kalkman, simone. reality in miniature, world art 2013

This article was downloaded by: [Simone Kalkman]On: 18 December 2013, At: 01:10Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office:Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

World ArtPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscriptioninformation:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rwor20

Reality in miniature: the Morrinho Project asa community-based and site-specific artworkfrom a Rio de Janeiro favelaSimone Kalkmanaa Leiden University, Netherlands; Utrecht University, NetherlandsPublished online: 19 Sep 2013.

To cite this article: Simone Kalkman (2013) Reality in miniature: the Morrinho Project as a community-based and site-specific artwork from a Rio de Janeiro favela, World Art, 3:2, 275-295, DOI:10.1080/21500894.2013.789448

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2013.789448

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content)contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and ourlicensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, orsuitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publicationare the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor &Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independentlyverified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilitieswhatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantialor systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and usecan be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Research article

Reality in miniature: the Morrinho Project as acommunity-based and site-specific artwork from a

Rio de Janeiro favela

Simone Kalkman*

Leiden University, Netherlands; Utrecht University, Netherlands

This article discussesMorrinho, a grassroots artistic project from a Riode Janeiro favela (slum or squatter settlement) that visited severalprestigious, international art events. The project started withoutartistic intentions, as a form of childrens play, but developed into asuccessful organisation that combines artistic and social goals. Thearticle shows how the project was incorporated into the world of HighArt, arguing that its common interpretation often gives a simplifiedview. It then presents an alternative reading based on the complexsociological position of the projects participants as well as theirmature and reflective artistic representation. Crucial in this argumentis an interdisciplinary approach that combines a sociological under-standing of the projects favela context, knowledge of relevant art-historical debates and a first-hand understanding of the presentfunctioning of the project. Based on this approach, the article discussesthe position which the Morrinho Project occupies in the debatesurrounding the increasing amount of community-based art projectsthat aim to combine artistic achievements with a direct, socio-politicalrelevance.

Keywords: Rio de Janeiro; favela; Morrinho; community-based art;site-specific art; otherness

Introduction

The past decades have seen a significant increase in art projects that wish

to combine artistic goals with a tangible, socio-political relevance. The idea

of community involvement, in which artists engage with a group of people

usually characterised by some form of marginality, is important in these

practices (Kwon 2004: 109). This often links the artworks in question

closely to their community as a specific form of site. Scholars have used

a variety of names to analyse these practices, most notably socially

engaged art, participatory art and community or community-based art.

One of the central problems in the surrounding debate is how an artist

*Email: [email protected]

World Art, 2013

Vol. 3, No. 2, 275295, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2013.789448

# 2013 Taylor & Francis

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

should engage with and/or relate to the community in question. In thisarticle, I engage in this debate by discussing the Morrinho Project, acollaborative, grassroots art project from a Rio de Janeiro favela (slum orsquatter settlement). Morrinho is a diminutive form of the word Morro,which means hillside. Morro is an alternative denomination for Rio deJaneiros South Zone favelas, which are predominantly located on thesteep hills that characterise the citys geographical setting. The project,which has a miniature favela model as its central focus, started out withoutartistic intentions, but gradually developed into a reasonably well-knownorganisation that has visited several prestigious international art events most notably the 2007 Venice Biennale.

This article shows how the Morrinho Project was received in the world ofHigh Art, and how it can be interpreted as a work of contemporary art. Incontrast to earlier texts that have focused on Morrinhos status as acommunity non-governmental organisation (NGO) and connected it to localdevelopments (Rocha 2009; Freire-Medeiros and Rocha 2011; Bentes 2011),I focus on Morrinhos position in the art world and its connection to art-historical debates. This is not to deny the significance of local mediations(which have played an important role in Morrinhos development), butrather to explore the links between Morrinhos artists and the global art-world, a topic that has not been examined before. To do so, I criticallyexamine the projects art world reception through a focus on two elementsthat have defined its validation: the participants status of otherness, andthe projects social significance. Based on the historical development as wellas the present functioning of the project, I argue that Morrinhos art-worldinterpretation often provides a simplified view. Furthermore, I present analternative reading based on the notions of site-specificity and community.

Essential to this analysis is an interdisciplinary approach in bothresearch methods and theoretical framework. This approach led to aunique frame of reference that not only provided new insights in thisspecific project, but also several suggestions in the broader debate oncommunity-based art projects. Crucial in this approach was a two-monthperiod of qualitative fieldwork on site, during which I interviewed severalof the projects participants and participated in their daily activities(participant observation).1 In the first part of the article I give anintroduction to the project as well as its favela background. As arguedlater, this context is crucial in understanding the projects goals andachievements. I go on to explain how the project has been interpreted inthe art world, which is followed by a more nuanced interpretation.

