In June of 2013, after the announcement of a price increase of the public transportation system in several cities in Brazil, the country was taken over by a series of popular protests.
The established power responded with strong police repression and a media campaign that presented it as a criminal movement. Consequently the protests lost the strength, the cost of transport increased and an atmosphere of popular discontent was established.
Given this scenario, the performance questions what would happen if someone decided not to pay the bus ticket. While keeping the camera in hand, the artist Fernanda Vizeu refuses to pay the amount of R$3, jumps the turnstile (in portuguese, “catraca”) and publishes the recorded video on the internet.
The video shows the discussion that took place on the bus and the appearance of the police on the spot. It gained rapid impact and received a flurry of comments in favor and against it, as it touches on controversial issues, tightening the limits of what is considered legal or illegal, legitimate or illegitimate, especially in a country that has corruption at every level as one of its major ills.
The debate that arose brought to surface social, racial, political, philosophical, economic, humanitarian, legal and moral issues, which are experienced daily by citizens, and questions what is art and its function, since the performance was seen by most as just another political protest and got violent reactions from netizens who even suggested and urged the beating of the performer.
CATRACACATRACA (2014)
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro | Fernanda Vizeu and Peter Boos
Click here to watch the trailer
Fernanda Vizeu (Autor da publicação)
