Brazil: “The Spectacle of Growth”

When, in 2003, then-president Lula announced that Brazil would experience a “spectacle of growth,” the phrase seemed like a populist saying, still tributary to the paltry promises that, over the decades, insisted on defining us as the “country of the future.” However, in these ten years, a lot has in fact changed, and our economic growth (albeit fluctuating), in the context of a world in crisis, has made Brazil an “emerging country.” Internally, the mechanization of corporate mining and agriculture (agribusiness), combined with large state infrastructure projects, seek to redirect the path of economic growth to the Central-West, North and Northeast regions of the country, with repercussions in the cities. This exhibition aims to sketch a portrait of this new urban Brazil, still poorly located by the radars of the Southeast and architectural critics.
The research team made an exploratory trip to key locations in this transformation process, in the states of Pernambuco and Pará. Santa Cruz do Capibaribe (PE) is now the second largest textile hub in Latin America. The small town of Salgueiro (PE) has become the new hub for important infrastructure projects in the country, such as the Transnordestina Railway and the São Francisco River Transposition Canal. And while the Port of Suape (PE), known as the “Brazilian China”, is preparing to become our largest oil refinery, Marabá and Parauapebas (PA) are experiencing the simultaneously driving and predatory effects caused by the proximity of the Carajás mines, and Altamira (PA) is undergoing considerable transformation due to the removal of population and the environmental impact caused by the Belo Monte Power Plant.
If this new developmentalism brings back memories of the “economic miracle” of the 1970s, the Brazil we see now is no longer just the one of misery that began with Brasília: Transamazônica, Serra Pelada, Indians wearing Lee jeans. Today, it seems that “Bye-bye Brazil” is turning the screw for the second time, with the presence of large foreign capital, associated with the production of commodities, and the reduction of both social and geographic inequalities, giving rise to the idea of a new “middle class”. A group of people who buy refrigerators, televisions, cars and motorcycles, and are both capable of renovating their self-built houses in the cities and can receive properties in the large suburban complexes of the Minha Casa Minha Vida Program, opening up new fronts of urban expansion. It remains to be seen whether this recent growth has brought real development, promoting better social justice and education beyond consumerism, or whether it renews the old Brazilian contrasts in the form of an unexpected growth of the spectacle.

(Guilherme Wisnik, opening text of the exhibition Brazil: “ The Spectacle of Growth ” ,

10th São Paulo Architecture Biennial, 2013)