Page 99 - ARTE!Brasileiros #50

ARCHITECTURE: kAMAyURá [pAgES 44 TO 47] traditional housing without encountering unusual way, creating precise but unstable
resistance from ethnologists, anthropologists, harmonies, sometimes filling all the spaces
KAMAYURÁ sertanists? Luis Octavio comments that an in a claustrophobic composition, sometimes
ARCHITECTURE MANUAL anthropologist was part of the project and submerging them in an intriguing void.
had preliminary meetings with him in which
In his paintings, the fields are worked with
RESCUES ANCIENT he presented the formal requirements of living refinement and overlap, interpenetrate, creating
in the Indigenous Park and the labels on how
multiple planes of seduction. As Paulo Reis
WISDOM to treat the Kamayurá. They had to follow an writes, his work is a “goldsmith’s painting”.
initially strict protocol and later became more In the drawings, videos and photographs,
The idea of documenting the techniques relaxed, according to the architect. the process seems to be reversed and the
for building the huts came from the During the workshop surveys of measu- represented vegetable reigns alone in the center
indigenous Xingu rements and materials used in Kamayurá of a large white (milk) or black (olive oil) void,
By LEONOR AMARANTE constructions were made. From these surveys, in order to amplify the details as in the richly
crafted drawings of travelers scientists. With
representation drawings (plans, elevations) and
the xIngu changes quIckly. Indigenous tables were made. According to the architect, the difference that Mariana only seems to seek
leaders in the territory are concerned with the these indigenous people are proud to build their fidelity, when in fact she reconstructs nature
fate of the knowledge accumulated by them houses. “Their objective, through the Manual, through a very personal and free look of the
in hundreds of years. The Xingu Indigenous is to register how to build and equalize the precepts of science.
Park, located in the north of the state of Mato knowledge between them. The idea is to involve She presents to the public unusual
Grosso, between the Cerrado and the Amazon, young people in the construction of housing compositions, as an implausible mixture
is home to around 14 different ethnicities, and the leaders believe that this manual with between a peacock feather and a shell, in
including the Kamayurá. Last year they decided traditional techniques will help them.” associations of a suggestive eroticism and
to create a publication using hollow-building The first elements to be placed in the that seem guided by an urgence in capturing
techniques. From this desire the Kamayurá construction of a Kamayurá house are the the precise moment between life and death,
Manual of Architecture was born, a synthesis central pillars, followed by the posts that form bloom and fade. Not by chance the curator
of its traditional construction. the perimeter. The hollow consists of two Priscyla Gomes associates in her text the set of
The idea came from Kanawayuri L. Marcello light structures connected as if they were two works of Mariana with the myth of Orpheus and
Kamayurá, local leader, when he met the overlapping baskets. These baskets are secured Eurydice, underlining the fugacity and intensity
architect Clarissa Morgenroth at the Xingu, a by vertical and horizontal moorings. The straw of the encounter, the balance that Mariana tries
great artist who traveled through the region for is finally placed from the bottom up. Building a to find between the vitality of the new and the
nine months. He invited her to the project and house for the Kamayurá is also fun. certainty of finitude
she involved the Escola da Cidade, through The huts constitute a space of half darkness In addition to the clear references to the great
the Habita-Cidade platform with the workshop and privacy, but at the same time they are an masters of botany design such as Albrecht
Modes de Habitar: Traditional Architectures. open place. About 20 people live in each of Dürer and Margareth Mee, there are multiple
A group of students and teachers formed who them, from related families. These houses references she makes to the history of art,
traveled to Aldeia Ypawu, in Kamayurá territory generally last eight to 10 years. “They usually combining allusions ranging from exquisite
in the Upper Xingu, to support this endeavor do maintenance if the building is very old, but Renaissance planning, to 18th-century Dutch
especially in the elaboration and storage of the Kamayurá prefer to build a new hollow. And painting - with its love of detail - and an evident
drawings on the computer. when this happens, all the old building material inebriation, which brings her closer to both
