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Two hints for those of you living or travelling South America, Brazil or Argentina in particular: young Brazilian photojournalist Tuca Vieria, who told as more about his work in a detailed interview a little while ago, shows his work in São Paulo, while in Buenos Aires, the Fundación Proa presents “Urban Spaces” – photographed by “the” German urbanity photographers of the Düsseldorf school.

Tuca Vieira, Viaduto Santa Ifigênia © T. Vieira

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Tuca Vieira

Fotojournalismo

29. June – 29. Juli 2009

Instituto Carrefour

Rua Paul Valery, 255

São Paulo, Brazil

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URBAN SPACES

Andreas Gursky | Candida Höfer | Axel Hütte | Thomas Ruff | Thomas Struth

From May 30^th until the end of July 2009

Fundación PROA, Bueonas Aires

Illustrations © Fundación Proa + Photographers

Andreas Gursky Tote Hosen, 2000

(quoted from Proa’s PR statement, abridged)

The show analyzes the evolution on the concept of the city in contemporary culture through the ideas and images produced by the artists of the so called Düsseldorf School of Photography: Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth.

Axel Hütte Minneapolis, Missisispi, 2006

The exhibition presents 45 works produced from the early eighties until recent times. It is designed to take the visitor first through the artists’ early works, produced during their formative years, to their most recent body of work, in which an individual selection from each artist emphasizes their stylistic differences and personal characteristics.

The selection of the works is the result of the continuous dialogue between the artists and the curator and depicts the different interpretations and relation each artist has with the urban space. This is the first time Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth are joined in an exhibition under a common theme – the city – yet with various interpretations.

The exhibition will present works, such as May Day IV, by Andreas Gursky, or Candida Höfer´s Buenos Aires series. Also, less known works that exemplify the artists formation under the wing of Bernd Becher, photography teacher at the Dusseldorf School of Photography, can be appreciated.

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The photographers: Bernd + Hilla Becher’s Düsseldorf School

Thomas Ruff m.d.p.n. 06, 2002

The influence of the artists on the global artistic context is due to the overhaul their works produced on the tradition of the concept and language of photography, not only through the scale of the images in their monumental format, but also through the conceptual treatment they present. Each piece recreates a unique and defined universe that concentrates in the interrelation that exists between man and his surroundings together with all its anthropological and sociocultural implications.

During the 1980s, their teachers Bernd and Hilla Becher, conveyed the city theme as an important artistic reference. Subsequently each one of them developed a unique and personal style, following the drastic changes caused by the rapid globalization of urban cultures. Their images depicting different sites around the world, combine the local details with the usual feelings and experiences of contemporary societies. The Dusseldorf School became a reference within the art and photography scene.

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Thomas Struth Cerro Morro Solar, Perú, 2003

The exhibition catalogue

In the exhibition catalogue, a bilingual publication (Spanish – English) of 200 pages, each artist counts with a special section that includes an unpublished interview, a biography and the exhibited works. The catalogue also includes critical essays by curator Pratesi and art critics such as Armin Zweite and Pablo Perulli -published in Spanish for the first time-, and Valeria González.

I am glad to present you another impressive photo artist whose work is focusing on architecture, cityscapes, urban sceneries,… Brazilian photographer Tuca Vieira gives us insight into his work and tells us why chose photography, what literature means to him and how it influences his work with the camera, and how he met Oscar Niemeyer.

Tuca, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!

© photos Tuca Vieira

Tuca Vieira: Centro

Why photography? How and why did you become a photographer?

I always wanted to have an instrument of expression. I have tried music and drawing before and now I realize that I was trying to say the same things. It is important to see the camera just as an instrument.
I have made an important travel in Europe when I was 16. I have visited many countries, alone with a backpack. At that time it was more difficult than today, I was the first in my family to visit Europe since the Italian immigrants and I wanted to share this experience with them. I had just a fake Yashica camera and a few rolls of film. I had to think before shooting. I became photographer at this moment.

Tuca Vieira: Vale do Anhangabaú

You studied languages and literature first. Why did you decide to become a photographer?

I have decided to be a photographer before the university. And when I had to choose a course, I thought language and literature would give me a good aesthetic, social and historical background. Many photographers I admire didn’t study photography. I love literature; writers are the best image creators I know. Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges and José Saramago are always on my mind when I think about photography.

