Rua dos Inventos - Invention Street
Rua dos Inventos, Invention Street, book and solo show
2009 Brazil Contemporary, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Roterdam
2005 Galerie du département d’arts plastiques et Bibliothèque – Université de Paris 8 à Saint Denis, Paris, France (part of France’s Year of Brazil)
2005 Conjunto Cultural da Caixa, São Paulo, Brazil
2004 Conjunto Cultural da Caixa, Brasília, Brazil
2004 Memorial do Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura, Fortaleza, Brazil
2003 Capela do Solar do Unhão MAMBA – Museum of Modern Art of Bahia, Brazil
2002 Galeria do Século XXI MNBA – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
My particular attraction to urban chaos motivated me to develop the Invention Street project over a period of almost 10 years. Urban space is the project’s home – in it, I lend my eyes to the reader of the book and viewer of the exhibition. Walking in the streets looking for remarkable objects, shelters, tools and other material hints of our urban culture was my addiction for almost a decade, from 1997 to 2005. During this period I produced an inventory of thousands of pictures, written notes, interviews, videos and objects collected from the streets.
It seemed I could discover the world that surrounded me by taking a deep look at the objects that were in the streets and that had already become invisible to most of the people who were coming and going. I had become more open to experience the simplicity of a piece of fabric or a tin can, and to be touched by it as being something of real importance to my journey, in and on the streets.
Indeed, I was guided by chaos, by excess, by the sounds of the city, by the multiple sensations, by doubts, by gazes. I would often feel afraid of taking my camera out of my bag. One day the driver of a garbage truck was put out by my curiosity, pointed a gun at me and told me, “run, get out.” And I ran, I ran without knowing whether it would be enough. It was – I am here to tell the tale. For a long time, the street was my school, the urban polyphony motivated and seduced me.
