Art Rua 2013: Celebration of Urban Art

By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Running parallel to the larger contemporary ArtRio 2013 event, the urban art festival, Art Rua (Street Art), will begin on September 5th and go through the 8th. The celebration of urban art and culture will include the works of 55 national and international artists in exhibitions, live paintings, galleries, lectures and two nights of parties with live music.

Located in the Centro neighborhood of Gamboa and near Art Rio’s location in Pier Mauá, the festival will also be part of the city’s Port Zone, an area of the city that is going through major renovations in recent years.

The Art Rua festival was created in 2011 by the Instituto R.U.A. (Street Institute) in partnership with Visionart’z with the integration of more art into the renovation of the Port Zone district as the goal of the festival.

“Art Rua comes to Rio de Janeiro to bring a new and fresh point of view of this part of the city,” curator Pedro Araripe told The Rio Times. “Gamboa is a neighborhood that was forgotten by the citizens, and now its passing through a process of revitalization that is giving the place a new perspective, and our idea is to transform it into a design district, like the Wynwood in Miami.”

Currently over seventy galleries and museums are located in the Wynwood district in Miami, Florida, U.S., making it a center of urban art in that region. In 2012, Art Rua was showcased there, introducing Rio street art to the area.

For its second edition at home this year, two fully restored warehouses will host the festival in the “Olympic village” of Gamboa. Each space has an area measuring 150x25m, or 3,750m2 plus an outdoor area of 7,500m2 – about the size of a football (soccer) pitch.

The main building, which was once a railroad depot, will house dozens of panels held by 55 national and international artists. Confirmed artists for the event include; Dabs Myla, Toz, Di Couto, Akuma Santos, Coletivo Grafico, Chico (Chico 21) Silva, Marcelo Eco, Panmela Castro, Fabio Ribeiro Binho and Marcelo Ment.

“I believe that undoubtedly most of the population has greater contact with street art than with art in general,” Rio artist and participant in the event, Marcelo Ment told The Rio Times.

“From the moment we see Rio artists taking their art to galleries, international festivals, etc. we realize that even with some resistance in some more traditional sectors, people are discussing the art. They are inserting it into projects, campaigns and products and they are purchasing pieces by these artists to place in their homes.”

The market for urban art and urban revitalization will also be discussed in fourteen lectures on September 5th and 6th. Additionally, for two nights of the festival, Friday, September 6th and Saturday, September 7th, the sheds will close to the public at 9PM and then re-open for the parties at 11PM.

On September 6th, “Black music and Live performance” night, will include shows by KinKid, Rafa Canholato (Funk the Chic), Wladimir Gasper d Pathy DeJesus (MTV DJ and VJ) and DJ Tucho. The second night, dedicated to “Electronic and Alternative” will feature performances by ; Secchin, Apollo, High Class Underground (Rodrigo Peirão and Marcos Leta), Triple Crown and Toucan.

What : Art Rua 2013
Where: Galpões da Vila Olímpica da Gamboa – Rua União s/n
When: September 5th-8th
Entrance: FREE during the day
Festa: (Sept 6th and 7th) R$60-R$280
Tickets for a single night of the festival or a two night passport can be purchased online here.