Projects > Samba Corporal (2006)

The sounds and images of Samba Corporal are from Brazil, collected during a ten-day trip in 2001. Images of labor and celebration, and sometimes of meditative pause, are projected onto a pile of clay rubble on the floor. These images, projected horizontally and occasionally flipping in orientation, with intertwined sounds of percussion and ambience, coax the viewer into a choreography that makes a circle around the rectangle of the video image, echoing the spontaneous choreography of samba schools, street scenes, and work. The hub of this video choreography is Mangueira, a samba school that that gives a pulse to its community, a pulse that runs through its members’ everyday lives, a pulse fed not only by music, but also by a subtle intelligence that asks questions like 'Brazil' with a 'Z' or 'Brasil' with an 'S'? – questions that open up the complex core of a culture’s identity.

Videography: Sandra Binion
Editor: Frédéric Moffet
Percussion: Heitor Garcia
Sound Design: Lou Mallozzi