OVERVIEW
Eucaliptos or Punk Urbanism and Its Post-Punk Afterimage
The Favela Has An Image Problem
This studio seeks to problematize the nature of representation vis-a-vis the favelas of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The favela has many problems, not the least of which is its image. Our position asserts that it is this problem more than any other that is most relevant to architectural scholarship. This exhibition amplifies the disparities between different modes of representation (painterly, draughterly, object-artifact, and photography) by intentionally placing each at a distance from the other. We emphasize the difficulties involved in resolving connections between these different forms of description and celebrate the strange isolation, even alienation that arises naturally through various depictions of this material. Our approach to favela urbanism, then, is quite different from that of most other scholarship on the subject. Rejecting the impulse to “fix” the more prosaic and immediate problems allows for an acknowledgement of deep divisions in perception, however disconcerting they may be. And so, ultimately, our work is not so much about conventional proposals for projects as it is some form of designerly reportage...a perverse, latter-day take on the “paper architectures” of the past.
We would like to thank the UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design’s Cross Cultural Initiative, the São Paulo Municipal Housing Secretariat (SEHAB,) SlumLab, the UCLA Latin American Institute, and the UCLA Center for Brazilian Studies for their generous support.
