Arts

Festival Brasileiro

A three-day festival of Brazilian culture is being held at the University’s Colchester Campus from 21-23 May.
 
Curated by the Lakeside Theatre’s current Artist in Residence Adriano Adewale, Festival Brasileiro will include exciting events showcasing the vibrancy and the variety of Brazilian culture. 
 
A highly personal project for Brazilian-born Adewale, he has worked closely with Arts on 5, The University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art (UECLAA) and Segue productions to draw together many of the finest exponents of Brazilian arts and culture and build a festival programme that is inspiring, educational and entertaining.
 
The main venue for Festival Brasileiro will be the Lakeside Theatre, whose foyer will play host to an exhibition of Brazilian artworks from the UECLAA collection.
The festival will kick off on Friday with explosive play The Last Days of Gilda, followed by a dance workshop in preparation for the evening’s Forro party.
 
Saturday 22 May sees Festival Brasileiro spreading to the campus squares with giant mural painting, traditional food, film screenings, arts workshops, singing and percussion workshops and the afternoon’s grand finale, the traditional Bumba Meu Boi . In the evening there will be a performance from Adriano Adewale’s new band Umpatacum at the Lakeside Theatre and an Afro Brazilian club night hosted by top London DJs in Level 2.
 
On the Sunday, renowned Brazilian artist Elia Bracher will give a tour of the Brazilian sculptures in Wivenhoe Park,  Adriano Adewale will team-up with local youth jazz ensembles to perform a new repertoire of Brazilian music and there will be a discussion of Brazilian culture between Adewale and academics from the University.
 
The festival’s grand finale will be a triple bill concert which tracks the uplifting Choro music style from classical European to contemporary Brazilian music. Headliners Caratinga brought the house down at their Lakeside Theatre concert last year.
More events are in the pipeline for the festival. To keep up to date visit www.essex.ac.uk/artson5 or email your contact details to arts@essex.ac.uk to receive the weekly e-newsletter.

Building up a different vision

The utopian and dystopian ideas embodied in the structures around us are the focus of a new exhibition at the University Gallery.
 
Structurescape, on from 1-26 June, will feature internationally-acclaimed artists Jane Prophet, David Cotterrell, Leon Ferrari and Sachiyo Nishimura.
 
The exhibition has been curated by MA Gallery Studies and Critical Curating students from the Department of Art History and Theory.
 
Neo-Pangaea: An exploration of cultural hybridity which is also curated by students from the MA in Gallery Studies and Critical Curating is currently at the gallery until May 22.
 
For more information on both exhibition see: www.essex.ac.uk/artson5/