VB V — 2019
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.