the wonderful Juliane Elting (pictured below) picked me up from the airport directly to TEATRO OFICINA, where the early events of the Tropicália movement took place and continue through today. In the spirit of participation, the stage is set everywhere, especially vertically, where actors and audience are invited to roam and participate as they wish:
[ bam, bam! Juliane ] demonstration
the theater has an open roof:
Tropicália began in the 60s, and it got its name from an installation created by the visual artist Hélio Oiticica. It’s pretty amazing to be in the actual space where the devouring of cultures is a daily act. In Portuguese they call it antropofagia, which means an act of cannibalizing cultures and genres to make something new. check out the MANIFESTO.
I really love this idea!!! which sits much better with me than American multiculturalism, which is a forced notion of otherness and an enforced approval of being different. Or maybe multiculturalism is just dated and irrelevant. We are all made of many things, and it is that richness that makes the world interesting. Eat it up, and spit it out! Don’t analyze.
[ TEATRO OFICINA ] street enterance
Back in NY last year, my friend Jocelyn Meade Elliott curated a show of Oiticica’s collaboration with Neville D’Almeida.