What does photography mean to you, what possibilities does it offer?

Photography is like a passport. It puts you in some interesting situations that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Sometimes I feel that what I have experienced, the people I meet, are more important than the photographs I take. In the future I am not sure if I will leave a good photographic work, but I will have many stories to tell.

How do you choose your motives?

Photography is a passion. I guide myself by the pleasure of being on the streets. And sometimes I feel that the subject chooses the photographer. I live in the centre of São Paulo. The city is not as beautiful as Rio but it is a fascinating city, full of creativity and energy. Unlike Rio, where the beauty is everywhere, São Paulo is a place where you are forced to find the beauty in order to support the urban chaos. It makes a wonderful photographic subject.

Tuca Vieira: Centro

Who / What are your role models? Who / What influenced your work?

I try to bring to the photography what I learned with literature, cinema, and music. It is more influent to me than photography. A good poem is full of beautiful images. I try to say to young photographers (at least younger then me) that there is not much to learn with other photographers. To read a good book is the best photo lesson I know.

Why architecture photos? What are your ambitions with your photographs?

I don’t know if I am exactly an architecture photographer. Sometimes I feel myself closer to the landscape photographers. But instead of nature, I look to the cities. I don’t know if it is the same in English or German, but In Portuguese we call a big city “stone jungle” (selva de pedra).

[[yes, in German there's quite the same expression - Großstadtdschungel / jungle of the city - an idea, that became predominant in the 1910s and 1920s in Berlin and can often be found in Expressionist texts and poems. In English I heard say "urban jungle", though I don't know about the literature historical connotations.]]

Tuca Vieira: VVTs, Moscou

You mostly photographed São Paulo so far – but I take it that you are now exploring new cities, S. Petersburg, Berlin,…

Exactly. I have been photographing São Paulo during the last years I now I feel that it is time to explore different places. I am going to Berlin this year for a six months period. I am curious to see what will happen. São Paulo is my city and I love to see the work of a foreign photographer about São Paulo. Now I will be a foreigner in Berlin.

Did you shoot the major part of your São Paulo portrays from “above”, i.e. from an airplane?

Some are from the top of buildings, others from helicopter. But I also have a black and white work, more intimate and personal, where I try to make some “street photography”. It is important to me to be on the street level, closer to the people, even to understand the city from above.

Most of your photos are without humans. Is that intentional?

ot intentional. I don’t think much about this. But even without people, I try to show the human presence behind the buildings. A city is perhaps the most complex human work ever made. I see a great human drama in the city shape.

What does architecture mean to you?

I lived in Belo Horizonte, in state of Minas Gerais when I was teenager, and I will never forget the impact of visiting the works of Niemeyer in the Pampulha complex or the colonial cities like Ouro Preto and Sabará. The richness of baroque and modernist architecture in Brazil (and its relations) is a wonderful example of what this country can offer to the world.

You portrayed Oscar Niemeyer – any experiences you want to share about meeting him?

Tuca Vieira: escritório, Rio de Janeiro

Oscar Niemeyer is one the artists I most admire. Not only because of his architecture, but also his example as human being. The first time I went to his office to portrait him was not easy. I have introduced myself, saying I am a great admirer of him. After two or three pictures he sad to me: ok enough. I was disappointed until I put the camera back in the bag. Than we started to chat and we had a wonderful conversation about Brazil, about life. He made me think what I was I was doing there. It was not just about the pictures. He always repeats that architecture is not important. That day I realized that also photography is not important. To meet someone like Niemeyer is much more important.

What – in your opinion – is characteristical of your work and your working method?

Composition is important to me. I try to find a balance in the frame. I always have in my mind that every photograph is just an interpretation of the subject. The nature of the photography, its two dimensions, the frame format, request a different way of approaching a subject. It is beautiful to say that the camera is an extension of the eye but I see the camera more as a scratch book.

Where can we see your works? Exhibitions coming up?

I have a website, www.fototucavieira.com.br. Now I am planning this trip to Berlin and it would be wonderful to show my work in Germany.

Tuca Vieira, thank you very much for the interview!!

Tuca Vieira (*1974), a young Brazilian photographer,  captures amazing shots of his native city Sao Paulo (but not only).