Success at the margins: context and story

In order to comprehend fully Morrinhos transformation from childrensplay into a successful artistic and social organisation, a sociological

276 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

understanding of the physical and ideological place occupied by favelas inRio de Janeiro society is crucial. Usually translated as slums or squattersettlements, favelas are informal agglomerations housing the majority ofRios lower classes. They are an important but marginalised part of Riosurban landscape, which is one of the problems the Morrinho Projectaddresses in its representation. The project started and developed in afavela called Pereira da Silva (often shortened to Pereirao). In 1997, the 14-year-old Nelcirlan Souza de Oliveira (known as Cilan) and his familymoved from the interior of Rio de Janeiro state to this neighbourhood. Notlong after their arrival, Cilan started to make small reproductions of favelahouses on the hillside surrounding his home. A group of neighbourhoodchildren joined his practices and together they started to construct amodel favela made of the bricks most favela residents use to build theirhomes. Since the project had not yet received attention from outsidePereira da Silva, knowledge of this early period (19982001) depends onlater accounts. We do know that, in addition to Cilan, there were sixparticipants at the time: Maycon Souza de Oliveira, Felipe de Souza Dias,Jose Carlos Silva Pereira, Paulo Vitor da Silva Dias, Renato Dias andLuciano de Almeida. In this article, however, Cilan will function as themost important spokesperson for the Morrinho Project. This is because heis the founder of the project and the only participant who has workedcontinuously for the project on a full-time basis. Also, he usually functionsas a spokesperson for the model in presentations, debates and pressinterviews.

In addition to building the model as a form of play, the group usedLEGO figurines as characters that inhabit the model. According to theprojects website, this helped them to deal with the violent reality of theirneighbourhood. As Cilan says:

When we started out it was just playing. It was dealing with thecircumstances we had in the community. My brother and I started doingthis and we really liked it. It was a way for us to deal with the close presenceof violence and drug traffic. I lived here with my mother and she was happyto know I was close to the house, not off somewhere doing bad things.

Morrinho is thus presented as a playful way of dealing with a harsh reality,and was initially strongly linked to the experience of violence and drugtraffic (Rocha 2009: 102). At this time, there were no artistic intentionsand the boys had received little (artistic) education.

In 2001, the model was discovered by two film producers, FabioGaviao and Markao Oliveira, who valued it for its originality and creativity.Gaviao and Oliveira started to train the youngsters in audiovisualtechniques, teaching them to document their play into short films. Thisled to the birth of TV Morrinho, a branch of the project focused onproducing different kinds of short films.2 The producers also helped to

World Art 277

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

gain publicity outside Rio de Janeiro, which resulted in ExposicaoMorrinho, a branch of the project in which participants reproduce smallerversions of the model in exhibition contexts. In 2004, the project wasshown in Europe for the first time, at the World Urban Forum inBarcelona. In 2007, they were invited to exhibit in the Venice Biennale byits curator, Robert Storr. Participating in this influential, internationalevent was very important for Morrinhos further development. Partici-pants claim that this was the moment they started to see the project as art.As Cilan expresses: I started to see the project as art in Venice, seeing ittogether with all these important artists. It is like a World Cup for the arts,and we were there!

In addition, the Venice Biennale increased the projects publicity andofficially established its status as a work of contemporary art. Thefollowing years saw several exhibitions (in England, Norway, the Nether-lands, Colombia and East Timor), the launch of a documentary by Gaviaoand Oliveira and the professionalisation of the project as a registeredNGO, which organises tourist visits in Pereirao (Turismo no Morrinho)and temporary social projects (Morrinho Social).

The Morrinho Project thus consists of four branches: TV Morrinho,Exposicao Morrinho, Turismo no Morrinho and Morrinho Social, whichare all based on the original favela model in Pereirao. Over the years, thismodel has grown into a 370 m2 artistic installation that keeps growing andchanging (Figure 1). One of the most striking aspects is Morrinhosresemblance to a real favela. This is due to its hillside setting, the housespiled on top of each other, and the roads and staircases made out ofcement (Figures 2 and 3). While some houses are made out of simplebricks and painted in one colour, others have atypical shapes, are paintedin several colours or have inscriptions that define the function of the house(Figures 4 and 5). These special houses are mostly located in the centralpart of the model and usually depict elements that do not exist in realfavelas. Throughout the model, we can see its inhabitants, a variety ofLEGO figurines and other toy figures (Figure 6). It is the models vibrantand colourful outlook, as well as its size and originality, that makes aninstant impression on most visitors.

Stigmatised but popular: the Rio de Janeiro favela

One of the official goals stated on Morrinhos website is [challenging] thepopular perception of Brazilian favelas. In order to understand thisobjective, it is necessary to look at the place occupied by favelas in Rio deJaneiro society, as well as to give a more specific account of theneighbourhood Pereira da Silva. Favelas have existed in Rio de Janeirosince the 1890s and have expanded significantly in the twentieth centurydue to high income inequality and lack of affordable housing. Because of

278 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

Figure 1. Morrinho Project. Pereira da Silva, Rio de Janeiro. Photograph by theauthor (2012).

Figure 2. Morrinho Project (detail). Pereira da Silva, Rio de Janeiro. Photographby the author (2012).

World Art 279

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

the citys geographical setting, many favelas are built on the hillsides in

between the citys formal neighbourhoods, which are often called asfalto.3

Rich and poor thus live in unusual proximity in these areas. Additionally,

favela removal policies and city expansion have given rise to favelas



280 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

located far outside the urban centres. Today, favelas occupy a significant

part of the city, with approximately 1.4 million people living in 763

neighbourhoods.4 Within this context, it should be noted that not all favela

inhabitants live in grinding poverty. Instead, favela neighbourhoods have

enormous differences in levels of income, basic services and public

facilities (Perlman 2010: 30).As anthropologist Janice Perlman has noted, favela inhabitants, also

called favelados, are strongly discriminated against and stigmatised.

