Working together for a decade now, Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca have been producing films and video-installations in dialogue with other artists connected to sound and stage. The duo has developed a research method based on documentary research and observation, but building the direction, the script, the costumes, and the soundtrack in a tight-knit collaboration with the protagonists of each project.
The artists portrayed in Pernambuco professional Frevo dancers, a record label of Brega singers, swingueira battles in public school courts, and evangelical gospel preachers immersed in environments that recall images reproduced in churches; as well as rappers in the subway in Toronto, Canada, and traditional musicians in the German and Irish countryside.
In these videos, these artists-characters are transported into their rehearsal and performance universe, emphasizing the drama and vocabulary of their everyday performances. The setting is both their workplace, the city itself, and inspired by the visual iconography of these places. By revisiting the genres of opera or musical, the lines of these films are the songs themselves, fictions about conflict, real bodies, and subjects engaged in amplifying their expression and visibility.
Fala da Terra [Voice of the Earth] (2022) is the most recent project of the duo, and has its national premiere at MASP. The video presents the work of Coletivo Banzeiros, a theater group composed of members of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST, in the Portuguese acronym) who live and work in the rural and urban areas of Marabá and Parauapebas, in the southeast of Pará.
Based on traditional rural imagery, Fala da Terra establishes through their work chants the importance of cooperation and collectivity among farmers and actors, whether in the field or in dressing rooms. The enemies are represented by archetypes: the shepherd, the governor, the hitmen, the airplane, and the statue in the department store. In this allegory of social types, the drama of the current Brazilian political dispute is established, as if we could see it all there, staged.
The audience behind (in the video) and in front (in the room) reinforces the theatrical space, like an arena with bleachers on both sides. In reference to the radical propositions of playwrights Augusto Boal (1931-2009) and Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), the spectators in and of the film are involved in the same process of listening and awareness. The imageless scene – containing only the sound of the massacre of Eldorado dos Carajás (1996), and the handheld camera at the end in a demonstration of the MST reveal the commitment of the artists in this struggle that cries out for change. ‘The dream is not killed.’
Video Room: Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca is curated by Guilherme Giufrida, assistant curator at MASP.
VOICE OF THE LAND, 2022
2K HD video, color, 5.1 sound; 17 min
Courtesy the artists and
Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro
With the theatre collective Banzeiros
Alan Leite, Aline Silva, Kananda Rocha, Luciana Melo, Maria Luísa, Maria Raimunda César, Mileny Alves Bezerra, Pablo Neri, Révero Ribeiro, Rodrigues Silva, Romário Rodrigues, Vangela Pereira Silva, Wildianei Celiniclis
With the support of
Fundação de Incentivo à Cultura do Estado de Pernambuco (Funcultura), Arts Council of Ireland (Visual Arts Bursary 2022)
Exhibition Design
Marcus Vinícius Santos (em colaboração com / in coll aboration with Aline Arroyo)
Studio Coordinator
Camila Goulart
Produced by
Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel
Executive Producers
Dora Amorim, Júlia Machado (Ponte Produtoras)
Special appearance
Agnes De Almeida Muniz Bezerra, Batista Do Nascimento
