VB V — 2025
During its 5 editions, from 2014 to 2019, Vulica Brasil gave Minsk more than 50 murals, many of which are clustered along and around Kastrichnitskaya/Oktyabrskaya Street, birthplace of the festival. The area became a must-see in Minsk, an open gallery of artistic and urban interventions, besides being the stage for the festival's closing celebrations.
In addition to "Brasil Street", we produced a yellow giant by Osgemeos at the Brazilian Embassy in Minsk. We painted an annex of Belarus' Central Bank, trams, a subway wagon, windows, bridges, roofs, factories... The complete list is mapped out right here
Here we tell the adventure of urban art festival Vulica Brasil's 5th edition, held in the summer of 2019 in Minsk, from July 25 to August 11. In sum, the program included various urban interventions, 11 monumental murals, sculptures, photo montages, seminars on urban art and urbanism, film screenings, visit to a summer camp for orphaned children and a large closing celebration, in addition to public chats with the artists.
Vulica Brasil's popularity exploded in 2019, with great resonance among local and international media. The event was produced by Gatos Produções (Liudmila Shastak, co-founder of the festival and iVB), in coordination with the Brazilian Embassy in Belarus, in addition to Brazilian and Belarusian artists. As in previous editions, the festival received institutional support from Minsk City Hall, Ministry of Culture of Belarus, various public and private entities - Krinitsa, Danao, Burn - and the indispensable contribution of 449 volunteers, without whom the event would not have been possible.
Since its first edition, in 2014, the festival has sought to promote cultural dialogue between Brazil and Belarus. "Vulica Brasil" came to be understood as a forum for dialogue. In addition to the Brazilian artists, architect Lourenço Gimenes, founding partner of the FGMF office in São Paulo (considered by "Wallpaper" magazine one of the 30 best in the world) visited Minsk for the 4th time. Gimenes is the Brazilian curator of the festival's urbanism branch.
Most of the art interventions converged on Kastrychnitskaya/Oktyabrskaya street and surroundings, affectionately nicknamed "Brasil Street" since the festival's inception. The big closing party lasted from 12 pm on August 10 to 6 am on August 11, when that street was for pedestrians only.
Photos: iVB Archive
MURaLISM aND GRaFFITI
Check out some highlights of the festival in 2019:
Brazilian artists:
OSGEMEOS and Speto: "3 Friends" (OK16 - Oktyabrskaya street 16).
The three internationally renowned artists returned to Minsk and created a mural together. The first work by OSGEMEOS in the city ("The Giant of Minsk"), in 2015, was painted in the complex of buildings where the Brazilian Embassy is located. It was the 4th consecutive participation of the brothers Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo, and the 2nd of Speto at the festival, after his debut in 2016, when he painted the mural "Forever", on Oktyabrskaya 25 street.
Bruno Big: "Take care of your garden" (Oktyabrskaya street 16-3).
The work was inspired by the poem "Butterflies", by Brazilian poet Mário Quintana. Bruno Big started out as a designer, worked for companies such as Nike, Starbucks, Coca Cola, Rider, and created an icon for the official shirt of the Brazilian soccer team, for the 2014 World Cup.
Hyper: "Kaapora" (Oktyabrskaya street 16-3).
Internationally recognized muralist, the artist is versatile and multi-language, working with music, video, digital art and tattooing. His main artistic references are the indigenous peoples of the world, nature and aliens.
Creole: "Roots" (Trostenetskaya street 11).
"Artivist", as she calls herself, she bases her works on the Brazilian cultural diversity and flora, as a means of fighting for the rights of black women.
Belarusian Artists:
Vadik Fin: "Technowolf" (Oktyabrskaya street, 19B 1).
Muralist and illustrator, his work is based on abstract geometric shapes and a variety of colors. His creatures are species of animal cyborgs, reflections of technological progress that will influence the entire human way of life (or what will remain of humanity).
Alexey aka Antony: "Harmony" (Oktyabrskaya street, 16 K20).
In 2019, he painted his first mural at Vulica, a well-deserved award for one of the festival's most dedicated collaborators. In the first 4 editions, he worked as a volunteer and, in the fourth, he carried out an independent and unusual work: Alexey painted the chimneys and part of the roof of the MZOR factory at Oktyabrskaya street 16 and 19).
Doctor Oy: "Egg" (Rabochiy back alley 1).
