The other representation of Vidigal that emerges through the interviews with new- comers is best analysed using the words of Hugo and Ida.
When talking about Vidigal, both informants mention the vibrancy of the art and fash- ion scene inside the community, as key elements of what they appreciate about Vidigal. As presented on page 65 Hugo talks about the “energy” that can be felt in the air, and states that it is a privilege to be “merging [with] […] this group of people so talented and so special for me”. At the same time he talks with pride about several events that he has either participated in or being part of arranging. These include photo shoots with pro- fessional models, music videos and commercials with famous Brazilian and internation- al musicians (such as members of the band Black Eyed Peas), the work of the theatre
Nós do Morro and parties that mix all of these elements. One of these events, the party Mistura Tropical [Tropical Mixture], aimed at showing how Brazil is a mixture of differ-
ent people and histories. Hugo explains:
Vanessa [a Brazilian newcomer] had this idea to just do an evento [a happening] […] in Vidigal, 'I am going to call it Mistura Tropical' […]. We got three bands, it was just amazing. […] There is a friend of us, he's an actor from Noés do Morro and he has got a nice house with a big garden in the back and a huge stone in the garden, and with a pool. So we emptied the pool, we put the DJ in the pool. It was completely [unusual], you know, set. It was just amazing. The bar on the big stone, […] [the] band was suspend[ed], it was higher up […] And all this in between with […], interaction with art, people who recite poetry and projection of Brazilian paintings […] We tried to target… we tried to make an encon- tro [a meeting] of people who has ideas, artists, so it was like a mix of artists from the community and
74
Picture 8: The poster for the second edition of Mistura Tropical
Chasing the Real: Place Construction and Authenticity
people who are curious […] and it really worked. Hugo, app. C.6
Ida is part of the production of the same and of similar other events (as Hugo reports) and she refers to the meeting with the artistic and fashionable side of Vidigal as what she found most exciting about the favela at her arrival. Similarly, Hugo regards the artist- ic aspect of the favela as what impressed him the most. Ida and Hugo seem to appreciate Vidigal because of the presence of artists and the possibilities that this open for the two of them, who share an interest in fashion and are both make-up artists. What is revealed to be attractive for the two informants is very different from the possibility of getting in touch with the 'poor', which was what Timo or Joaño highlighted. In fact, in an event such as Mistura Tropical,
various elements are far from being the stereotypical elements of a com- munity in need. The event is arranged in one of the very few houses in Vidigal that has an actual garden, and prob-
ably the only one that has a pool in it. Its declared purpose is that of giving visibility to favela artists, and the “encontro [meeting]” is imagined between these artists and people from the outside, who are eager to encounter favela art and artists. As we have seen in section 3.5.2, David Ley has identified the role of artists as brokers of middle-class taste (Ley, 1996:188-191). Artists, Ley pointed out, are the middle-class's “advancing or col- onizing arm, invading new realms of convention, style and consciousness […]” (ibid.:191). Hugo, Ida and the organiser of the event Vanessa take upon themselves a very similar role in this attempt to bring favela art to Rio's “curious” middle-class. They do this by building on the cultural capital of the favela and by canalising it and interpret-
75 Picture 9: Street art in Vidigal/1
Part II – The Analysis
ing it in a way that can appeal to the middle-class. In fact, the setting they choose, the garden with the pool and the rock, is very middle-class. The event does not show the poorer areas of Vidigal, but rather creates a bubble that can be consumed by outsiders in its independence. As I point out in section 7.2.3, Renato, despite his involvement in the arts through Nós do Morro, complains precisely about the isolation of some of these events from the rest of the favela. To the second edition of Mistura Tropical, to which I had the opportunity to attend, the participating crowd was exclusively composed by act- ors from the theatre, those newcomers most in contact with the art scene, and a some- how homogeneous blend coming from outside Vidigal. There were creative and eccent- ric types as well as professionals – such as my informant Rosa, a journalist – and academics – like Joaño, together with a small group of his visiting Harvard friends –, most of them in their late 20's and early 30's. No lower-class old-timer was present, and even the bar was run by an Italian bartender. If not for the hot and humid weather in the middle of January and for the predominance of caipirinhas (the most popular Brazilian drink) in the bar, one could have been in doubt if this was Rio or any other creative city in the world. Nothing at this event indicated that it was taking place in a favela (field notes, January 20th, 2013). This crowd of participants is what Hugo (as we have seen on
p.65), presented as pretty alternative urban types. Ley's (1996) gentrifiers of Vancouver and other Canadian cities, Zukin's (2010) gentrifiers of Williamsburgh and even Richard Florida's (2002 & 2005) creative class appear to match the characteristics of the parti- cipants of Mistura Tropical, and, following Hugo's lead, the type of newcomer that is moving to Vidigal in these years. Lees et al. encourage us to “understand the broader mechanisms that allow some people to become gentrifiers, whilst others will never stand a chance of becoming 'professionalized' and simply feel the negative effects of pro- fessionals moving into low-income neighborhoods” (Lees et al., 2008:123-124). This statement invites to look at class as a key factor to understand gentrification processes. In the case of Vidigal, class distinctions are what brings Hugo or Ida to enjoy Vidigal as an artist community and to invite middle-class people to their event, while no lower- class favela resident is present.
The representation of Vidigal as an artistic favela is again criticised by some old-
Chasing the Real: Place Construction and Authenticity
timers. In particular, Julio regards the kind of culture the theatre is expression of as self- referential. The representation of Vidigal as the cultural favela of Rio is a lie, says Julio (app. C.8): “Vidigal is dead, empty, there is nothing. People want to sell a place that is vi- brant in beauty and in culture, but there is nothing!”.
The type of newcomer exemplified by Hugo and Ida constructs Vidigal as cultural favela. This construction is no coincidence. It has to be understood as a power strategy to mark their claim to live in Vidigal. If Vidigal is arts and creativity, sure they have the right to be there and contribute with what they can. I connect this representation of Vi- digal with the understanding of the authentic Vidigal that it implies in the following sec- tion.