Favelado is a word that is often used to denominate people living in

favelas. However, most favela residents find it an insulting and discrimi-

nating term. For this reason I will use the more neutral favela residents

throughout the article, except when I specifically refer to the discrimina-

tion based on a favela background.While an important part of Rios urban landscape, favela residents are,

according to Perlman, not seen as gente (people) by the higher classes, and

are thus denied the category of personhood (Perlman 2010: 31639).Identity for favela residents, aside from characteristics of age, gender and

color, is constantly being defined and redefined in the struggles over

inclusion/exclusion and marginalization/integration (Perlman 2010:

323). A crucial factor in this stigmatisation is the high criminality rate

that many favelas deal with due to the armed drug traffic. Because the

media frequently depicts this element of favela life in a generalised

manner (Peixoto 2007; Williams 2008; Bentes 2002), non-residents are,

not always unreasonably, afraid to enter these areas. This has created the


World Art 281

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

illusion of a divided city in which favelas are seen as parallel states ruled

by armed drug gangs (Arias 2006: 78; Perlman 2010: 27). These are theviewpoints that the Morrinho Project aims to challenge with its repre-

sentation. For, as described by Enrique Desmond Arias, instead of parallel

states, favelas are part of complex networks of power in which state, civil

and criminal actors are intertwined (Arias 2006). Furthermore, as

Perlman writes, only a small fraction of favela residents is involved in

criminal practices (Perlman 2010: 166).Pereira da Silva is a small favela with around 5000 inhabitants. As part

of Rios South Zone, Pereirao is located in between the citys business and

tourist centres. The neighbourhood has no healthcare facilities, schools or

community centres. An important factor that differentiates Pereira da

Silva from other favelas is described by sociologist Lia de Mattos Rocha.

She writes that Pereirao is recognised by inhabitants as a quiet place or a

favela at peace (Rocha 2009: 24). For, while in the 1990s Pereirao was a

violent centre of the drug traffic, in 2000 special police force Batalhao de

Operacoes Policiais Especiais (BOPE) installed its headquarters close to


282 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

the neighbourhoods entrance, which removed the armed drug traffic.Additionally, residents feel that the neighbourhoods communal spirit andunity have contributed to this peace, considering their favela differentthan others (Rocha 2009: 3442). As will be shown in the followingsections, this context of the favela in general as well as Pereiraos specificcharacteristics are of crucial importance when interpreting the MorrinhoProject.

They are street kids: otherness and social functions

As the previous section makes clear, Morrinhos development reads like asuccess story. I will now give a more extensive analysis of how and whyMorrinho was incorporated in the world of High Art, a move that was notactively sought by its participants. This incorporation, it will be shown, isbased on two main elements of validation: (1) the participants favelaorigins; (2) the projects ascribed social functions. Starting with the firstelement, we see that Morrinhos favela background causes participants toactively employ and depend on a status of otherness. There exist obvioussimilarities in category between Morrinho and so-called self-taught oroutsider art art made by artists outside the art world, meaning withoutartistic education, knowledge of or contacts in the art community andoften with no intention of producing art. Because of the favelas peripheralstatus, much of the artistic production from these neighbourhoods isplaced in the category of Popular Art. Morrinho, in contrast, functionsmainly in High Art discourses, seemingly avoiding the label of Outsider orPopular Art. Nevertheless, I argue that Morrinhos favela origins arecrucial in its art-world reception. Firstly, this relates to a recent favelapopularity that has surfaced in different media. Secondly, both partici-pants themselves and art world professionals distinguish Morrinho fromthis variety of favela depictions based on their grassroots background.

Looking at Morrinhos favela origins, we must recognise how the Rio deJaneiro favela gained increased visibility in recent years. For manydecades, favelas have occupied a complex ideological position in Riosurban imaginary, in which, paradoxically, the stigmatisation mentionedabove is accompanied by a large body of representations in film, literature,and the visual arts. These favela depictions have established a doublestereotype that simultaneously demonises and romanticises the favela andits inhabitants. As summarised by literary scholar Martha Peixoto (2007:171):

In its positive image, the favela is a vital place for the creation andperformance of popular art forms. On the negative side, [. . .] the favela hasinhabited the urban imaginary as a locus of illnesses and epidemics, as theplace par excellence of bandits and idlers, as a promiscuous heap of peoplewithout morals.

World Art 283

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

More recently, as several scholars have noted, this imagery has becomeincreasingly commodified, resulting in a variety of simplified andsensationalist favela representations in for example film, popularmedia and tourism (Bentes 2002; Peixoto 2007; Williams 2008; Freire-Medeiros 2007). As sociologist Bianca Freire-Medeiros describes, favelashave become a trademark for Rio de Janeiro society and are simulta-neously presented as full of danger and violence, and sexy or cool(Freire-Medeiros 2007: 64). This is often exemplified in the famous filmCidade de Deus (2002), which was released in the same period thatMorrinho started to gain (inter)national attention. It is important to notethat two of Morrinhos participants believe that this popularity of thefavela has contributed to their success. In the words of Cilan: Everybodywants to show something of the favela in their countries nowadays; thatswhy they like us so much.

