CIA STRONDUM X DANUSA CARVALHO = From Falling Down to Mad Max

Around Carcass, by Cia Strondum

Carcass began from a chat with a homeless man.

His biotype was athletic and when he saw the artists warming up, he showed off some martial art moves. Then, he came closer and visibly full of pride produced a medal saying he had been a jiu-jitsu champion.

– One day, with the money I got in the street, I bought a crab, one of those for eating, but it was my pet until a madman crushed it. I beat the hell out of him and was arrested, but I beat the hell out of him.

And I thought: I’d have done the same.

And Carcass begins. The entrance is Mad-Max-like. The honking horns are the guitars, the purple smoke, the sand of the ruins are all there. A car carcass is destroyed by movements. The movements are built up to then destroy another, as if summing up energy and strength. “What motivates them?”, I ask myself at times, but it does not matter because I want to hit the carcass too. The carcass is the specter of everything I want to beat up, beginning with this very car, after all that has been questioned about the world and its future. Over-consumerism, pollutants emission, diseases of all kinds, jammed cities. Intolerance. Then, we understand why violence begets more violence, why degradation begets violence. The external fury makes the internal fury stop in our throat. And at the same time the destruction is very pretty, it has color and shape, takes up all space, nothing is left, not even the surrounding city. The destruction is spectacular, and the Show Society crosses the mind. But, the carcass is transformed, graphic designs are applied and street art is right there, transforming degraded areas and realities. It is a lost battle, but necessary.

And then it made complete sense to have listened to the homeless’ story, right there.

PS: I must say that as soon as the artists of the group arrived at Sesc I was interested in what they would show. It was affinity at first sight!

Danusa Carvalho is a plastic artist and cultural producer. A critter of the night and a cinephile, she looks at everything as if they were in one of her favorite movies.

Photos: Danusa Carvalho

English version: Chris Ritchie