Rotterdam, Brazil

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I now have more Brazilian colleagues than Dutch, funnily enough, and they like to talk about Brazil, funnily enough, so I am slowly acquiring more and more facts about Brazil. The population of Brazil is about 200 million, which is ten times the population of Australia (and could explain why I’ve met more Brazilians than Australians lately). Like Australia, there are also indigenous peoples (and land ownership disputes) and a large immigrant population, and it was colonised by a far-off land, so there are times when I feel a bit more affinity with the Brazilians than with the Dutch.

Rotterdam is currently home to a large-scale exhibition about Brazil, known as Brazil Contemporary [en], which is in town until the end of August. Why Brazil, I’m not sure — I can’t find any particularly special link between the two countries. The introduction in the official brochure mentions that Brazil is a big user of the port, but that’s not that interesting. In 2006 Rotterdam hosted China Contemporary, so maybe they’re just working through the BRIC countries and extending a friendly handshake to the supposed next world powers. Smart move if so.

There are three museums involved with this event with temporary exhibitions — Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, NAi (the architecture institute), and the Nederlands Fotomuseum — as well as one-off events around town. Rotterdam is also home to the annual Zomercarnavale, which is a more authentic version of Brazilian carnival, actually being in the summer for one thing. So, just like in my office, the Brazilians have officially taken over Rotterdam this summer. Recently I did a quick tour through the three museums in one afternoon, but I might return later in August for the fashion exhibitions and revisit one or two museums.

Never been to São Paulo? NAi have turned one of their rooms into São Paulo for your convenience. Or an approximation thereof — it seemed to be lacking 20 million people, i.e., more than the population of the Netherlands. There are several big screens showing short films of the city in sync, which is really atmospheric.

The most comprehensive exhibition though is at the Fotomuseum. Here you can see photos of modern-day Brazil, along with book covers, event posters, short films, experimental art, and computer games. One of the games looks like a typical martial arts game, but on closer inspection is based on the art form of capoeira. I really enjoyed the wall of excerpts from Tupigrafia, a magazine about typography. The panoramas of São Paulo are also impressive.

From watching Brazilian films, one could be forgiven for thinking that Brazil is all about favelas (slums), crime, drugs, partying and football. That does come through in the exhibitions, but they do show other aspects, for example, people going to and from work. A building in one of the photos looked exactly like an old (i.e., 19th century) building in Melbourne.

Using the ideas of the philosopher Alain de Botton, this is a great example of imaginative travel, where one “travels” but without the physical part. Given that the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is still listing Brazil as a not particularly safe country, I’d say this is the closest I’ll get to Brazil in the near future. If I remember correctly, de Botton also says one can be disappointed if one actually physically travels somewhere, so maybe it’s better this way.

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Brazil Contemporary can be seen at various locations in Rotterdam until 23 August 2009.

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