“When we arrived at Xingu, we noticed that is reused or burned, they do not accumulate baroque and romantic
some indigenous people already had preliminary waste in the village. In general, they have an There are some interesting encounters
knowledge of technical drawings. We then pose understanding of their culture, perceive the between the works in the exhibition, such as
a question: what is the Kamayurá territory like? harmonic interaction with the biome, but they the one between the only sculptural piece, in
Kneeling on a large white paper that they draw are not dazzled”. which palm branches (in an unquestionable
in a village with their occasions, river, birds, At the moment, what exists in circulation on reference to the artist’s surname) gush over
trees… One was a traditional representation the internet is a version of the Manual printed two basins filled with dark olive oil and only
of them and a basic service for starting work in the village, which has already been revised begin a dive that promises to be deep, and a
”, says Luis Octavio de Faria e Silva, architect, by Escola da Cidade and sent to Xingu. The huge canvas on which sprouts of the same
teacher and platform coordinator. “Although architects await observations or possible nature are represented in extremely subtle
there are differences between some ethnic corrections by the Kamayurá. The intention is tones ranging from light gray to almost black,
groups, Xingu’s construction systems have to make, after all revised, an English version so something surprising for someone who usually
a lot in common. The architectural unit is the that it can circulate in several countries. willingly delivers to a profusion of Colors.
hollow, the amount of which in the village may Interestingly Mariana avoids the use of titles.
vary according to the resident population”. With ExIBITIONS: SãO pAULO [pAgES 48 TO 51] As if any narrative suggestion was to divert his
oval shapes, they are distributed in a circle and compositions from the synthetic and somewhat
are those that do some household activities, THE VISUAL PLOTS enigmatic character of his compositions. It also
except lighting or fire for cooking. purposely avoids the inclusion of the human
Inside the hollow, at their ends they hang OF MARIANA PALMA figure in his works. Her narratives dispense it, it
the nets and the central part is reserved for seems to make it less dense. Objects, often seen
commerce and rituals. “The head of the family The artist shows a cohesive summary of in asphyxiating proximity, speak for themselves
takes care of the construction of his house her production on an exposition at the of our desires. Tactile, visual, affective. And they
together with the relatives, where each member Tomie Ohtake Institute seem to prove that, in the absence, the human
has different and multiple knowledge that work may be more present.
together”. The constructions are made with By MARIA HIRSzMAN
materials taken from the forest and executed one of the hIghlIghts of the young Brazilian ON THE EDgES: ALI [pAgES 52 TO 56]
with traditional techniques, with straw roofs that painting, a movement that emerged with force
extend to the ground. These elements combine in the early years of the 21st century, Mariana ITINERANT ART SCHOOL
material savings and formal elegance. “If it gets Palma shows, at the Tomie Ohtake Institute, a
a little irregular they don’t care, what matters broad and impressively cohesive set of works, ESTABLISHES CULTURAL
is the cohesion of the group”, guarantees Luis built along a career that already lasts two decades. FLOWS BETWEEN
Octavio. According to him, the Kamayurá Exploring multiple languages, but attentive to a
maintain a relationship with a curious eye on very familiar universe of questions, motives and CENTER AND PERIPHERY
what is outside their culture. Today they also references, the artist manages at the same time
make four-story houses covered with straw. to seduce and confuse the audience. Project that brings together nine artists
The hollow measures around 30 by 10 meters As a kind of illusionist, Mariana always starts and a social scientist, free itinerant
and can reach 10 meters in height, with low from elements apparently out of an intimacy art school (ali) emerged after the 2018
openings, where access is possible. associated with the feminine: flowers, leaves, elections and has been operating for
How to enter Xingu with the idea of shoots, fabrics, skins, tiles, abstractions that
collaborating with the indigenous people in refer to marbled papers, valued in the covers almost a year in Cidade Tiradentes
a project to understand and represent their of old books. And it combines them in an pOR MARCOS gRINSpUM FERRAz

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