“São Paulo, an urban behemoth lurching into the 21st century, is thought to have recently crossed that threshold, although accurate census data are scarce. Piranesian in its entangled turmoil, São Paulo is defined by movement, sulphurous congestion and a brutal and denatured topography. Private helicopters dart and buzz like dragonflies, alighting on cantilevered helipads perched precariously on skyscrapers, while down below bulletproof sedans ferry the city’s anxious élite from place to place.”
- Frieze
5 Comments
thanks. fascinating article.
"Far from importing European Modernism, Brazilian avant-gardists adopted the strategy of ‘cannibalization’, consuming the influence of the colonizer before the colonizer consumed the colonized."
i always wondered why any of the current architectural star types aren't getting any commissions in 'sampa.' they would be chewed quickly and spitted out in no time. their future visions would be so yesterday there. no wonder they shmooze on empty lots in places like dubai. their calculated influence would be gone and spent before they hang the first eccentric steel beam which would cause an awe elsewhere in yesterdaylands.
i love to go there to sao paulo to see the real 'now.'
thanks for the great post! a very interesting article about the city itself and its apparently powerful effect on the arts.
@ coedname-X
I heartily agree
Actually i wrote a paper on the Brazilian avant-garde and their idea of cannibalizing the West
For more
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibal_Manifesto
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_de_Andrade
great article...i was in sao paulo this january, and miss it terribly...the cannibal manifesto you guys mentioned can be seen daily in all aspects of brazilian life...
on a lighter side of things, anthony bourdain (chef) had an hour long show about sao paulo, and if any of you has a chance to watch it, i'd highly recommend it (especially the first 10 mins or so)...
"autophagia" or self-consumption: Steven King wrote a great short story about this, in which a surgeon was shipwrecked on an island and slowly ate himself while waiting to be rescued.
In terms of cultural cannibalization, should I be consuming the endless strip malls so as to make them my own before they destroy my spirit? Or perhaps just take Chuck Pahluniak's tact, and start attending open houses just to raid the seller's medicine cabinets, it's close to the same thing....
Fascinating, and terrifying, article.
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