While recognising this popularity, however, both Morrinhos partici-pants and art-world interpreters positively distinguish the project from themajority of favela representations due to the participants background.Participants themselves claim the importance of their representation as aninside view. In this narrative, the authenticity and realism of the model isguaranteed by the participants origins, based on the argument that anartist from the outside can never represent the favela as adequately as itsinhabitants. The fact that the project started out as childrens play, withoutartistic intentions, is crucial here. Most participants do not identifythemselves as artists, feeling that this is a pretentious claim to make.Especially Cilan has an interesting reflection on his own position as artisticproducer. As he said in our first conversation: I think the model itself isart, but I dont see myself as an artist. I cant see myself in that role. I amjust making things, producing. In a later interview, he elaborated:

I dont see myself as an artist [. . .], but I think a real artist does not believein his own art. I dont believe in my art, in that it is art. I didnt study art,architecture or urban planning, but a real artist does not study. I knowexactly what my model needs; I do not need to study for that. It is like I havea bigger understanding of what architecture is, because Im workingpractically. When you study you only learn numbers, measures, distance,width, height . . . this is not what I do. The best architecture you learn inpractice. So maybe Im a really specific artist, a very practical one.

Cilan thus sees his production in an intuitive and practical manner, theartistic value of which is defined by its lack of artistic pretension. This lackof pretension is then used positively to distinguish his position fromregular artists, who have art-world contacts, education and a specificintention of making art.

A similar focus on Morrinhos participants as simultaneously favelainsiders and art-world outsiders can be found in accounts by art-world

284 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

interpreters.5 The presentation of the project in the catalogue of the 2007Venice Biennale is symptomatic. Curator Robert Storr repeatedly uses theparticipants favela origins to underline the projects significance, therebydistancing them from the professional art world. As he writes in thecatalogues introductory text: [Morrinhos creators] are not artists whohave gone to make contact with street kids [. . .] they are street kids (Storr2007a, emphasis in original). The importance of this statement lies in itsstrong exaggeration, for while Morrinhos participants grew up in poverty,they all had at least one parent and a roof over their head. As noted above,Pereiraos inhabitants positively distinguish their neighbourhood fromother favelas and in no way identify with people living on the streets; nordo they see their community as the most desolate and dangerous setting,as Storr writes in the same text. By speaking in these terms, Storr thus notonly generalises the Brazilian poor, but also misrepresents the backgroundof Morrinhos participants. Furthermore, while the project is presented tohave transformed the youngsters lives, this is not elaborated upon bydiscussing the development of the individual youngsters or the recentchanges in the neighbourhood. As such, the only biographical fact thatseems to matter is the participants poor and marginal status. Even whilerecognising that the work itself is highly original and creative, Storr thenseems to suggest that biographical elements are the primary reason for itsauthentic character. This shows similarities to what Gary Alan Fine writesabout the role of biographical facts in the validation of works by outsiderartists. Fine argues that the value of [these] works is directly linked to thebiographies of the artists and the stories of authentic creation that theobjects call forth (Fine 2003: 156, emphasis in original). In other words:To be sure, the work itself matters [...], but the biography invests thematerial with meaning (Fine 2003: 163).

Social significance

We shall now turn to the second element that defines Morrinhosvalidation: the projects social significance. This is usually based on threearguments: (1) the project as an escape from the drug traffic; (2) theproject as a positive example for favela youngsters; and (3) the provisionof (commercial) opportunities. I will discuss these arguments individually,arguing that they are often based on uncritical assumptions. Firstly, as hasbeen briefly discussed, the early days of the project are usually presentedin terms of children needing a refuge or escape from the threat of thedrug traffic. As noted by Perlman, drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro recruitchildren at a young age, which leaves Morrinhos participants in 1997 to beconsidered youth at risk (Perlman 2010: 173). The project is thenpresented as a way of keeping occupied close to the safe environment ofthe home. Again, the element of childrens play and staying innocent is

World Art 285

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

crucial in this respect. Nevertheless, most participants deny that the drugtraffic would be an option for them if they did not participate inMorrinho.6 Also, it is important to realise that while the project grewmore successful, its participants grew up. Most of the original partici-pants have moved on to steady jobs and are raising their own families.The following statement indicates how Cilan feels Morrinhos role andsignificance has changed over time: Morrinho used to be just play forme, but now I dont play so much anymore. I think I did it until 2010.But now I have grown older, more serious. What I try to do now ispreserve the model, work to present it in more places and show it tomore people. So while the project might have served as a social refugeduring its early days, it is problematic to speak about it in these termstoday.

Secondly, the project is said to serve as a positive example for otherfavela youngsters. This story is retold in virtually every description andpresentation of the project, as well as emphasised in interviews withparticipants. However, when I spoke informally about this with Cilan, hewas ambiguous on the issue. Within this context, he told me that he didwork for the drug traffickers for a short period of time. He explains: Iwent [to the traffickers] and worked for them, when I already had theproject, but I saw it was no future. [...] You are always hiding for the police,always in fear. There is a big risk of losing your life. It is a life without adestination. Cilan thus seems to argue it was not so much Morrinho thatkept him from pursuing a life of crime, but rather a personal realisationthat this was not the future he wanted. He presented a similar viewregarding youngsters in Pereirao today: They have to see it is not a goodlife, but I dont think that we can show them. We cannot put it in theirheads; they have to realise it for themselves. The fact that Pereirao has nothad armed drug traffic in over a decade further complicates this supposedexemplary function. Because of this, it can be argued that Morrinhosofficial statements and story, as well as the secondary accounts thatrepeat them, are here unnecessarily confirming the stereotype of favelayoungsters as (potential) criminals by implying their inherent desire tobecome drug dealers.

