, Belgian curators of the Magritte room, Paolo Vedovi e Gisèli Olligns, commented that such "whims of nature" could happen anywhere in the world. Touched by the show of solidarity, curator Paulo Herkenhoff cried copiously.
According to a report by weekly Isto É the episode and its consequences were much worse than admitted by the Bienal's organizers. "What we saw on the modernity temple projected by Oscar Niemeyer was one of the saddest demonstrations of carelessness with an inestimable national and foreign artistic patrimony." The magazine described in vivid tones rain and sleet coming from the roof and hitting the works of art while José Carlos Libânio, a UN representative, commented: "That's the ultimate act of anthropophagi. Brazilian nature took care of devouring the world's works of art."
In the third floor, the hardest hit, Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti's bronze pieces felt the rain's full brunt. In the panicky reaction by the Bienal's workers that followed, sculptures were hurriedly taken out of the way and almost were broken. It took more than half an hour after the storm started before the workers started evacuating the building.
For more than ten minutes a painting by Argentinian Guillermo Kuitca was left under a jet of water while many people cried looking at the disaster. Comment from Swedish cameraman Pontus Kianderafter after having filmed the situation: "Which artist will wish to expose here again after this tragedy?"
Several exhibits that used electricity were short-circuited and for a few seconds the whole building went dark leading people to start screaming. The climatized room with the Francis Bacons and Van Goghs weren't affected, though.
Anxiety
It is easy to understand why emotions are running high and Herkenhoff has been crying more than expected. He had cried already during the opening ceremonies when a crowd of 12,000 broke the record of public for the event. He said at the time: "Everything is working out." But just barely. Many works only arrived at the last second. People were already walking the corridors when Van Gogh's Le Moulin de la Gallet was whisked to its place on the third floor.
Only recently the Bienal started to recoup some international respect. Proof of its increasing reputation—at least before the rain incident—is the fact that the organizers were able to borrow pieces from the Louvre, a first time. MoMA, the New York Museum of Modern Art, broke also a 10-year policy of not lending any work to Brazil. All the charm of curator Paulo Herkenhoff was not enough though to get a single piece by Van Gogh from the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. The Bienal had to appeal to smaller museums and private collectors being unable to show a single self-portrait of the artist.
The São Paulo art show used to be a very popular event during the '60s and the '70s. Júlio Landmann, president of Fundação Bienal, who as a child used to visit the exhibit with his father, talked about these times: "It was the era of pop-art, op-art and kinetic art, which drew all kinds of visitor." By 1979 however, attendance to the 15th Bienal had fallen to 70,000 visitors. With the creation of the museum space in 1994, the crowds came back and Bienal version 22 saw a record 500,000 visitors.
The 24th Bienal can be virtually visited at http:///www.uol.com.br/bienal/24bienal. On the site hosted by UOL (Universe Online), the largest Internet provider in Brazil, visitors will be able to see among other offerings the 55 artists from different countries reunited under the National Representations umbrella. The pages have blown up images of the works presented and people have also the option of sending their favorite works as electronic card. For the fist time the Bienal includes virtual exhibits with addresses of sites that are doing art on line.
These are some of the selected sites: "Vulnerables" by Fabiana de Barros (http://www.vulnerables.ch); "Valetesjacks in Slow Motion" by Kiko Goifman; "HoME" by Lawrence Chua (http://red.ntticc.or.jp/HoME/javahome.html); "Memento
Mori, an Interface for Death" by Ken Goldberg and Wojciech (http://www.memento.ieor.berkeley.edu/); and "No name DC", Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber (http://www.plexus.org/omnizone/works/bitter-weber/index.htm).
It was the Venice Biennial that inspired Paulista (from São Paulo) industrialist Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, better known as Ciccillo Matarazzo, to start in 1951 the Bienal Internacional de São Paulo. Matarazzo was the president of MAM (Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo—São Paulo Modern Art Museum) and made the new event part of the museum. The Bienal Foundation would only start in 1962.
In 1953, for its second edition, the exhibit had Picasso's Guernica and works by the likes of Brancusi, Calder, Ensor, Klee, Laurens, Mondrian, and Munch, and drew a public of 100,000. Four years later the Bienal got its own space, the Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo in the Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, a 30,000 sq. meter (323,000 sq. feet) structure designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the architect who dreamed Brazil's modern capital city, Brasília.
