360 Degrees Almost Conquered

After a furious pace that has left my Spanish friend Camila calling me the expert of Sao Paulo, I decide the last day of sight-seeing must include some more big-ticket items, and a little less obscurity. So first on my list is the Praça de Sé and the city’s domed Cathedral. The clouds are still lingering in the sky, but I have to keep reminding myself that at about 800m above sea level, on a table-top plateau, Sao Paulo isn’t the hottest place to be – atmospherically speaking.

I am instantly entertained by the guy with one shoe on who is doing his best Michael Jackson moves on the steps up to the cathedral, vying for attention with the many homeless people who are flogging rosary beads and prayer cards too.
The main bells chime for midday as I walk in, and I realise that the service has just started. Not to let God get in the way of good tourism, people continue to wander in and out of the wings, taking photos of the early 20th century church and its smooth curved red-brick ceiling, that makes a beautiful contrast to the stone pillars. I must also mention that it is also the first church I have ever been in that has a toilet inside. Pretty revolutionary for Catholics.

I exit mass, like a true ‘Christmas and Easter-goer’, half-way through and make my way past shoe shiners and repairman who have set up their cash-only business along the edges of the busy square. Having parted with almost all my money without even a sniff of a receipt, I shudder at the thought of having to run a country with such a fluid economy. It’s no wonder that most of their prized historical relics are rotting away in mould.

The pedestrian mall starts at the other end with lots of bag shops and sucos (juice) bars. An intriguing assortment of spruikers covered in plastic advertising bibs or just big stickers on their fronts yell all sorts of deals to passers-by, but it is pretty clear from the empty shops, they it’s not really working. Street performers also fight to gain the attention of the lunchtime crowd, and I hurry to get to the city’s highest tower to see the view, before meeting my friend at another gallery.

Positioned in the highest building, but not the tallest one (that one was sadly built in the valley, so rarely gets the attention it deserves), the journey up to the look-out point is somewhat of a protracted experience, including the handing over of ID, the taking of another mugshot, the waiting in line for the last group to descend, the following of the guide up two different lifts, and the final march up the tower’s stairs. Compared to the allowed viewing time of about six minutes, I am glad to say that the view was worth it. Damn this city is big.

Realising that I am indeed late for Camila, I wolf down a kebab and suco, and take the metro to the MASP – Sao Paulo’s Art Museum (not to be confused with MAC or MAM as seen in previous encounters). Fortunately she is being chatted up by a hippy jewellery salesman, and I finally have a good excuse to write-off a pair of new earrings. Once inside, we make our way through Brazil’s supposed best showcase of European art, which I give a polite nod too, but which seems pretty out of place in this city of graffiti. Moving downstairs though, and we come across an amazing photographic exhibition, which has been growing for the last 17 years, and a world film festival showcasing 1000 minutes, in one minute tracks, of 80 different countries. It is a marathon mission to even get through one side of the square space, or about 2 or so hours of viewing, and I dare say a complete tour would unfortunately take days. I think we are both relieved to make it out of there in one piece, and start the journey to our final destination – the MIS (Sound and Image Museum).

Fortunately here, sensible design has only left room for one exhibiting space, which is taken up by a film installation “Repeat All”. Only one mention here, the awesome idea to do a real life clock – set up as a construction site - with workers assembling and disassembling the time as it passed while we watched. I can already see it in doctor’s waiting rooms everywhere.

Back to the Big City

Despite other travellers’ warnings, I was quite excited to arrive in Sao Paulo, knowing much about its arts and culture scene and large industrial metropolis. It is here that Sao Paulo’s signature graffiti pixação has painted its imaginary calligraphic writing all over the tops of buildings, drawing much attention from the international stage.

It only seems fitting then, that my next few days were planned to be a feast of art and design, starting with the Cultural Centre in town, and the 9th Biennale of Graphic Design. Housed in an open-plan modern facility, with a central staircase swinging from side to side, this amazing display of advertising, packaging and printed media sat alongside a photographic exhibition of vintage Sao Paulo, that instantly spoke of the changes and progress the city had experienced.

Beside this, but contained in another part of the complex, was an underground performance space, with circular seating that overlooked the stage below, and a class of free-form expressionists writhing on the floor. Quite a sight to see a bunch of fully grown adults rubbing up against each other, all in the name of art, to the changing tempo of a three-piece music combination. If only I could have understood the instructions of their teacher and what it was all meant to mean. Instead, I was entertained by the obvious significance multicoloured jersey material and fisherman’s pants had on one’s artistic identity.

Back out onto the six-lane highway, and I walked the few kilometres towards the Remembrance obelisk, and into the Ibirapuera Park. With its cultural buildings all designed by Oscar Niemeyer, and the park grounds added by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, it is definitely something not to be missed. Located in the first building – Orca – was an amazing film exhibition on different climates around the world. Its design, not unlike the cultural centre, is dominated by a winding stairwell that could easily fit a car or two, and stretched itself across the four or five levels. My favourite piece, made in Slovenia, showcased the onslaught of lava onto land and sea – an oozing mass of bright orange blood that met the water in a hissing end, elevated by the blaring acoustics of the space.

Behind this was the home of Sao Paulo’s MAM (Museum of Modern Art) and the best all-you-can-eat buffet I have seen yet. Unfortunately it was a little out of my price range, at R35,00, but I was equally impressed by the café beside it, complete with Illy coffee and Australian wine. Inside were two collections of art, the first, a showing of Jorge Guinle’s short abstract career, the other, a quick guide through the inception and growth of modern art in Brazil.

Keeping a steady pace, I then made my way across to the MAC – the Museum of Contemporary Art – but was disappointed when my uphill three level trek only amounted to some strange disjointed installations and a documentary I could not follow. Allowing for the sort hiatus in high standards, I finished my walk at the Museu Afro-Brasil located at the southern end of the park. Inside, such as my luck, was only a half-accessible collection, with Brazilian photographer Walter Kirmo taking up the majority of space with his exhibition “Em Preto e Branco” (In Black and White). Filled with famous singers, composers, and even a football-playing Bob Marley, it was an interesting look at the culture of Brazil, through the portraits of its famed people.

Not wanting to derail the cultural onslaught, I did of course end the night with the rising of the next day, and several bottles of the national drink – cachaça. Apparently it goes well with increasingly rowdier games of Shithead.