A third factor that is often used to underline Morrinhos socialsignificance is the idea that the organisation provides the inhabitants ofPereirao with (commercial) opportunities. As Norwegian curator Bene-dicte Sunde, who defines Morrinho as socially engaged architecture, says:The social engagement in slum communities changes peoples lives. Thesekids have done this. It gives pride, employment and business opportu-nities in the community.7 It is interesting to compare this to what KellyMartins, former employee of the Morrinho Project and now working forPereiraos Residents Association, told me: The project could do so muchmore for the community, but they lack the funds. It is great that they travel

286 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

so much, but the social side should be the most important. This quotationseems to suggest that instead of the community as a whole, only the activeparticipants benefit from the project. Yet even here, Martins hasreservations. As she says about Cilan:

He is almost 30 now and he is still working there. This is because he loves itand the project cant exist without him, but he has nothing! Yes, he gets totravel, and sometimes he makes a lot of money; but most of the time, he hasno income. He doesnt even succeed in buying or renting a house, so he stilllives with his parents.

Cilan himself also says: I will never get rich with this project, andsometimes it is hard to get by. But I cannot leave the model because it ismy love, my passion. It thus seems that Morrinhos reputation as acommunity project working in a poor environment leads curatorsuncritically to assume a social agenda with direct community impact.Robert Storr even claims that the redirected lives of [Morrinhos] authorsare more than half the work (Storr 2007b: 230, emphasis added). Cilandefines both the projects significance and his own motivation in differentterms, arguing that rather than because of its economic appeal, he remainsworking for Morrinho despite his lack of a steady income.

(Re)defining site and community

It should be noted that by presenting this critical view, I do not wish tosuggest that Morrinhos favela origins do not matter, or that the project issocially insignificant. My goal, instead, is to show how Morrinhos statusas a slum project started by children leads interpreters to make general-ised assumptions. This is firstly because the projects recent developmentinto a mature organisation with a high level of artistic professionalism isnot always taken into account. Secondly, most curators lack knowledge ofthe Rio de Janeiro favela in general and Pereirao in particular. This leadsto a simplified interpretation, especially regarding the projects relation toviolence and drug traffic. This section offers an alternative interpretationof the project that redefines the two validating elements mentionedthrough a focus on the concepts of site and community. Based on aninterdisciplinary approach, I discuss both Morrinhos artwork and theposition of its participants, thereby explaining how Morrinho relates to thefavela as a physical and ideological site, as well as to the people thatinhabit that site: the favela community.

Real places with real people: the artwork

I try to present the daily lives of people in favelas, not just Pereira da Silva.Especially in foreign countries, I want to show how we live here and what a

World Art 287

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

favela really is. The favela is a place that is different from everything else, butwhere actual people live. I try to discover how these people live. The favela isa labyrinth of secrets. Falling, getting up, success, poverty, misery,happiness, joy, luck. The favela has everything in positivity and negativity,it depends on how you see it.

Nelcirlan Souza de Oliveira, founder of the Morrinho Project

The quotation above emphasises how Cilan tries to show the favela as aplace with both positive and negative aspects, and, more importantly, as areal place with real people, not a stage of sensationalist stories. Thisstrongly relates to the goal of challenging popular views of the favelamentioned earlier. This goal is achieved through a threefold focus ondisplaying real, stereotypical and fictional favela characteristics. Firstly,the Morrinho model and short films show favela reality by depictingelements such as a Residents Association, the houses of the participantsand local shops. Secondly, participants re-enact certain typical elements,which are frequently depicted in film and the media, often through the useof humour and ridicule. This can be seen, for example, in the recent shortfilm O Fim do Mundo no Morrinho (The End of the World in Morrinho,2012), in which ignorant favela-tourists and gang wars are combined in anabsurd end-of-the-world scenario.8 Finally, the model freely mixes thesereal aspects of favela life with fiction, making the model a place to expressdesires. Cilan claims he wants to make an ideal community that hasfacilities and sights that are missing from a real favela. As explained:Morrinho is a real play, fixed in reality, but it also gives you the possibilityof creating what you want. You can put social services here, or a MaracanaStadium. In reality this doesnt exist in a favela, but here it is possible.When you are creating youmake your own world, so you do what you want.Anthropologist Donna Goldstein has argued that most favela residents feeldetached from the government and its social facilities (Goldstein 2003: 1).In this sense, Morrinho can be considered a place where participants canaddress this lack of control in their daily lives.

By combining these three aspects, Morrinho aims to challenge existingideas about the favela through their artistic representation. It isnoteworthy that both this goal and the means to achieve it have developedover time (in the models early days, this was not the main objective).Cilans earlier-mentioned determination to preserve the model in Pereir-ao, show it to tourists, and reproduce it in exhibitions is based on thisobjective. We thus see that Morrinho not only developed clear artisticaims, but also a professional strategy to achieve them.