The '60s and '70s were the best of times for the Bienal. All the big names of pop art were represented at the 10th Bienal in 1967: Lichtenstein, Oldeburg, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Ruscha, Segall, Andy Warhol, and Wesselman. Starting in the late '70s, however, the massive presence of concept art works made the public shun the event. A mere 70,000 people went to see the 1979 Bienal.
History
Yes,
I Did ItIt's been an open secret to those interested in Brazilian history that dictator and President Getúlio Dornelles Vargas—he governed Brazil from 1930 to 1945 as a dictator and then again as elected President from 1951 until his suicide on August 24, 1954—had a torrid romance with burlesque actress Virgínia Lane during the '40s. Confirmation of the rumors comes now straight from the lover's mouth. During a recent party to celebrate renowned Rio's Confeitaria Colombo 104th anniversary, Lane confessed to her 15-year-long inappropriate relationship, adding: "In those times sweethearts of presidents didn't make scandals."
Money
Prodigal
TouristNo foreign visitor spends more in New York than Brazilians. Just-released data from the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau for the year of 1997 show that a Brazilian stays in average six days in the Big Apple and spends $71 a day when in town. With a total of 333,000 visitors from the country (31% more than in 1996) it translates into $141 million. Compare this to the 419,000 Japanese visitors who disbursed $100 million, or $48 a day per capita. Brazilians constitute the fifth largest group of visitors behind the Canadian, the British, the German, and the Japanese. While 97% of Brazilians go shopping when tasting the Big Apple they also engage in other activities: they go to historical places (70%), visit museums and art galleries (65%) and enjoy a night on Broadway or off-Broadway (63%).
Emigration
Pledging
AllegiancePreliminary data from the INS (Immigration and Nationalization Service) obtained by Brazilian daily O Estado de S. Paulo show that a record 6,800 Brazilians decided to become American citizens from January 1995 to October 1997. In comparison, between 1989 and 1996, a twice-as-long period, 4,864 Brazilians opted for the new nationality. When all the information is computed the number of new Brazilians for the '95-'97 period should jump to more than 7000.
It was in 1994 that for the first time the number of Brazilians seeking naturalization surpassed the 1,000 mark for the year: there were then 1,342 cases. There was little reduction in 1995 (1,278) and then a big jump in 1996 when 2.680 Brazilians got their new citizenship. By October 1997, there were already 2.840 new Brazilian-Americans for that year. On the other side, 458 Brazilians were deported between October 1996 and March 31, 1998 for staying illegally or committing a crime in the US.
Fashion
For Chris'
SakeWhat Blue Man's owner Daniel Azulay wanted, he said, was to pay homage to Catholicism and eliminate the stereotype that surfers are naughty boys. What he got instead was a lawsuit from Rio's archdioceses, which was decided against him and forced the entrepreneur to cease and desist.
Carioca (from Rio) Azulay designed a minuscule swimsuit bottom known as sunga with the face of Christ wearing a thorn crown printed on the back.
In its decision, judge Antônio Carlos Amado, from the 2nd Special Criminal Court, ordered Azulay to stop manufacturing the product, to destroy or at least take out the image of the pieces already made, and to make an effort to recall the sungas already sold or given away.
"There was no disrespect," argues Azulay, a 45-year-old Jew, who for 25 years has worked in fashion. "If I were a jeweler no one would criticize me for making a necklace with Christ's image. Why can't a surfer get in the sea protected by Christ, wearing a sunga? A crucifix between the generous breasts of a woman is something more disrespectful."
Two years ago the Catholic Church also protested, but didn't take any legal action after gay magazine Suigeneris published a full-page color picture of another sunga sporting the image of the Virgin Mary. The Church called the picture a challenge to the citizens' faith.
Society
Sloppy
HomeworkA woman's place is in the kitchen and doubly so in Brazil. The old male-chauvinist saying wasn't ever truer than in Brazilian homes these days. Not only because Brazilian women as all over the world are doing double shift—at work and at home—but also due to the fact that 19% of the Brazilian female workforce is employed as a maid, even though the term employed is very loosely used in this case.
While in the United States domestic help is hard to get and live-in employees are a luxury for the wealthy, in Brazil there is roughly one maid for every 32 Brazilians. It is not rare for a middle-class family to employ two or more live-in servants.
A new study by IPEA (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada—Institute of Applied Economic Research) shows that there are five million Brazilians working as maids and at least 800,000 of them (16% of the total) are girls between the age of 10 and 17.
