Lula, a metal worker, in Taubaté

No candidate for the function of mayor of Taubaté managed to get a majority in the first round.

Goods of  the Ortizzes blocked by the court

So the two candidates with the most votes went to the second round. A serious fight between Ortiz-Junior (Tucano) and Isaac (Partido dos Trabalhadores). Ortiz is from the Ortiz dynasty that gives the impression that they want to run Taubaté as their fazenda (Lula remarked about this). Isaac is like Lula a metal worker.

What could be more effective than to get Lula to Taubaté to endorse Isaac?! And he came! Yesterday Thursday the 25th of October.























Thousands of people in the Epaminondas square in the center of Taubaté. In the last moment Ortiz tried to get this meeting prohibited, but the judge didn't go along. Imagine the chaos if the police would have had to go in the clean out the many many people, who longed so much to see their former president.


I was next to some elderly women from a bairro (quarter) "Tres Maria's"- one of the poor parts of Taubaté. They were so happy to see their great "president". They were there waiting from 4 in the afternoon (like us).

We listened to an enthusiastic speaker and Isaac-party-songs and looked at vereadores and prefeitos (aldermen and mayors) from other cities... Waiting, waiting.... more than 3 hours!!

But then he came! ......

....... And he spoke! And the people could relate to what he said, about chances and education. The Brazilian elite that didn't want him to be a president because he had no diploma's, that disgusted him. The elite that didn't want common people going on airplanes like them or doing other things they considered their "prerogatives".

Lula, making it clear that Isaac was like him, a metal worker, one of us.

“The mentally ill are like humming birds ….

…. always two meters above the ground”  -  Arthur Bispo do Rosário

At the age of 29 he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. The rest of his life, 50 years until his death in 1989, he lived in the mental hospital of Colonia Juliano Moreira in Rio.

Chosen by God, Bispo set out on a survey of his own world…. reconstructing this world to offer it to God. All his work in preparation for the Last Judgement.

In his home town in the North-East of Brazil it is tradition that the men work on sewing the banners and costumes for the procession of the Madonna. He used this handcraft to express himself in words. Although at the bienal I saw mainly lists of names, of quantities, he wrote also poems, stories. Bringing together words, signs, objects to form a coded language that confirms the motto of the 30th Bienal: “An imminence of poetry…” 

His robe for meeting God. A life time work.
(see also: The Imminence of Poetry... )

Video’s:
Hugo Denizart : O prisioneiro da passagem
Documentário em torno de Artur Bispo do Rosário, artista plástico, interno na Colônia Juliano Moreira. realizadas por Fernando Gabeira na década de 1980.

Biography's:
Biography English
Biography in Portuguese 

Information about the 30th Bienal de São Paulo

The imminence of poetry.....

The imminence of poetry: The 30th “Bienal de São Paulo”

Hreinn Fridfinnsson

It is on the brink of happening; poetry speaks through the language of art.

I can show no more than just a glimpse of this wonderful event: Too much to see in one time. Too much to show in one blog post. See for yourself.

Alexandre da Cunha

Savvas Christodoulides

Ciudad Abierta

David Moreno

David Moreno

Lucia Laguna

Hreinn Fridfinnsson

Arthur Bispo do Rosário

Halfway the exhibition I was happily surprised by the fact that there was work of Arthur Bispo do Rosário. I had seen his work on the Internet by chance and had had no hope of seeing it in São Paulo. There is a museum for his work in Rio de Janeiro. For me it was one of the highlights of this Bienal. I will try to make another blog only with his work.

Eduardo Berliner

Iñaki Bonillas

Kriwet

Sigurdur Gudmundsson

Frédérique Bruly Bouabré

Anna Oppermann

Hans Eijkelboom

Hans Eijkelboom

The building itself, a creation of Niemeyer, is a happening in it's own right; especially build for presenting these Bienals. For the photographer of the exhibited works it is a disaster because of the reflection of the light falling directly from outside on polished (glass) surfaces.