Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - Yayoi Kusama

The exhibition by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in downtown Rio is a huge success. "Obsessão Infinita" - infinite obsession - is a chance to dive into the universe of a very special artist. In Yayoi Kusama's world everything is covered with polka-dots, and so the exhibition has thousands of them. The exhibition is very colorful, with paintings, sculptures, film and light and people seem to identify strongly with what they experience.

 

The fact that pictures are allowed in parts of the exhibition seems to be part of the success, in the times of selfies, everyone, even the blogger here, wants to take pictures in the middle of the polka-dots!

 

 

 

The exhibition will be on until January 20, 2014 - don't miss it! As for Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, a beautiful and impressive building from 1906 that used to host Banco do Brasil,it was turned into a cultural center in 1989. CCBB is a must for all art lovers in Rio, there is always something going on!

Parque Eduardo Guinle

These are times that try (wo)men's souls in Rio. Global heating and the city's Mayor, are bringing troubles to all, who or what is the most responsible is difficult to say...the fact is that it is not easy to get out and about these days.This week pouring rain brought chaos and tragedy, and the Mayor urged "cariocas" not to leave their homes!

Therefore this post is dedicated to a park that is walking distance from my home; Parque Eduardo Guinle. Originally the park was the garden of the Guinle family's palace, built in the 1920's. Today the palace is the oficial residence of The Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Palácio Laranjeiras, and the park is therefore safe and guarded. I set out to visit on a very, very hot and humid afternoon, but it was worth the walk, the park is calm, green and has plenty of shade. I was happy to see children playing, people having a picnic in the grass and  others sitting on the benches or feeding the birds in the pond.

At the entrance I was greeted by two winged lions and by the beautiful gates:

Inside the park the pond full of birds is the natural center:

 

The park is actually a small valley, there are small waterfalls and tiny brooks leading down to the pond.

 

Around the park there is a group of apartment buildings designed by the architect Lucio Costa, the same architect that designed many buildings in Brasília. The buildings were built in 1948-1954 and are all marked by the use of "cobogós", bricks that let the air pass through them and keep the buildings cool. The cobogós were invented by three Brazilian engineers and were widely used in modern Brazilian architecture.