Crossing borders: participants

It has been shown that while Morrinho mainly functions in High Artinstitutions, its reception in the art world strongly focuses on an outsider

288 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

or grassroots status. Despite this reception, the quotations above showthat Cilan has developed into an articulate (spokes)person who activelyreflects on Morrinhos artistic expression and social meaning. This sectiondiscusses the position of Morrinhos participants through a focus on theso-called divided city, which assumes absolute borders between favelaand asfalto. Discussing the concept of the border, geographer David Sibleywrites: Crossing boundaries, from a familiar space to an alien one which isunder the control of somebody else, can provide anxious moments; insome circumstances it could be fatal, or it might be an exhilaratingexperience the thrill of transgression (Sibley 2004: 360). As discussedalready, the border between favela and asfalto is a place in which unequalpower relations are played out. For non-favela residents, the physicalborder between the two territories is a place of anxiety and fear. In aninteresting reversal of traditional border problems, it is the economicallyand socially powerful that cannot cross into the others territory. Yet whilefavela residents invade the asfalto on a daily basis, they are excluded frommany of its territories based on ideological borders or social divisions(Perlman 2010: 324).

The Morrinho Project crosses these real and ideological borders inseveral ways. Firstly, people from outside the favela can visit the project inPereira da Silva, thereby crossing the physical border between favela andasfalto. Secondly, Morrinhos participants cross the ideological bordersmentioned above by travelling to international art events. Also, in the cityof Rio itself, Morrinho enters territories of the elite by participating in filmfestivals, presentations and debates in galleries and cultural centres. Whilethese encounters usually have some form of mediation, Cilan holdsspeeches and actively participates in debates, feeling completely at homein this environment that is usually off limits to favela residents. Ratherthan in their position as youth at risk, or in the idea of authenticcreation, I argue that the importance of the Morrinhos favela origins liesin their ability to cross the boundaries associated with this background.

Shifting sites

The combination of the factors mentioned above an original, reflectivefavela representation and a unique position of participants defines theprojects relation to the favela as a physical and ideological site. Since theconcept of site has become important in art-historical debates in recentdecades, it is interesting to explore this issue. The idea of site-specific art,seen as art that [incorporates] the physical conditions of a particularlocation as integral to [its] production, presentation and reception,developed in the late 1960s, and has been discussed, among others, byMiwon Kwon (Kwon 2004: 1). Kwon traces the concept of site, whichmoved from the connection between the artwork and its physical site, to a

World Art 289

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

general institutional critique and, more recently, a dematerialisation of the

site in which cultural debates, a theoretical concept, a social issue, [. . .]even particular formations of desire are deemed to function as sites

(Kwon 2004: 289). In this last development, artists are defining site-specificity as a nomadic enterprise, in which the artist travels as a

freelancer, researching and incorporating the site in question (Kwon

2004: 43). This new site-specific artist is thereby emphasising the

performative aspect of an artists characteristic mode of operation (even

when working in collaboration) that is repeated and circulated as a new art

commodity, with the artist him/herself functioning as the primary vehicle

for its verification, repetition and circulation (Kwon 2004: 47, emphasis

in original).Comparing the Morrinhos model in Pereirao and its reproductions in

exhibitions, we see that they embody two different interpretations of site-

specificity discussed by Kwon. In Pereirao, the model is inextricably linked

to its physical site. The presence of the real favela adds a crucial dimension

to the experience of the artwork. As such, it can be argued that to remove

the work is to destroy the work (Richard Serra, quoted in Kwon 2004: 12).

In exhibitions, however, new meaning is ascribed based on both the

artists nomadic presence and their incorporation of local elements. Their

physical presence and production at exhibitions is seen as a prerequisite

for Morrinhos artistic singularity (Freire-Medeiros and Rocha 2011: 16).

Because the reproductions characteristics are defined by which partici-

pants are travelling, the incorporation of typical aspects from the visited

country and institutional possibilities, all reproduced models are unique.

As Dutch curator Angelique Spaninks notes:

It is true that the Morrinho Project repeats the idea of building a favelamodel, but it is different everywhere. This was very important to us whenorganising the exhibition. The project is so interesting precisely because theycome here, give workshops and work with Dutch youngsters and students.[...] For example, they included a coffee shop and a red light district, this isunique for the model in the Netherlands. In this sense, they always producea different artwork.9

So while both the original model and its reproductions are inextricably

linked to the favelas visual characteristics, we see that the position of the

favela is inherently different when comparing the two. In Pereirao,

the favela has a tangible, material presence. This is not only visible in

the direct context (the surrounding favela), but also in the model itself,

which shows damage and decay due to time and weather conditions as

well as continuous use. This history and function of the original model

have resulted in a raw liveliness that its reproductions lack. In exhibitions,

the combination of real, stereotypical and fictional elements does refer to

290 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

the favela and challenges stereotypical views; but the favela itself alwaysremains representational.

Community and art world

The above discussion of how Morrinho relates to the favela as a physicaland ideological site leads us to the people that inhabit this site the favelacommunity. Regarding Morrinhos relation to the favela as a community,we need to make a distinction between the favela community as a whole,encompassing a variety of neighbourhoods whose most importantcommonality is their difference from the asfalto, and Pereira da Silva asone of these neighbourhoods with its own specifics and circumstances.10

Looking firstly at the favela in general, it is problematic to see Morrinho asa delegate or spokesperson for this immense community. On the onehand, by claiming to represent the favela the way it is, Morrinho wronglypresents both its visual appearance and daily life as a coherent picture.However, it is clear that the view of Morrinhos young men might differsubstantially from inhabitants with a different gender, age or level ofpoverty. On the other hand, the daily experience of being stigmatised as afavelado makes Morrinhos participants undoubtedly stand closer tofavela residents than artists from the outside. So while it cannot be saidthat Morrinho represents favela inhabitants in their totality, the project isnevertheless able to serve as a point of identification based on mutualdifferences.

