Brazil Day 4

Hello again!! On day 4 of this vacation, Mimi, Mariana, and I went to a huge outdoor garden/art museum called Inhotim (pronounced eenyocheem). It was about a two-hour drive from Mimi's house, which was a pretty uneventful ride, except we got a flat tire and had to stop to change it. Luckily, the family friends driving us were handy and had a spare on hand, so it wasn't a big deal!

Once we arrived at Inhotim we began walking through the park. Basically, it's trails and paths through various forest and gardens with modern art exhibits and galleries sprinkled throughout. One of the first things we saw wasn't an art exhibit, but a baby squirrel, which was really cute :)

After that, we went to an exhibit called Tteia 1C by Lygia Pape. Basically, it was nylon strings stretched between the ceiling and the floor of a building and lit to look like rays of sunlight coming through the clouds. It was really cool, or as they say in Brazil, "legal!"

Tteia 1C by Lygia Pape

Next, we went to a scenic building made out of tile by Adriana Varejão. The exhibit was made to mimic a relaxing setting. However, there was one cool sculpture which depicted meat filling up a tile wall, which was inspired by tourists who had been crushed in an earthquake in Rio de Janeiro.

Carnívoras by Adriana Varejão

On our way to the next exhibit, we passed by a giant metal tube you could look through. It was made in a hexagonal shape and of reflective material, so it turned whatever you were looking at through it into a kaleidoscope-like image. It was called 'Viewing Machine' by Olafur Eliasson. We also stopped inside a small exhibit which featured a small room full of mirrors with a video of people ballroom dancing without a partner, while playing music. We tried to use the mirrors to 'dance' with one of the video people, but it didn't really work. It was a really cool exhibit though!

Viewing Machine by Olafur Eliasson

After this, we went to a large gallery by an artist called Tunga. The gallery was 3 stories, mostly of 3-D art, with a lot of metal and glass work. It is really hard to describe the art, but there were a lot of large metal braids! We spent a lot of time in there, not only because it was cool, but also because it was air-conditioned. It was 86 degrees outside and very sunny and humid.

After that, we grabbed lunch at a tiny burger place, where I had a veggie burger. Even in Brazil museum food is way overpriced :). One of the cool things about going here is that I finally got to see other tourists experiencing Brazil. There was actually a group of Buddhist Monks traveling to see a holy Lama teach and we talked to them for a little bit, which was really cool.

After that, we went to a really cool exhibit about the sound of the earth. Basically, the artist dug a 200 m deep hole and placed microphones inside, which people can then listen to in the exhibit. It makes neat grumbling sounds. It's called Sonic Pavillion by Doug Aitken.

Next, we went to a couple of documentary photography exhibits. One of them, by Miguel Rio Branco, explored life in a poor neighborhood of Salvador, a northeastern city where a lot of Afro-Brazilians live. It was sad and vibrant at the same time, and if you have time, I would recommend looking up some of the pictures. The other exhibit documented the life of indigenous people from the Amazon.

That was pretty much it! We came home after that and ironically discovered that we had another flat tire before we left the parking lot. Luckily, the people at the museum helped us fill it up and we arrived safely back at Ouro Branco where fresh Pao de Queijo and clean Dudu were waiting for us :)

Tchau for now,

 - Emily Bettler

ps.: sorry for the play by play of everything we saw at the museum

More pictures!