Noa on the POA Art Scene

I have been scoping out the art scene and have been impressed with the variety and quality of the exhibitions here. First, Mama and I went to the Bienal do Mercosul with some other friendly foreigners from Israel, Germany and Denmark. I stopped to examine a few pieces very closely (see left), but otherwise ran around like a chicken without a head. Mama caught a few glimpses of the artwork despite my breakneck speed toward dangerous ledges and my attempts to leap towards the torrential rains outside.

We naturally ended the tour in the gift shop, where I examined the merchandise (at right), including a custom-made flip-flop with the Bienal logo. Only in Brazil.

Since POA is the home of many anti-establishment activities (such as the World Social Forum), there is also, of course, the alt-counterpart to the mainstream art world: Bienal B. True to anarchist form, the BB takes place in sites all over town; to wit, here are two artists (at right) living in a cage in one of POA's fancier malls in a piece entitled "Home Sweet Home."

All three of us went to NO AR at a groovy exhibition space, known as the Usina do Gasometro. Celebrating 50 years of post-war media and technology, there were lots of interactive, multimedia gizmos and one massive screen (about 4 regular movie screens wide) with an impressive montage of footage interacting with footage. Here's a YouTube video I found of the exhibition (it doesn't show the large video projection, sadly).

After seeing all of these stimulating exhibitions, I needed some artistic release of my own. Here's my latest masterpiece.


P.S. If you want to dig deeper into issues that come up when you mix kids and art, check out this movie by our dear friend, Amir: My Kid Could Paint That, opening any day now in NY, LA, DC, SF, Boston, Dallas and elsewhere.