© photos Tuca Vieira

Tuca Vieira, Viaduto Santa Ifigênia

After having studied + graduated in languages and literature, he worked at Museu da Imagem e do Som and n-imagens photo agency. Since 1991 he is professional photographer,  among others as photographic reporter for Folha de S. Paulo. Vieira has studied with photographers Cláudio Feijó, Eduardo Castanho, Nair Benedicto and Eder Chiodetto.

Tuca Vieira, Aeroporto de Congonhas

Tuca Vieira, Avenida Paulista

Since 2002, Vieira realizes his own projects about cityscape, architecture and urbanism in São Paulo and has received several awards. He has already participated in numerous exhibitions, in Brazil/South America, North America and Europe (e.g. his works were shown in “Multiple City”, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich last year).

Vieira’s photos show impressive views of the city, and reveal its structure – in often amazingly aesthetic pictures.

I noticed his work first in the context of an exhibition project by the Heidelberg Kunstverein: Islands and Ghettos, where the photo below – Paraisópolis – was shown on a magazine cover as an example of urbanization developments in South America (Ghettoisation, fragmentation into isolated urban communities, etc.).

I will report more about Tuca Vieira and his work soon.

Tuca Vieira, Paraisópolis

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(for pictures please use the links provided or go directly to www.juliobittencourt.com)

Simone: What is it that you are interested in when portraying architecture/buildings and people? Also, when portraying urban situations?

Julio: I’ll start from the second question. Urban situations interest me for many different reasons. The first and most important one is because I grew up in São Paulo (Brazil), a city today with 16 million inhabitants, then moved to New York where I spent my adolescence.

I think that can explain a lot of where my interest comes from. In such huge cities like those, you find different ethnical groups (in the case of Brazil really mixed), social classes, landscapes of ‘opposite worlds’ many times only a few blocks and minutes from each other. In my view, architecture is between / among all of that and plays a very important role in bringing together such differences and more often creating larger distances between people and their environment and everything else that comes with that.

In the works you’d mentioned (i.e. As quarto direcoes, Deixei uma carta pra você, Caminhante, Prestes Maia 911) I tried to show in different ways the ‘barriers’ that architecture creates to divide, separate all this diversity, many times creating ‘big gaps’ inside these societies. How architecture in many different ways goes way beyond lines, shapes, forms and light when it comes across people’s lives for good and bad.

S: What do you think about the recent urban developments?

J: Hard to know where they are going, which I guess makes me as a photographer want to follow it and who knows, maybe find out a few. Still I find them very interesting. São Paulo, for example, is definitely amongst the cities which grew the most during the last 20, 30 years. There are literally different worlds inside this huge urban area. Something I think will happen each time more in urban centers is the miscegenation of its societies as we have here in São Paulo, for example. Due to technology mostly, the world is becoming smaller each time, making distances shorter and shorter.

S: What are your ambitions with your photographs (esp. your “urban” works, but also in a broader point of view)? What is it that you want to “catch” with your pictures?

J: Don’t know if I can answer that question today or ever will. I guess this is what keeps me going. Just as I do with my photographs, the idea of asking seduces me more than trying to answer them. Of course, you look for answers and sometimes we find some, but we definitely end up finding more questions and the more questions we ask, more deeply inside any subject we get.

More questions to me means better discussions and maybe answers. Photography isn’t different. I think my answer regarding my ambitions would be to ‘keep asking’ with my photographs and hopefully people will do the same when they see them. Make people think, ask and discuss is already a huge challenge.

S: How do you choose your motifs?

J: I really don’t know and would love if someone could tell me that. Motifs come from everywhere and mostly anything. Books you read, movies you watch, people you know, people you meet, places and things you see. Your own life. I think there isn’t one place where they come from. Although you choose the stories you want to tell, in my case with photographs, the initial idea is almost never something rational. It becomes rational afterwards when editing.

S: How do you take/compose your photographs – spontaneous “snapshots”, attentively planned shoots,…?

J: It depends on the story, on what, how and why you want to shoot and show something. I have different works (some are not in the website yet), where I’ve done both things approaching different subjects. I like mixing them a lot. I really don’t like to put labels in what I do neither ‘get stuck’ with a ‘recipe’ that worked for an specific project.

S: Digital or “classic” photographs?

J: Also depends on the work. More digital today, but I also shoot some works in large format.