FRAGMENTS OF A STREET
Flaneur is a nomadic, independent magazine focussing on one street per issue. The magazine embraces the street’s complexity, its layers and fragmented nature with a literary approach. The content of the magazine is produced with and for Flaneur by artists of all disciplines while the team spends two months on location. It is made using a collaborative, impulsive and unconventional approach. The magazine attempts to use a single microcosm to tell universal stories.
FOR OUR LATEST AND BOLDEST ISSUE TO DATE, WE’VE IMMERSED OURSELVES IN THE COMPLEX LAYERS OF SÃO PAULO’S TREZE DE MAIO. IN COLLABORATION WITH MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTISTS, ACADEMICS, AND LOCALS, FLANEUR MAGAZINE EMBRACES THE STREET’S COMPLEXITY, ITS LAYERS AND FRAGMENTED NATURE WITH A LITERARY APPROACH. THIS TIME, THE FRAGMENTATION OF NARRATIVES IS MORE THAN EVER REFLECTED IN THE ART DIRECTION AND EDITORIAL APPROACH, ONE THAT CAN MIRROR THE FLOW AND INTERCONNECTIVITY OF THE MAGAZINE’S MONTHS-LONG PRODUCTION. THE STREET TREZE DE MAIO (13TH OF MAY) HERE IS BOTH, A PLACE AND A TIME, THE 13TH OF MAY 1888, THE DAY OF THE OFFICIAL ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY IN BRAZIL. IN THAT WAY THE ISSUE READS THE CITY LAYER BY LAYER, FORMING A MULTI-VOICED COLLECTION OF CONTRIBUTIONS THAT ARE INTERWOVEN WITH THE EDITOR’S OUTSIDER VOICE THAT EXPLORES THE REOCCURRING THEMES WITHIN THEM. THIS ISSUE IS BILINGUAL, ENGLISH & PORTUGUESE.
THE EMPOWERING PORTRAITS OF MARGINALIZED WOMEN WHO IN COLLABORATION WITH FASHION DESIGNER KARLLA GIROTTO AND ALESSANDRO MARQUES PRODUCED THEIR OWN MASKS, CHALLENGE NOTIONS OF VISIBILITY AND REPRESENTATION.
CAMILA SVENSON AND PÉTALA LOPES EMPLOY THE STREET AS A HIDDEN NARRATOR THAT TRACES AND CONSTRUCTS THE INTIMATE UNIVERSES OF THEIR FEMALE SUBJECTS. THEIR PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY ORIGINATES IN THE VULNERABLE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN PHOTOGRAPHER AND SUBJECT.
REFERENCING WALTER BENJAMIN’S »ONE-WAY STREET«, DRAMATURGE, THEATER DIRECTOR, CURATOR AND RESEARCHER JOSÉ FERNANDO PEIXOTO DE AZEVEDO VENTURES OUT TO PORTRAY A STREET THAT SYNTHESIZES ALL THE CONTRADICTIONS OF SÃO PAULO.
MIXED MEDIA ARTIST PAULO NIMER PJOTA RECALLS A MALANDRAGEM OF SAMBA AND ITALIAN FOOD. HIS LARGE WALL WORKS MOSTLY MADE OUT OF FOUND METAL SHEETS CONTAIN COLLIDING COMPONENTS THAT ARE NEITHER LITERAL OR DIRECT, BUT INSTEAD SUGGESTIVE AND SOMETIMES CURIOUS RUNNING THROUGH MULTIPLE STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
PHOTOGRAPHER TATEWAKI NIO CAPTURES MOMENTS AT THE INTERSECTION OF TREZE DE MAIO AND BRIGADEIRO, REFLECTING A PASSING OF TIME IN THE UNEVEN LANDSCAPES OF SÃO PAULO. HIS WORK ENGAGES WITH THE URBAN FABRIC AND THE IDENTITIES OF THOSE WHO INHABIT IT. PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE GUILHERME WISNIK REFLECTS ON HIS WORK IN AN ESSAY.
MEAT AND HOW IT IS CONSUMED IS A CONSTANT THEME IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. ANDRÉ PENTEADO’S PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK RELATES IT TO THE COUNTRY’S VIOLENT HISTORY OF SLAVERY AND POST-COLONIAL SERVICE CULTURE. A BEEF RESTAURANT ON THE STREET BECOMES HIS FOCAL POINT.
EXTENDING HIS PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON THE BIXIGA NEIGHBORHOOD AND BLACK CULTURE IN SÃO PAULO, RAFAEL MONTEIRO, EXPLORES HOW BLACK CULTURE MOVES FROM UNDERNEATH THE VISIBLE TO THE CULTURAL SURFACE FOCUSING ON VAI-VAI, THE NEIGHBORHOOD’S LEGENDARY SAMBA CLUB.
KAROLINE BARROS AND AMANDA VIEIRÁ EXPLORE THE NEARBY »LESBIAN GHETTO« OF BIXIGA THAT EXISTED FROM THE 1970S TO THE 1990S, AS CYCLICAL. FOR THEM, THE CURRENT AND THE PAST BIXIGA NEIGHBORHOOD ARE ETERNALLY CONNECTED. THEIR PIECE USES MEMORIES TOLD BY MARISA FERNANDES, A LESBIAN AND FEMININE ACTIVIST.
ANDRE MEIRELLES COLLAZIO’S ESSAY »NOTES ON A FILM« IS A LITERARY CUT FROM THE INNUMERABLE INTERVIEWS, TESTIMONIES, AND OBSERVATION OF THE DAILY LIFE OF THE PEOPLE OF TREZE DE MAIO, INCLUDING THE NORDESTINO MIGRANT GROUP WHO LIVE ON THE ECONOMIC FRINGE.
AUTHOR NOEMI JAFFE ATTENDED HIGH SCHOOL IN THE BEXIGA NEIGHBORHOOD AND DATED HER FIRST SERIOUS BOYFRIEND ON TREZE DE MAIO. IN HER RETURN TO TREZE DE MAIO, SHE REMEMBERS AND ACKNOWLEDGES THE PASSAGE OF TIME – BOTH FOR HERSELF AND THE CITY. JOÃO BANDEIRA’S POEM REFLECTS THIS NOTION.
PHOTOGRAPHER VIVA MEYER ADDS THE VIEW OF THE OUTSIDER. HER PHOTO COLLAGES, WHICH DISPLAY A VIRTUAL REALITY OF THE CITYSCAPE, WERE CREATED DURING HER FIRST STAY IN SÃO PAULO.
CONTRIBUTORS: TATEWAKI NIO / PAULO NIMER PJOTA / KAROLINE BARROS / ANDRÉ PENTEADO / CAMILA SVENSON / PÉTALA LOPES / JOSE FERNANDO PEIXOTO AZEVEDO / ANDRÉ MEIRELLES COLLAZIO / NOEMI JAFFE / GUILHERME WISNIK / KARLLA GIROTTO / ALESSANDRO MARQUES / JOÃO BANDEIRA / VIVA MEYER / AMANDA VIEIRA / RAFAEL MONTEIRO / FELIPE RUSSO
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: ANNA FERKINGSTAD & KAROLINE BARROS