Turning our attention to Pereirao specifically, we need to questionwhether Morrinho can be considered a socially engaged or participatoryartwork of the kind described in the introduction. As argued in theprevious section, the attribution of social meaning often happensuncritically, in which the projects grassroots origins lead interpreters toassume a social agenda and its successful realisation.11 This highlights acrucial difference between Morrinho and the majority of community-based artists. The latter move from the art world into a certain community(as artists with the specific intention of making art), and establish theirsocial goals accordingly. Morrinho did the opposite: it started out as anintegral part of the community, as a form of play with various socialfunctions, and gradually developed artistic goals.

This development might be compared to a recent discussion ofcommunity-based art projects by Grant Kester. He argues for a long-term, open-ended and generative involvement of artists in a certaincommunity, instead of a predetermined social solution (Kester 2011: 13440). Morrinhos participants, I argue, made a similar move, but in reverse.During the projects 15 years of development, these favela residentsgradually engaged themselves in the art world a move that was neitherplanned nor predetermined. Regarding this process, it should be noted

World Art 291

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

that the participation and mediation of local institutions has been ofcritical importance. Throughout the years, Morrinho has worked withvarious social, artistic, and political organisations, such as local filmproducers, NGOs, tourist agencies, and governmental institutions. Thesenot only helped to establish Morrinhos status in the art world, but alsoactively influenced their formulation of goals and strategies. This devel-opment, it has been shown, not only led participants to actively reflect ontheir own position in society, but also enriched their artistic representa-tion. As such, while Morrinhos participants are still community members,much as community-based artists always remain artists, the projectsdevelopment has complicated this position. Participants are now simulta-neously part of their own favela community, stigmatised as favelados inthe city at large and, on certain occasions, valued as artists and/or socialworkers. It is this complex position and especially Cilans mature andactive reflection on it that makes the Morrinho Project unique amongthe variety of favela representations that circulate as well as the increasingamount of community-based art projects.

Conclusion

While the incorporation of this grassroots project into the world of HighArt shows how projects from a so-called marginal background can gainaccess to artistic institutions, the article has shown that this specificincorporation is not without its problems. The insights presented aretherefore relevant in the art-historical interpretation of artistic projectsworking with marginal communities, and/or celebrated for combiningartistic and socio-political goals. The article has shown how both the long-term development of such projects and the (shifting) roles of the differentactors involved are crucial to take into account for a complete under-standing of the project in question. Furthermore, my findings show thenecessity of an interdisciplinary approach that combines a firm socio-logical understanding of the community in question, a knowledge ofrelevant art historical debates, and a first-hand understanding of thepresent functioning of the project.

A lack of either one of these elements leads, at least in this specific case,to a simplified interpretation. Regarding Morrinho, there firstly exists aone-sided focus on the participants poor and marginal background,which fails to address their development into articulate young men whocross Rio de Janeiros physical and ideological borders. Secondly,Morrinhos status as a community project often leads to superficialassumptions regarding the projects social impact. In contrast to thesepredominant views of the project, I have argued that Morrinhos socialand artistic relevance can be found in its fluctuation between various sites(the art world, the city of Rio de Janeiro, the favela in general and Pereirao

292 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

specifically). The participants favela origins gain importance in thiscontinuous (re)definition of their identity in terms of inside and outside.Accordingly, Morrinhos artists should be seen as intelligent and articulatemen reflecting on this position, rather than as street kids who need anescape from the drug traffic. Looking at the artwork itself, the articlediscussed that, instead of a miraculous social solution for youth at risk,Morrinhos favela model is a dynamic and always evolving artwork thataddresses some of the fundamental issues Rio de Janeiro society has toface.

Notes

1. Due to the combination of formal and informal interviews, I will notprovide specific references for every quotation used. It will be clearlystated when I quote from interviews I conducted, which all took placein the two months of my fieldwork (March/April 2012). All interviewquotations are translated from Portuguese by the author.

2. Morrinhos short films can be viewed on the projects official YouTubechannel: [http://www.youtube.com/user/ProjetoMorrinho]. Severalother short films from TV Morrinho are presented by film directorFabio Gaviao, who worked with the youngsters of Morrinho during theearly years of the project: [http://www.youtube.com/user/gaviaofabio].

3. Asfalto literally means asphalt, and was used to differentiate theformal, asphalted parts of the city from the informal favelas. It isnoteworthy that many favelas are nowadays also asphalted.

4. Numbers are taken from a 2010 survey from the Instituto Brasileiro deGeografia e Estatstica (IBGE), published in newspaper O Globo: OGlobo. 2011. Rio e a cidade com maior populacao em favelas do Brasil.O Globo Pas (online version), 21 December 2011.

5. My analysis of the art-world interpretation of the Morrinho Project isbased on archival research examining exhibition and catalogue texts,reviews and journalistic accounts, as well as several interviews withcurators.

6. This claim might seem contradictory to Cilans quotation on p. 277.It is noteworthy here that that quotation was taken in one of my firstinterviews, when Cilan was mostly repeating Morrinhos official story.In later interviews, he presented a more nuanced view.

