The French consulate of Rio de Janeiro
has asked Julia Abreu
to create a study for the renovation of an old bar, located aside the library
Julia went beyond this
and proposed putting the whole space down,
transforming it into a new ambience for studying, with
books, a meeting room, sofas and internet access.
And the best of all: making it open to the public for free!
Thus, Maison was born.
Today's Rolê goes into Julia Abreu's architecture
and Vincent Rosenblatt's photographs.
Julia, to imagine that this whole space…
The initial project didn't take advantage of the gem that's this view, isn't it?
In fact, we used to have all the shelves at window height.
Wow… People used to have this view and didn't take advantage of it.
No. Here, everything was closed,
and to the other side there was the issue of the tables between the shelves.
So, you'd get stuck among books.
This space opening, like so…
Sunlight didn't even get inside, then…
No, no… The light was cold, very simple.
It was white. That part where
there's the entrance, it didn't use to exist.
There was [only] a glass wall.
It was a void.
That space was practically a foyer.
It was an entrance.
Indeed, and overloaded with paper.
We've managed to put the whole archive they had,
and 20% more that's been asked,
taking everything out of the middle part.
We opted for these lower shelves, which can change…
Clear something up for me:
did you, eventually, went for these darker shades
with a composition that's a bit closed,
in order to achieve a little counterbalance with this
this great brightness that gets in from [the windows]?
Yes. In fact, I only wanted color points,
a few ones, because there's a lot of color when working with bookshops, libraries
So, we must keep the colors quite neutral
so that they don't clash with the books.
You've created a totally neutral atmosphere
in order to emphasize the book's personality.
The book's and the sight's, yes. The view got into the ambience…
Spectacular, isn't it?
It totally got into the ambience.
I've put this table right in the corner, because I said:
"Well, people who used to study amidst books
will have the pleasure of seeing the view, independently from the study."
If I want to bring one of my books here for me to read…
A book or your laptop for navigating…
It's a completely public space, open at business hours,
and people have been using it, as I can see.
Yes. Then, at night, some events take place.
And you've got the cafe.
And you've also got Perrier-Jouët's terrace, which is incredible.
Even having concluded the project, Julia noticed there was some soul missing.
To that end, Julia has asked her friend Vincent
…there's coffee. Do you want coffee?
Juju, can you make Vincent a coffee?
Only if it's not complicated.
A double, double for him… To wake him up!
Well… these three images, Vincent, are part of the same series.
Were they taken on the same day?
No. They're part of my series Rio Baile Funk (Rio Funk Party),
and each of them is a fragment of a different party.
Oh, they were different days…
Yes, and also [different] years. They are one year apart.
First, I used to be a history and anthropology student.
[But] photography progressively took over.
Back from a report [made while I was] at a stay in Siberia,
I was admitted at the School of Fine Arts of Paris,
which is a public school, but which usually sends its students around the world.
I was granted an interchange scholarship [to study] in Brazil, in 1999.
In 2002, I was granted an artistic internship from
the cultural service of the French consulate.
Then I made a project, Olhares do Morro (Views of the Slum),
which engaged me for six years.
I've never imagined that I would stay in Brazil.
I was happy in Paris, but it was a passion that I couldn't restrain.
And I opened an atelier for young photography apprentices
at the top of the Santa Marta slum, in Botafogo [district],
in 2002, with the idea of changing the very negative iconography
of the slums made by the national press,
in which there's always the image of conflict
– a lot of times with a black person's dead body on the floor -
the blood, the violence.
And since Rio's cultural creation,
its living forces and its energy are located at the slums,
no one would be more suitable than young photographers
from the slums to show it, this day to day and the beauty it carries.
This was the intent.
Then we've made exhibitions in Brazil, but also at
photography meetings in Arles, in southern France,
from Brazil to France, featuring Miguel Rio Branco, Rosângela Rennó, Arthur Omar.
The Brazilian photography elite was there, and the Olhares do Morro project too.
Also in Sweden, at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris…
Anyway, it was a great passion, which cheered me up
for years and which made me stay in Brazil without having ever planned it.
Vincent, how has this flirt of yours with funk carioca begun?
Because I know your photography is, in fact, a consequence of this enchantment.
In what way has it started?
It started with the trembling of the walls of the house where I used to live,
in Santa Teresa [district], shaken by the bass,
by the sound coming from the Santo Amaro slum,
in Catete [district], at the other side of the hill.
Did it bother you initially? Or has it made you curious?
On one hand, it was terrifying.
But at the same time, it was very alluring.
The drum, the bass, it moves our bodies.
It's something very ancestral, it was almost like a calling.
I've got the impression that I document generations of a black youth, afro-carioca,
which makes Rio happen, because of their celebrations, their cultural resistance,
their struggle for equality, recognition, opportunities.
So, funk parties, as the new black parties that agitate Rio's scene,
are far more than only parties.
Those are celebrations, moments of identity strengthening, collective questioning.
There's political subversion there too.
And I think this youth identifies a lot with my work.
The world of arts, of collectors, the more conservative
world maybe won't glimpse what I see there.
Julia has transformed an old apartment in the Urca district, in Rio de Janeiro
into a contemporary and cozy residence,
however preserving all the characteristics from the original architecture.
All the details and objects used on the decoration
are part of Julia's affective memory.
She believes the residence is always an extension of one's personal universe.
You can have many interpretations of this apartment,
but I didn't want a straight one.
If you pick an ambience which is architecturally difficult to be executed
– because that's what happens at big houses sometimes, you know? -
This apartment was a bit like that.
It was very difficult.
I've burnt many midnight oils beating my brains out here.
If you pick a place that's difficult, you need to
have a good notion of line of sight architecture,
of vision, of view, of section, of perspective…
of everything you've learned with architecture in order for you to execute.
Then the architect must organize these elements.
Or interiors design, right?
Or the interiors designer, or even someone capable of this interpretation.
You can change, you can change the fabric,
but why throwing away that chair which she loves so
much and that contains so many stories and memories?
Because memory is a thing… which is the most precious thing that one has.
Wearing this shirt, wearing these glasses… I fell in love.
Vincent, they stepped upon some of your pictures,
but I think there's no problem. Is there?
They stepped upon some of your pictures unintentionally.
By the way, you're a fan of Glória [district].
I'm a fan of Gloria and of the Centre. I'm the queen of Centre.
By the way, if it depends on Julia, I'll end up moving to Glória.
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