The work illustrates processes of initiation and transformations of cultural identity in the contemporary world. A fan of creative minimalism, Doctor Oy came to Brazil to inaugurate the Vulica Brasil Institute, in April 2021, and has already left a mural in Brasilia, but this is another story - for now, we focus on what happened in that already distant 2019, in Minsk.
Hutkasmachnaa (Andrei Busel's art group): "Suspended Subway" (Kuibyshev street 45-20).
Specialist in urban art and installations, the artist seeks to rethink the aesthetics of public transport and exhibits images in unexpected places. This work, made of posters on a passage between two buildings of an old Soviet factory, gives the impression of NY subway cars transiting between them. Busel has collaborated with the festival since the first edition in 2014, when, among other things, he carved a 2m tall Christ the Redeemer in wood-lined styrofoam for the festival's exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Art in Minsk.
Zahar Kudin: "Icy Flight. Hot Cosmos" (Oktyabrskaya street 16-3).
Kudin was a young and promising Belarusian Abstract Expressionist. When he lived (illegally) in the USA, he developed his “neuro-art” with elements of surrealism added to expressionism. He always painted in the studio, but was convinced by the producers of Vulica to paint his first mural, with a team of volunteers, elevators, compressors, sprays, all the paraphernalia of urban art. The result was wonderful and the mural remains alive. In December 2019, Kudin took his last icy flight in this hot cosmos. He leaves an important artistic work, in the process of achieving due recognition, and his family and friends miss him a lot. His heritage lives on in our hearts.
KHVST KHVOOOSTOV: "Instantaneity" (viaduct between Bobruiskaya and Nezavisimosti streets).
The artist is inspired by comics, graffiti and pop art. As a result, he creates dynamic and colorful images that match the city's rhythm. He is also a Vulica veteran, having collaborated with us in previous years.
FIFTH THUNDER
In 2019, during the 5th VB, we held the exhibition "5th Thunder of Urban Art Vulica Brasil", at the main contemporary art gallery in Minsk at the time, Gallery Y, on Oktyabrskaya street 19, where a social function was held at the closing party of the festival.
The following artists were exhibited: Belarusians Cowek, Bazinato, Izum, Mutus, Doctor Oy, Carolina Poliakova, Ray O'Kinly and Vadik Fin; Brazilians Hyper and Bruno Big.
The exhibition had a large number of visitors until its closing, on August 11.
Photos: iVB archive
SCULPTURES aND INSTaLLaTIONS
In 2019, for the second time, sculptures and installations were part of the festival's program:
Hutkasmachnaa: tram stop "Vulica Brasil".
Built on the sidewalk on Oktyabrskaya street near the entrance to the OK16 cultural center (located in a section of the historic MZOR factory). The work evokes old tram stops which no longer circulate on that street. It has a stylish sign named Vulica Brasil, alluding to how the street is informally known. This was the second work by Hutkasmachnaa in that same edition of the festival, coupled with the work "Suspended Subway".
Marat RGB: installation "Micro-art-gallery" (Oktyabrskaya street 19, Galeria Y).
A miniature museum with replicas of the artist's works with the size of a cell phone screen. The idea was to emphasize that today a large part of the information - and even art - is accessed through "smartphones", in compact formats, as if it were a reinterpretation of reality.
Uladzimir Gramovich: installation "I Found Your Broken Signs" (Oktyabrskaya street 19, Y Gallery Courtyard).
This work was based on old Soviet signs from pharmacies, post offices and public telephones, currently considered "vintage" items of pop culture. The artist's intention was to give them new meaning and emphasize their modernist aesthetic, placing them in a different environment from the original and adding a contemporary touch with neon light.
Minsk Urban Platform: "Sensory garden for children and adults" (Oktyabrskaya street 19, Y Gallery courtyard).
The "garden" is made up of several modules, each with different content and texture, for the sensory experience of visitors. The materials used are colored sand, stones, grass, moss.
Elena Shtyk: "Forest in Permanent Bloom" (Oktyabrskaya street, opposite OK16).
This tactical urban intervention consisted of planting trees that are exotic to the Belarusian vegetation in the railway ring of the old tram line, at one of the ends of Vulica Brasil. It was imagined in a way so that part of the small forest will always be blooming, throughout the 4 seasons of the year. The architect used catalpa, platanus, fraxinus ornus, red-leaved prunus virginiana, red-leaved apple tree, Burgundy sakura, among others.