Even though the release of the study has drawn the attention of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and some NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) the new number represents an improvement compared to 1985 when girls younger than 18 constituted 26.7% of the 3.5 million maids at the time. There was an increase in wives who have to work outside the home. Not being at home any more, these women were forced to hire older and more experienced help to take care of the house
Since then the country enacted the 1988 constitution, which gives these employees some rights they didn't have before. The constitution guaranteed paid vacations and maternity leave, but maids still don't have health insurance or unemployment benefits. Also there is no limit for the time they have to work and there is no pay for overtime.
Domestic work continues to be one of the worst-paid jobs in the country even when you consider that the employee gets food and a bed to sleep in. It is estimated that 65% of maids receive no more than $100 a month. In the Northeast the number of those receiving $100 or less raises to 89% of the domestic helpers. The average pay of hour worked is 50 cents. These are people without any job qualifications. According to the IPEA, 72% of them never finished first grade.
Crime
Dial M
for MusicThere is nothing Rio's police chief, Renê Barreto, can do to solve some of the worst problems in Brazilian jails, like chronic overcrowding and the inability to re-educate the inmates. But inspired by a trip to Belgium where Barreto saw how vegetables grew much better when given classical music along with fertilizers—he is an avid lettuce grower himself—the chief decided to introduce his protegees at the 81st Delegacia Policial (police station) to Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Mozart among others. That's what the jailbirds listen to now, everyday, from 8 in the morning to 10 PM. The repertoire, which includes operas, was chosen with the help of music conductor, Aloísio Lages. "I have 16 people in a cell here," explains Barreto, who spent close to $200 of his own money to install the acoustic boxes. "They come full of rage and you need to humanize them." As part of the effort, the inmates will also learn about the composers themselves. The chief promises a "culture bath" in his jail inhabited mostly by drug traffickers and murderers. The inmates were never consulted if they wanted the music or would prefer another genre.
TV
Rebel Yell
As in the US, MTV is most memorable in Brazil for its cute-crazy little ads that appear in between the video-clips that fill up its schedule. Its latest Video Music Award on August 98 was panned by the Brazilian press as just one more boring program as in years past. Not that MTV didn't try to change the image of its annual extravaganza.
It started with an ad spread in Veja, Brazil's leading weekly magazine, using a well-known national preference: female buttocks. The publicity piece showed a prominent woman derriere barely covered by a skimpy bikini bottom being touched by a man's hand. Over the tight piece of cloth the copy: "More exciting than that, only the MTV Video-Music Brasil 98.
During the two-hour-long award show, however, there was very little excitement, unless you consider exciting seeing your MC (Timbalada's King Carlinhos Brown) changing a colorful outfit for an even more colorful outfit during intermission. The old guard was represented by always-irreverent fiftyish Caetano Veloso, who seems to have adopted the tie as his uniform now. He won best MPB (Brazilian Popular Music) video with "Não Enche" (Stop Nagging Me).
The biggest winner of the night, Os Paralamas, also has several years on the road. They got five awards for "Ela Disse Adeus" (She Said Goodbye), including the best video of the year. As a replay of last year, the company Conspiração Filmes was behind the majority of the winning videos. Most of the winners had only one word to say: "Valeu" (it was worth it, cool). Some more inspired were twice as long with: "Valeu, galera" (cool, folks)
The little excitement there was came with the announcement that Paulista (from São Paulo) rap group Racionais MC's won in the audience choice category with an eight-minute-long "Diário de um Detento" (Diary of an Inmate), entirely filmed at the São Paulo penitentiary. The prize was their passport to the American MTV Awards held in Los Angeles on September 10.
The Racionais latest CD, Sobrevivendo no Inferno (Surviving in Hell) sold half a million copies. The Racionais are normally hostile to shows like that and often scorn the media. They seemed to enjoy this one though and were ecstatic when received with a chorus of "filho da puta! filho da puta! filho da puta!" Even in Brazil calling someone a son of a whore is very offensive or it used to be anyway before the MTV show.
The rappers—Mano Brown, Edy Rock, KL Jay, and Ice Blue—really made a speech and attacked the Brazilian society for condemning blacks to prisons, reformatories, slums and drug trafficking. They also reminded the audience that blacks were the majority in Brazil and that they deserved the power. "We thank God, the greatest, for our music. But we were inspired by vice, by drugs, by misery. We want that our people wake up and don't see the sun behind bars," said KL Jay.
