ECOARt, an immersive installation that shows the beauty of Brazilian biomes as a way of approaching the importance of environmental preservation, is on view at Farol Santander Porto Alegre. The exhibition title brings together the words eco (ecosystem) and art, forming echo-art, which both conveys the idea of environmental preservation through art, as well as echoing a message for preserving the planet.
The installation is made up of monumental structures in a cylindrical shape. In them, videos of each biome are projected, made up using images by important photographers, such as Araquém Alcântara (Amazon and Pantanal), Cássio Vasconcellos (Atlantic Forest), Tadeu Vilani (Pampas) and André Dib (Cerrado and Caatinga). As a way of making the experience more complete, the public will be able to walk on a floor covered with dry leaves, feeling their noises, textures, and smells.
Vasconcellos presents works from the series Viagem pitoresca pelo Brasil, which he began in 2015. In this series of photographs, the artist establishes a dialogue with the scientific expeditions that took place in the first half of the 19th century in Brazil. These travels gathered used artists and scientists to travel through the bowels of the national territory to explore and map its fauna and flora.
“I believe that the best way to raise public awareness of a pro-preservation message is through beauty and not destruction… An immersive tour through the diversity of nature, with its spectacular landscapes, and warning that if precautions are not taken, these ' jewels' will disappear, it's a very strong alert made in a positive and playful way”, says Ricardo Nauenberg, the multimedia artist who created the show.
At the exhibition, QR codes will take the public to the ZYX platform, where the exhibition also takes place. There, texts and videos about each biome are available, with narration and comments by biologist Gustavo Martineli, PhD in Ecology from the University of St.Andrews, UK.