PHOTOGRaPHY
Photography as an art form was one of the protagonists in 2019, for the 2nd time at the festival. Belarusian photographer and videomaker Carolina Poliakova created surrealist illustrations from photo collages of Minsk images. Five billboards across the capital exhibited her works. She also authored a teaser-video with artworks from previous editions of the festival.
Photos: iVB archive
aRCHITECTURE, URBaNISM aND LaNDSCaPING
Proposals and debates on architecture and urbanism continued, guided by Brazilian architect Lourenço Gimenes and representatives of Minsk Urban Platform, a group of architects, urban planners and activists. A global project ("master plan") for Oktyabrskaya street and its surroundings was further developed. This branch of the project was created in 2016 and envisions urban tactical, and strategic interventions, in order to better integrate art and its surroundings.
Proposals and debates on architecture and urbanism continued, guided by Brazilian architect Lourenço Gimenes and representatives of Minsk Urban Platform, a group of architects, urban planners and activists. A global project ("master plan") for Oktyabrskaya street and its surroundings was further developed. This branch of the project was created in 2016 and envisions urban tactical, and strategic interventions, in order to better integrate art and its surroundings.
Constant and deep transformations have been taking place in the Oktyabrskaya street region since the 1st edition of "Vulica Brasil". The open air gallery of artistic interventions brought life to the neighborhood. Former factory buildings, survivors of World War II, now house bars, cafes, cultural centers, offices, creative spaces, art galleries, hotels, restaurants. "Brasil Street" is now considered a tourist attraction included in official guides about Belarus, including an institutional video of the local Ministry of Tourism, shown on screens of Minsk international airport.
Photos: iVB Archive
CINEMa
Cinema was also part of the festival's official program for the second time. Films "Style Wars", by Tony Silver, and "Image Makers - the Image of Absence", by Beto Macedo, were shown and followed by debates with Otávio Pandolfo (OSGEMEOS) and photographer Carolina Poliakova.
Photos: iVB Archive
SOCIaL CORE
In all editions of the festival, we visited orphanages, interacted with children and created art. Traditionally held in early September, the 2019 edition of the festival took place in July-August, when orphans usually attend summer camps. The one-day visit took place at "Svityaz" summer camp in Novogrudsky district, where children played games, music and painted cottages with us.
Photos: iVB Archive
PROGRaM SUMMaRY
- 25.07: press conference and official opening of the festival;
- 30.07: free public workshops on street art techniques;
- 31.07: film "Style Wars" about urban art, followed by a debate with Otávio Pandolfo (OSGEMEOS), at the cultural center "Korpus";
- 01.08: talk with the festival's artists;
- 02.08: launch of Vulica Brasil clothing and eco-accessories collection;
- 03-04.08: artists' participation in the Belarusian music festival "Sprava" in Vitebsk region;
- 05.08: opening of the exhibition "5th Thunder of Urban Art Vulica Brasil", with works by several artists from the festival, at Gallery Y of contemporary art, and lecture "Happy City: How Urbanism Can Improve Your Mood", by Brazilian architect Lourenço Gimenes (FGMF), at the cultural center "Korpus";
- 06.08: tree planting on Oktyabrskaya street (intervention "Forest in Permanent Bloom"), and workshop for specialists in urbanism with the architect Lourenço Gimenes, at the cultural center "OK16";
- 07.08: film "Image Makers - the Image of the Absence" (by Eixo, Tilt Rec), followed by a debate with the photographer and videomaker Carolina Poliakova, at the cultural center "Korpus";
- 08.08:visit to the summer camp "Svityaz" for orphaned children, in the district of Novogrudsky;
- 09.08: 2nd workshop for specialists in urbanism with the architect Lourenço Gimenes;
- 10.08: Open air closing celebration with music, dance, visual arts, gastronomy, fashion, open-air market, sports and lectures along Oktyabrskaya street.
CLOSING CELEBRaTION
The long-awaited closing celebration took place from 12 pm on August 10 to 6 am on August 11, on Vulica Brasil, turned into pedestrian street during the festivities. Throughout its history, the street was closed to car traffic only on 5 occasions - all of them for our event.
The audience had the possibility to enjoy live bands and DJs concerts, with different musical styles, on the 5 stages set up along the street. In different zones, there was dance, capoeira, forró and samba performances, as well as lectures on sustainable urban development, recycling, solid waste treatment and ecology. The food court included organic and vegan homemade cuisine.
