CARNAVAL 2023

Con el bloco PANAMERICA TRANSATLANTICA

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Artistic Residency with the Panamerica Transatlantica collective

During one random autumn trip, i was so nervous, but also so excited to meet and spend time with the artist Curtis Putrtalk.
I felt so real, so vivid, and that I really had to be there with them. I had to overstep so many of my fears and complexes to reach them. Out of a sudden they felt like the person I want to be with, spend time with, they had exactly the atelier/home that i was dreaming about for some time. My total expander. In one of our Parisian coffee chats, I mentioned that I really want to do something crazy this year. Something out of my character. So the question I found very mature flew my way, what do I define crazy these days?.. I think I haven’t even thought for a second, words just jumped out of my mouth as a grasshopper or even a dense frog. A block of sounds I didn’t even know existed as a wish, as something i would define crazy, something that was ready to fly out from my stomach to the throat (where did they even found a way so freely), then slide through the tongue and make a final mini jump pushing its feet on the cushions of my lips.
“Going to Brasil, just like that without a plan”.
Ohh I’ve got surprised and for how long has this thought , these words, or before that the concept was living in my stomach? where did it come from? legs? heart? I haven’t been studying and obsessing with the carnival or Brasilian culture as I normally do before going after something. It was just a thing I thought at that moment and it was completely far away from my imagination even..
The answer got into my ears in less than a second and burnt something lower in my pelvis.
At that moment you could use my eyes as a lighter for my hand rolled amsterdamer tabac when I heard: “My husband is a brasilian documentalist Dado Amaral and we organize a bloco during the carnival, come with us!”

…

I landed in the smaller domestic airport in the center of Rio. I decided to walk from there and saw monkey apricotes trees, ocean ari and pao de azucar welcoming me.
It was 30 min along the pierce to get to Gloria, the area where Dado rented 2nd floor of Tropical Gao, as a workshop to create costumes, emblems, posters, poetry, songs and music to march the assigned day through a chosen part of the city. The task was to dress up 400 friends and participants of this procession, reflect on the RED color through the personal feelings, experiences, poetry, philosophy, history and art. When i arrived the agile young french artists have already built a furniture, separated the space in areas and covered the room in references. The pain of an infection from recently taken away wisdom tooth, 14 hours of flight with 2 transits faded from the upcoming excitement. Curtis and their daughter Freesia looked so cozy by the glass wall knitting the head pieces. Maybe i could help the main crew with the accessories for the costumes? I took it as seriously as if it was my task from the beginning.


market, food, neighbours, help, team work dynamic, support, great ideas, waterfalls, podcast, witchcraft, voice workshop, contemporary dance.