7. Sunde, Benedicte. E-mail interview, 2529 February 2012.8. This short film can be seen on Morrinhos YouTube channel: [http://

www.youtube.com/watch?vc5RHNY3Fa5s].9. Angelique Spaninks, personal interview, 22 February 2012; translated

from Dutch by the author.10. Looking at the concept of community, we must recognise that in the

case of the favela the term has a specific meaning, since most favelainhabitants address their neighbourhoods with the word communidade(community) rather than favela. Cilan explains this the following way:Outsiders say favela, we say communidade. Favela is a word of

World Art 293

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

prejudice. It refers to areas of risk and poverty. Communidade refers toa group of people living in unity and harmony, helping each other. It is aplace where people of the lower classes live, trying to make a life. Itis interesting to compare this with discussion of the concept byMiwon Kwon, who sees it as a label of otherness defined by artists orinstitutions (Kwon 2004: 1515). For Kwon, the term is based onnegative factors and emphasises a groups marginality, while in thecase of the favela the term differentiates asfalto and favela based on thelatters positive elements. Favela inhabitants thus use the wordcommunity to avoid a marginal status.

11. The fourth branch of the project, Morrinho Social, does engage intemporary social projects (mostly educational projects with favelachildren), yet this social program was formed in a later stage of theprojects development, and exists separately from its artistic goals. It isMorrinhos least active branch, and often depends on collaborationwith other NGOs (such as the successful organisation Viva Rio). Assuch, these practices are based on rather than part of the Morrinhoartwork.

Notes on contributor

In 2012 Simone Kalkman finished two graduate studies in the Netherlands: ArtHistory at Leiden University (MA), with the specialization Art in the Contem-porary World and World Art Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studiesat Utrecht University (MSc), from which she graduated with honors. Her theses,nominated for several thesis awards, focus on contemporary art projects in Rio deJaneiro favelas. They are based on an interdisciplinary theoretical framework andresearch methodology drawing on both art history and cultural anthropology thatincluded two months of individual fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro. She is currentlyworking on a research proposal to continue her academic career as a PhD student.

References

Arias, Enrique Desmond. 2006. Drugs and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro:Trafficking, Social Networks, and Public Security. Chapel Hill: University ofNorth Carolina Press.

Bentes, Ivana. 2002. O Copyright da miseria e os discursos sobre a exclusao.Lugar Comum 17: 8595.

Bentes, Ivana. 2011. Subjective displacements and the reserves of life. Journal ofLatin American Cultural Studies 20(1): 519.

Fine, Gary Alan. 2003. Crafting authenticity: The validation of identity in self-taught art. Theory and Society 32(2): 15380.

Freire-Medeiros, Bianca. 2007. A favela que se ve e que se vende: Reflexoes epolemicas em torno de um destino turstico. Revista Brasileira de CienciasSociais 22(65): 6172.

Freire-Medeiros, Bianca, and Lia de Mattos Rocha. 2011. Uma pequenarevolucao: Arte, mobilidade e segregacao em uma favela carioca. XVCongresso Brasileiro de Sociologia, Curitiba, Brazil, 2629 July: 120.

Goldstein, Donna. 2003. Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, andSexuality in a Rio Shantytown. Berkeley: University of California Press.

294 S. Kalkman

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

Kester, Grant H. 2011. The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Artin a Global Context. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Kwon, Miwon. 2004. One Place after Another: Site-Specific Art and LocationalIdentity. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Peixoto, Marta. 2007. Rios favelas in recent fiction and film: Commonplaces ofurban segregation. PMLA 122(1): 1708.

Perlman, Janice. 2010. Favela: Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio deJaneiro. New York: Oxford University Press.

Projeto Morrinho. 2008. Projeto Morrinho, [http://www.morrinho.com], ac-cessed 21 September 2012.

Rocha, Lia de Mattos. 2009. Uma favela diferente das outras?: Rotina,silenciamento e acao coletiva na favela do Pereirao, Rio de Janeiro. Ph.D. diss.,Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro.

Sibley, David. 2004. Border crossings. In The City Cultures Reader, 2nd ed.,edited by Malcolm Miles, Tim Hall and Iain Borden, pp. 3608. New York:Routledge.

Storr, Robert. 2007a. Think with the senses feel with the mind: Art in thepresent tense. In Think with the Senses: Feel with the Mind: Art in the PresentTense: 52. Esposizione Internazionale dArte: La Biennial di Venezia Vol. 2,edited by Robert Storr, L. Harris, J. Hill and S. Lewis, pp. Venice: Rizzoli.

Storr, Robert. 2007b. Morrinho Project. In Think with the Senses: Feel with theMind: Art in the Present Tense: 52. Esposizione Internazionale dArte: LaBiennial di Venezia Vol. 2, eds. Robert Storr, L. Harris, J. Hill and S. Lewis, p.230. Venice: Rizzoli.

Williams, Claire. 2008. Ghettourism and voyeurism, or challenging stereotypesand raising consciousness? Literary and non-literary forays into the favelas ofRio de Janeiro. Bulletin of Latin American Research 27(4): 483500.

World Art 295

Dow

nloa

ded

by [S

imon

e Kalk

man]

at 01

:10 18

Dec

embe

r 201

3

AbstractIntroductionSuccess at the margins: context and storyStigmatised but popular: the Rio de Janeiro favela

They are street kids: otherness and social functionsThey are street kids: otherness and social functionsSocial significance

(Re)defining site and communityReal places with real people: the artworkCrossing borders: participantsShifting sitesCommunity and art world

ConclusionNotes on contributorsNotesReferences

kalkman, simone. reality in miniature, world art 2013

Documents