, Deusa Sales, Eliene Silva, Giselda Coelho, Izabel Rodrigues, Joari Procópio, Laurindo Costa, Luzenira Paula Da Silva, Maria Goreth, Maria Gouveia, Maria Olinda De Almeida, Maria Zelzuita, Suely GomesCinematographer
Pedro Sotero
Production Designer
Benjamin de Burca
Editor
Daniela de Lamare
Assistant Director
Gabriel Domingues
Cast Preparation
Douglas Estevam, Maria Raimunda César
Production Manager
Henrique Lapa
Production Coordinator
João Lucas
Costume Designer
Rita Azevedo
Costume Designer Assistant
Luciana Melo
Makeup Artists
Victória Tavares, Roptykwyi Kuxware Bebka
Set Designer
Hemerson Souza
Sound Mixer
Lucas Caminha
Boom Operator
Daniel Moraes
Sound Design Mixing
Nicolau Domingues
Dialogue Editing
Caio Domingues
Mixing Studio
Carranca
Original Soundtrack
Carlos Sá
Finishing Studio
Estúdio Arco
Colourist
Brunno Schiavon
Visual Effects
Henrique Fernandes
Edit Consultant
Eduardo Serrano
Additional Editing
Caio Zatti
Additional Photography
Benjamin De Burca
Drone Operator
Pablo Carvalho
2st Assistant Director
Daniela de Lamare
Researcher
André Telles do Rosário
Assistant Researcher
Alan Leite
Local Production Coordinator
Maria Raimunda César
Production Assistant
Davi Fleury
Local Production Assistant
Trevo Ribeiro
1st Camera Assistant
Maíra Iabrudi
2st Camera Assistant
Tainá Bicalho
Logger
Liz Dórea
Gaffer
Vitinho Espínola
Light Assistant
Almir Costa
Key Grip
Alex Índio
Grip
Aldo Cardoso
Drivers
Clesio Nunes de Souza, David Gerônimo, Izabel Rodrigues, Jefeson André Sobrinho de Souza, Robson Souza Santos, Sandro Gomes
Translation
Adriana Morelli, Mayumi Matsumiya
Proofreading
Eva Bourke, Helio De Mello Filho, Miriam De Burca
Subtitles
Ivich
Special Thanks
Acampamento Dalcídio Jurandir, Acampamento Frei Henri, Acampamento Helenira Resende, Acampamento Hugo Chávez, Acampamento Pedagógico Oziel Alves Pereira, Assentamento 17 De Abril, Assentamento 26 De Março, Assentamento Palmares Ii, Brigada Nacional De Teatro Patativa Do Assaré, Coletivo Nacional De Cultura Do Mst, Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes, Fundação Cabanagem, Instituto De Agroecologia Latinoamericano Amazônico (IALA), Instituto Chico Mendes De Conservação Da Biodiversidade (ICMBio), Instituto Federal De Educação, Ciência E Tecnologia Do Pará (IFPA), Movimento Dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Secretaria De Cultura Do MST - Pará, Rafael Villas Boas, Douglas Estevam, Dan Baron Cohen, Haroldo de Souza, Benedito de Jesus Bastos, Luzinete Nunes Pinto, Etevaldo Arantes, Manuel Fábio Matos Barros, Ian Almeida Borella, Rosilda Bezerra Nogueira, Cici Ferraz
Thanks
Abdoral do Frei Henri , Alysson de Sousa Batista do Nascimento, Antônio Costa Lena, Ayala Ferreira, Carlon Santos, Clívia Regina da Silva, Diego Bresani, Edileuza Souza Gomes, Eliene Neres, Enivaldo Alves do Nascimento, Etevaldo Arantes, Geuza da Cunha Morgado, Glauco Brito, Gurjão Souza, Joari Procópio, Ivagno Brito Gardeny Santos Trocate, Izabel Rodrigues, Júlia Iara, Laurindo Costa, Lindomar de Jesus Cunha, Manoel Silva, Maria de Fatima Cruz Lima, Maria Enilde Lopes de Assunção, Maria Lúcia Soares, Maria Zelzuita, Maurilio da Silva Soares, Naélia Melo, Nieves Rodrigues, Paulo Roberto Correia da Silva, Professor Frank, Raimundo dos Santos Gouveia, Rosa Reis, Suely Gomes, Tito Moura
Sound Track
CANTO DA TERRA SAGRADA- Paulo Amorim / Coletivo Banzeiros, 2022
FUNERAL DE UM LAVRADOR- João Cabral de Melo Neto, 1955 / Chico Buarque de Hollanda, RGE, 1968
POR ESTES SANTOS LATIFÚNDIOS- Guillermo Maldonado, 1975 / Coletivo Banzeiros, 2021
COBRANÇA- Araci Cachoeira / Coletivo Banzeiros, 2022
A FALA DA TERRA- Pedro Tierra, 1977 / Maria Raimunda César, 2022
ÁRVORE- Edson Gomes, EMI, 1992
ÁUDIO DO MASSACRE DE ELDORADO DOS CARAJÁS- Marisa Romão, Arquivo TV Liberal, 1996
CANTO DO LAVRADOR- Benedicto Monteiro, 1962 / Coletivo Banzeiros, 2022
Shot in
Marabá, Serra Pelada and Parauapebas - Pará - Brasil