O Cluster Brings Tech Festival to Rio’s Casa França-Brasil this Weekend

By Jack Arnhold, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – O Cluster is celebrating its sixth anniversary as one of Rio’s premier events for the creative industries with a special tech festival edition, which will be exploring technology’s impact on the worlds of music, cinema, fashion and business this Saturday, November 24th and Sunday, November 25th at Casa França-Brasil and CCBB.

Both Saturday and Sunday are packed with the kind of exciting events that make O Cluster one of the most highly anticipated dates on Rio’s creative calendar. In addition, this sixth anniversary edition will be totally free to the public.

Also, for the first time, there will be a special ‘Conexões O Cluster’ (Connections of O Cluster) which will be running at Rio’s CCBB, current hosts of the popular ‘Basquiat’ exhibition. This parallel event will be presenting a weekend of lectures, workshops and panels.

On Saturday, these talks will include a 4PM discussion on how to find affordable technology in the city; there will then be a talk at 5PM on how technology has impacted the fashion market, featuring Beatrice Catarine, a designer of wearable technologies using biomaterials; and at 6PM there will be a discussion on new technologies and the education system, featuring designer and educator Isabel Scarlazzari.

On Sunday there will be a talk at 1:30PM on new materials and their possibilities; plus, at 3:30PM, the weekend of talks will be rounded off by a discussion on culture, fashion and technology, featuring the founder of O Cluster, Carolina Herszenhut.

Speaking to Rota Cult, Herszenhut comments, “We have been talking for a long time about fashion and new technologies. Last year we had an exhibition at the ‘Museu do Amanhã’ (Museum of Tomorrow) where several designers learned about new technologies and how to think about fashion when considering the scarcity of raw materials.”

“O Cluster is a great platform for raising awareness and it is natural for us to have a multi-disciplinary edition where we can promote dialogue between people from the technological and creative spheres.” She adds.

Continuing on the technological theme, throughout Saturday O Cluster will be showing four films, for free, that deal with technology and its implications. These are ‘Forbidden Planet’ at 1PM, ‘La Piel que Habito’ (The Skin I Live In) at 3PM, ‘The Fifth Element’ at 5:15PM, and ‘Metropolis’ at 7:30PM. Both ‘Forbidden Planet’ and ‘The Fifth Element’ will be shown in English with Portuguese subtitles.

On Sunday at 2PM there will be a showing of Brazilian rapper Marcelo D2’s visual album ‘Amar é para os Fortes’ (Love is for the Strong) followed by a debate with the actors and director of photography, Ronaldo Land. After this event they will show two short films, ‘Vandinho’ and ‘A paz ainda virá nessa vida’ (Peace will come in this life) courtesy of the Criaativo Film School.

There will also be a special clothing sale in partnership with DJ Closet – an all-female DJ collective comprised of Elisa Amaral, Nana Torres, Glitterada, and Glau Tavares – who sell used clothes at parties and events and donate a part of the profits towards the Rio-based charity ‘Casa Abrigo Lar da Mulher’ (Home Shelter for Women).

On Saturday night, O Cluster will host one of its legendary ‘birthday parties’ taking place from 9PM onwards on Saturday, which will feature DJ sets from Nado Leal, Elisa Amaral, and Andrei Yurievitch, among others. And on Sunday, at 4:30PM, there is a live ‘Prêmio Espíritu Libre Novos Sons’ (Battle of the Bands) featuring four new bands – Dr. Vodu, Guaporés, Venus Café, and Virótica – all competing for a special artistic grant courtesy of crowd-funding platform Benfeitoria.

What: Festival 6 Anos d’O Cluster: Edição Tech
When: Saturday, November 24th, 1PM-3AM; and Sunday, November 25th, 1PM-9PM
Where: Casa França Brasil – Rua Visconde de Itaboraí, 78 – Centro.
Entrance: FREE

Correction: This article has been updated on November 23rd to clarify that the clothing sale for ‘Casa Abrigo Lar da Mulher’ (Home Shelter for Women) is being held by the DJ Closet collective.