Pre-carnival in Gamboa: Inclusartiz Cultural Center opens new exhibition on February 11

“From the Avenue to Harmony: More than a century of carnival in downtown Rio de Janeiro,” presents historical records and contemporary works highlighting the various manifestations of carnival in the city

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In the pre-carnival week, Inclusartiz Cultural Center opens to the public on February 11, with free admission, the exhibition “From the Avenue to Harmony: More than a century of carnival in downtown Rio de Janeiro”. The group show proposes to investigate the most diverse manifestations of carnival in Rio de Janeiro throughout the last century – especially in the central area of the city and its surroundings – through historical records and contemporary works.

“We always seek to bring to the public relevant themes, in tune with the neighborhood where we work, the Port Area, which currently receives a large concentration of carnival blocks and which is a historic stage for street festivities. Here, it is possible to feel the city’s pulse and energy during the days of revelry, and to experience the essence of carnival up close,” celebrates Frances Reynolds, president and founder of Instituto Inclusartiz.

Conceived by the cultural center chief curator, Victor Gorgulho, in partnership with the institute’s team, the exhibition is divided into three axes. The first one presents historical records of the controversial Belle Époque of the 1920s in the tropics, belonging to various public archives, such as the National Archives, the National Library, and others.

Eugênio Silva, Carnival Ball, 1922

“From a wide time window, which proposes to account for about a century of the history of street and avenue carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the exhibition seeks to trace a historical and, above all, affective cartography of one of the biggest and most important popular festivals around the world,” says Gorgulho.

Carlos Vergara, Carnival Series, 1972-1976

The second axis highlights the iconic series “Carnaval” (1967-1972), by Carlos Vergara, a powerful set of images about the Cacique de Ramos carnival street group, photographed in the hardest years of the military dictatorship. In the exhibition, the series will be displayed in a special view elaborated by the artist with the curator.

The third and final nucleus unfolds from a web that connects photographs, paintings, videos and other contemporary productions that present us with updated and renewed versions of carnival. The works were elaborated both by renowned members of the contemporary art circuit, such as Laura Lima, side by side with works by prominent young people in the scene, such as Melissa de Oliveira and Mulambö, besides artists from the Port Area with extensive experience in the region, such as photographers Mauricio Hora and Sandro Rodrigues.

Melissa de Oliveira, Untitled, 2020

A series of parallel activities are also planned to be carried out at the Inclusartiz Cultural Center throughout the period of the exhibition, such as educational workshops and conversation circles with the artists participating in the exhibition and other invited names, whose works are related to the proposed theme.

 SERVICE

 From Avenue to Harmony: More than a century of carnival in downtown Rio de Janeiro
Opening: February 11, from 4 pm to 8 pm
Visitation: Tuesday to Sunday, from 11 am to 6 pm, until March 10
Inclusartiz Cultural Center – Rua Sacadura Cabral, 333, Gamboa, Rio de Janeiro – RJ
Free admission.