In May 2014, the participative Project Som da Maré brings together the creative energy of a group of inhabitants from a cluster of favelas in Maré (Rio de Janeiro)* through the sonic arts. The work recalls everyday experiences, memories, stories and places. These memories elicit narratives that leave traces in space while contributing to the workings of local cultural.

The result of four months of workshops and fieldwork forms the basis of two cultural interventions: an exhibition in Museu da Maré** and guided soundwalks in the city of Rio de Janeiro. These interventions present realities, histories and ambitions of everyday life in the Maré favelas through immersive sound installation, documentary photography, text and objects.

Som da Maré brings together various groups of participants who together have developed themes, materials and strategies for the articulation of elements of everyday life in Maré. Participants include secondary level students under the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) “Young Talent” scholarships and their families, post-graduate students at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), PhD students from the Sonic Arts Research Centre (Queen’s University Belfast) and members of the Cia Marginal, a theatre company based in Maré. The project also counts with the participation of academics from music, ethnomusicology, visual art and architecture at the UFRJ and a partnership with the Museu da Maré. Over thirty people have come together to make this project possible.

 

During the development of the project, various changes occurred in the city as a whole and in Maré in particularly, which generated an alteration in the territory politics related to the spaces implicated in the project***. The way in which these events become part of the everyday live of the inhabitants emerged as yet another point of reflection on identity, territory and community.

Som da Maré articulates small fragments of all this cultural expression through sound. Between technologies and everyday life, these experiences can echo in the form of memories but also future ambition, re-signifying space and place through time.

The project is curated and coordinated by Pedro Rebelo, professor and director of research at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast and visiting senior professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro****. This work is based on methodologies developed for “Sounds of the City – Belfast”, (commissioned by the Metropolitan Art Centre for its opening in 2012 and developed with the participation of two community groups in Belfast.

* With nearly 140 thousand inhabitants, Maré is one of Rio’s largest cluster of favelas, composed of sixteen different communities in the north part of Rio (zona norte). The area is at the edge of Baía de Guanabara and has been inhabited since the 1940’s. It now spreads 800 000 square meters across two of the main circulation routes in Rio: Avenida Brasil and Linha Amarela.

** The Museu da Maré is a non-governmental organization in the favela which hosts an exhibition on the history of Maré and promotes a variety of workshops and events in the arts.

*** The favelas in Maré were occupied by the special forces (BOPE) on the 30^th March 2014 as part of a process known as pacification. For more information see:
http://livewire.amnesty.org/2014/04/08/the-military-occupation-of-mare-ahead-of-brazils-world-cup/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/30/rio-favela-security-pacify-world-cup

**** The Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) is the largest federal university in Brazil and one of the Brazilian centres of excellence for teaching and research. In 2013, UFRJ and Queen’s University Belfast have entered a partnership to encourage staff and student mobility through collaborative research.

OPENING: 18 May
Museu da Maré
Av. Guilherme Maxwell, 26, Maré, Rio de Janeiro

EXHIBITION:
Museu da Maré
Av. Guilherme Maxwell, 26, Maré, Rio de Janeiro
19 de Maio – 20 de Junho 2014
10h às 17h

SOUND WALKS
18 de Maio – 20 de Junho 2014
For more information and booking see somdamare.wordpress.com

CONTACT: gruposomdamare@gmail.com
SITE: somdamare.wordpress.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/som.mare.1
TWITTER: @gruposomdamare

CURATORSHIP AND COORDINATION:
Pedro Rebelo

PARTICIPANTS:

Alan da Silva Lira, Aline Pereira Macário, Aline de Moura, Artur Costa Lopes, Danilo Andrade,  Everton Ramos, Geandra Nobre, Jaqueline Alves, Jaqueline Andrade, Jeferson Luciano Gaspar Mesquita, Joyce Rodrigues de Oliveira,  Larissa Paredes, Matheus Frazão de Almeida Silva, Matilde Meireles, Marco Aurélio Damaceno, Mariluci Nascimento, Marina Cortês, Natália Chaves Bruno, Phellipe Azevedo, Priscilla Monteiro,  Raíza Barros Nascimento, Rodrigo Furman, Rodrigo Souza, Sebastian Wiedemann, Tullis Rennie, Wagner Belo de Siqueira, Wallace Lino

 

ORGANISATION:

Antônio Carlos Pinto Vieira, Claudia Rose Ribeiro da Silva,  Guto Nóbrega, Lygia Niemeyer, Marli Damascena,  Miriane da Costa Peregrino, Rodrigo Cicchelli Velloso,  Samuel Araújo, Terezinha Normandes

 

PARTNERSHIPS:
Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast
Museu da Maré
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – Escola de Música e Escola de Belas Artes