Project description - Favela Painting: Kid with Kite
Length: 6:10
Description: http://www.favelapainting.com The Favela Painting Project by Dre Urhahn and Jeroen Koolhaas. Watch interviews with the participating kids from Vila Cruzeiro.
Haas & Hahn is the working name of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. After receiving international acclaim for Favela Painting, their current project in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, they are preparing to embark on a wild journey to bring their outrageous works of art to other unexpected places around the world. Drawing inspiration from various aspect of modern city life and observing the growing effects of urbanization, they aim to 'flip' common reality inside out, incorporating various artistic media to question the public perception.
In 2006 they realized a large video installation in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, which was later shown during a cultural festival in Maratea, Italy. In Amsterdam, they exhibited various artworks, which were auctioned by Christies to raise funds for the realization of their 'Favela Painting' project. Their work was also shown at the 2008 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Architecture Biennale and has been part of various group exhibits. Their documentary about the lives of young rappers in the Brazilian slums has been broadcast on Dutch and Brazilian television and is still successfully shown at international film and culture festivals.
Haas & Hahn are currently at work on their second painting in the 'Favela Painting'-series. The first work, 'The boy with the kite', completed in early 2007, is situated prominently in the centre of in Vila Cruzeiro, a notorious Rio slum tormented by an ongoing war between the local drug gang and the police. Sparked by the warm reactions of both inhabitants as media, they returned the next year to start work on 'Rio Cruzeiro'. a 2000 square meter mural depicting a river rendered in traditional Japanese style. These community-driven interventions draw positive media attention to a misunderstood neighborhood and instill a sense of pride and self esteem in the residents. They are created together with local youths, stimulating them to use their creativity and offering them an alternative to a life of crime.
In the coming years Haas & Hahn aspire to create a range of various striking works of art in parts of the world where the frenzied pace of urbanization has left a social vacuum. Thereby provoking global attention and positive publicity, and fueling further publications and exhibitions.
Jeroen Koolhaas, born in Rotterdam in 1977, graduated with a degree in graphic design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and has been working as an illustrator for the New Yorker magazine and Prada. Dre Urhahn, born in Amsterdam in 1973, has worked as a journalist, copywriter and art-director and has set up successful companies handling anything from event management to television production. They have been working together since 2002.
Author: firmezatotalfilm
Source: YouTube
