The Urban Landscape ot This Capital Is Rotting

Abstract

The Landscape of this Capital Is Rotting is a photocopied poster-lettering published in 2022 by edicoes agua para cavalos. The work was created using a graphic fragment from the book “Me segura qu'eu vou dar um troço” (1972) by Waly Salomão, which is actually a phrase from the novel “Serafim Ponte Grande” (1933) by Oswald de Andrade. Presented as an urban intervention, the poster creates discursive punctuations in the landscape that seek to introduce new layers of meaning for the critical reading of the place and the territorial context in which each sign is inserted.

The billboard has already been displayed on the Eixo Monumental in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, and in Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, João Pessoa and Natal. The proposal is to show it in all the current 27 Brazilian state capitals and in cities that were once capitals, such as Piratini/RS, capital of the short-lived Rio-Grandense Republic; Cachoeira/BA, seat of the Provisional Government of Brazil at two points in the 19th century; and Niterói/RJ, capital of Rio de Janeiro between 1834 and 1894 and between 1903 and 1975.

edicoes agua para cavalos is an editorial project developed by visual artists Diego Passos and Juliano Ventura since 2014 in Florianópolis/SC. Its production, based on tactics of reproduction and self-publishing, involves the use of photocopying and screen printing and includes posters, booklets, pamphlets, T-shirts and other media. Some of the publications are displayed in public spaces as punctuations on walls, plaques, bus stops, pedestals, siding and shop windows throughout the city.