Photos: iVB archive
The street was full of visual arts, fashion shows, street markets and sports, including a skateboarding court. As in the previous edition of the festival, in 2017, an "urban beach" was built on an empty lot on Oktyabrskaya, one of the main attractions for children. We set up a sand football field in this area, in partnership with the local football federation.
Sambatucada Vulica Brasil is a percussion group brought together by the festival in 2016, which grew to include Brazilians, Belarusians, Poles and Russians. They started performing at 5pm, in front of Gallery Y, and ended in front of the main stage, at 7:30 pm, when the official closing ceremony took place, with the presence of artists, sponsors, representatives of city hall and the Brazilian Embassy. The floor was given to each of the artists and sponsors and the Ambassador of Brazil gave a speech valuing the importance of a festival of this magnitude, for the 5th time in the 8 years of the Embassy's existence.
The festival was made possible by the dedication of artists, architects, urban planners, musicians and other participants, many of whom as volunteers.
Program of the closing celebration:
- Live Stage:
1:00 pm Stealurmind
1:45 pm MC Kepskey & Co
3:00 pm Hyper (BR)
4:00 pm Groove Dealers
5:00 pm By Soulfam + KLX Brass
6:15 pm Botanic Project
7:00 pm SAMBATUCADA
7:30 pm Official festival closing ceremony and speeches (embassy, city hall, producers and artists)
7:45 pm Shuma
8:45 pm Nagual
9:45 pm Dee Tree
10:45 pm Dlina Volny
- DJ Stage:
2:00 pm Smoke
3:00 pm Stwone
4:00 pm DJ Laurel
5:15 pm Remm
6:15 pm Igor Popov
7:15 pm Leap
8:15 pm Stroppy Pie
9:15 pm Nick Cherny
10:15 pm Minskiy Personazh
11:15 pm Kazantsev
12:15 am Papa Bo Selektah
1:15 am OSGEMEOS (BR)
3:15 am KorneJ
4:15 am Stereobeaver
- Dance Stage:
12:00 pm Forró
2:30 pm Capoeira
4:00 pm Samba
7:45 pm NatureDeath
8:15 pm Lepestok
9:00 pm EthnoBeat
10:00 pm ZlataMay
10:45 pm moo:rena
- Freestyle Stage:
4:00 pm Allstyles Competition
5:15 pm Hip-hop competition
6:30 pm Break Dance Competition
8:00 pm Break Dance Battles & Hip-Hop Battles
9:45 pm Waacking 7 to Smoke Exhibition Battle
10:00 pm Allstyles Battles (Live music Vibeclub)
- Chill Stage:
1:30 pm DJ WQska
3:00 pm Alla Aloe
4:00 pm Radjin
5:00 pm Awlnight
7:45 pm Alpaqua
9:15 pm Helga
10:45 pm OVG
12:00 pm OdeB
1:45 am Keep Minsk Weird
3:00 am Yunosti Bulvar
4:30 am FB
The festival had a huge repercussion in the media (radio, TV, press, internet and social networks) and had the support of the following public and private entities: Brazilian Embassy in Belarus; Production, coordination and curatorship by Gatos Produções; Institutional support by the Belarus Ministry of Culture, Minsk Executive Committee and Leninskiy Neighborhood Administration; Partial sponsorship from brewery Krinitsa, Danao (Danone), Burn (Coca Cola) and BelAPDIiMI; Press partnership with 34mag; Support, materials and services from MTN94, Condor, ZID BY, SP&P, Belavia, Let It Be, Monkey Food, Hotel Renaissance; Partnerships with OK16, Cultural Center "Korpus", Gallery Y, Moby Dick, Dandyland, Hide, Space, Lo-Fi Customs, Svoboda Stylya, Belarus Skateboarding Federation, Pasternak, Raccoon Batucada, Capoeira FICAG, Grupo Axé Capoeira, Capoeira Angola in Minsk, Capoeira Muzenza, Capoeira Rabo de Arraia, Copacabana Dance Studio, Forró Bro, Mundo Capoeira (Saint Petersburg).
The festival was an organizational challenge, with the simultaneous operation of 101 interconnected thematic groups (artists, locations, architects, closing party, music, dance, cinema, photography, etc.) and had the help of more than 400 dedicated volunteers.
In total, over 5 editions and 7 years, "Vulica Brasil" donated to Minsk more than 50 artistic, traditional and experimental interventions, including 23 Brazilian and 18 Belarusian paintings (among them, 2 historic trams and 1 subway car) and 10 urban sculptures and installations. Look here
