{"id":182101,"date":"2015-04-10T15:55:54","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T18:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=182101"},"modified":"2015-05-20T16:09:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T19:09:20","slug":"creating-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/creating-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating space"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

Marlene B\u00e9rgamo \/ HB filmes Collection <\/span>The filming of Carandiru<\/em> (2003), by Hector Babenco. Hamburger was the scenographerMarlene B\u00e9rgamo \/ HB filmes Collection <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Over three decades, Vera Hamburger, a graduate of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo School of Architecture and Urban Studies (FAU-USP), has built a respectable and dedicated career as art director, set designer and costume designer in films and theater and in organizing exhibits. Yet her restlessness and heightened sense of curiosity only intensified as she gained experience. Beginning in 2003, with three concomitant projects, Hamburger found herself steeped in reflective research on art direction, without neglecting professional creation. During this same period, she was either the scenographer or the art director for films such as Carandiru<\/em> (2003) and O passado <\/em>(The Past – 2007), both by Hector Babenco, N\u00e3o por acaso <\/em>(Not by Chance – 2006), by Philippe Barcinski, and Hoje <\/em>(Today – 2010), by Tata Amaral.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized that no one really understood art direction and in 2003 I began to teach for the purpose of thinking about the topic and discussing it with the students,\u201d Hamburger says. That same year, she obtained a grant from the Vitae Foundation for research on art direction in the Brazilian cinema. \u201cSince then I have combined the two aspects: research and artistic production.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A

Jeyne Stakflett\/Vera Hamburger Collection <\/span>A painting crew in one of the scenes from Castelo R\u00e1-tim-bum, o filme<\/em> (Castelo R\u00e1-tim-bum, the film – 2000), by Cao Hamburger. Vera Hamburger was the art director with Cl\u00f3vis BuenoJeyne Stakflett\/Vera Hamburger Collection <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The basis of the book, Arte em cena \u2013 a dire\u00e7\u00e3o de arte no cinema brasileiro<\/em> (Scenery art \u2013 art direction in the Brazilian cinema), was theory and historical research work, and it was published last year by Editora Senac in conjunction with Edi\u00e7\u00f5es Sesc. The book is a compendium on practices, tasks and procedures in art direction (including functions such as site selection, scenography, costumes, makeup and special effects). In addition, there is information on the career paths of four professionals in the field: Pierino Massenzi, Cl\u00f3vis Bueno, Marcos Flaksman and Adrian Cooper, as well as descriptions of work they have done on specific films.<\/p>\n

In the parallel development of teaching activity, \u201cit turned out that hands-on experience was more worthwhile than lectures.\u201d The outcome was the Permeable Borders Interdisciplinary Laboratory, established in 2013 at the USP School of Communications and Arts (ECA-USP). \u201cFor the first time, I had the opportunity to take advantage of research that was performed exclusively in the work space, without interference from a narrative,\u201d Hamburger says. This original observation, which came from the \u201cownership of acceptance of the exercises by the students,\u201d evolved into a third project: the master\u2019s dissertation entitled O desenho do espa\u00e7o c\u00eanico: da experi\u00eancia vivencial \u00e0 forma<\/em> (Designing scenic space: from life experience to form), defended in late 2014.<\/p>\n

\"A

Ram\u00f3n Canelles\/Vera Hamburger Collection<\/span>A scene from Kenoma<\/em> (1998), by Eliane Caff\u00e9, art direction by Hamburger: preliminary work done one year before filming beganRam\u00f3n Canelles\/Vera Hamburger Collection<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The invitation to the course, offered as an elective in the ECA Audiovisual Department, was opened up to several fields. \u201cIn my opinion, it would be wonderful if the university adopted a multidisciplinary approach as opposed to investing only in specialization,\u201d Hamburger says. Selected based on letters of intent, the students came from FAU and the Departments of Scenery Art, Visual Arts and Audiovisual Arts of the ECA. The starting point was to conduct intervention exercises in space, without any narrative script, based solely on the essential elements of conformity of the space, such as lines, points, light, materials, colors, textures and projected images, in direct constructive interventions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn teaching as well as in artistic practice, the narrative and conceptual question is the main objective, while the initial approximation, in reality, is from the body and sensations,\u201d Hamburger says. From Josef Albers, the German-American visual artist, she borrowed the idea of developing theory through practice. The first module consisted of developing these perceptions in defined spaces. The second transported the experience to locations, in other words, uncontrolled environments. And the third reverted to theorization based on the process that was tested. \u201cWhat I found was that each participant had a distinct relationship with the course directors,\u201d Hamburger says.<\/p>\n

\"Pierino

Public domain image<\/span>Pierino Massenzi of Italy designed and built the first scenographic city in Latin America for Tico-tico no fub\u00e1<\/em> (1952), the fictionalized version of the life of Brazilian composer Zequinho de Abreu, by Adolfo Celi. The book Arte em cena<\/em> gives the scenographer\u2019s accountPublic domain image<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

One of the students gave the following account in his final report: \u201cI have always concentrated on the so-called most important things. And all the collective work came into focus. I eventually observed what I should do and what I was actually able to do. (…) It was like a 180-degree turnaround in my method of being. (…) Suddenly the world of what is significant overcame the world of meanings.\u201d The professor herself absorbed the experience in a similar manner and saw the connection between teaching experiences and the creation of new work dynamics in preparing scenographic projects or in practices used on a film set: ongoing exercises in creating the collective work. \u201cEach one has a time and a contribution,\u201d Hamburger says.<\/p>\n

\"The

Cinemateca Brasileira Collection<\/span>The circus Pierino Massenzi put together for Tico-tico no fub\u00e1<\/em>Cinemateca Brasileira Collection<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

It was not until 1985 that the term art direction first appeared in the credits of a Brazilian film: O beijo da mulher aranha<\/em> (The Kiss of the Spider Woman), by Babenco. That was when Hamburger began working in the field. Since then, she has noticed a change in the level of appreciation for art direction and a clearer understanding of what it is. The film director, the photography director and the art director together form the three-pronged unit that generates the visual conception of a film.<\/p>\n

Given the complexity of each individual\u2019s job, the nature of the process dictates that every individual brings with him or her a different concept of moviemaking. Art director Cl\u00f3vis Bueno Como, who was one of the individuals interviewed in the book, says that he turns it into an exercise of\u00a0 conquest of one over another. \u201cWe experience suffering and pleasure at the same time, but it is always an incredible exercise,\u201d says Hamburger, whose research has not yet been published in full. It deals with the history of scenography and art direction in fictional Brazilian cinema, from its inception at the turn of the 19th<\/sup> century to the 20th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vera Hamburguer combined research and artistic production","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[216],"coauthors":[137],"class_list":["post-182101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","tag-film"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182101"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=182101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}