🧠✨The Nexialist #0007

The Right to Party, Non-Carnaval, Reclaiming the Concrete Jungle, Peeking at North Korea and more...

Welcome to The Nexialist, the newsletter that makes you want to party (and that’s ok)

Hello, my dear readers!

This week was supposed to be Carnaval in Brazil, one of the dearest and most meaningful celebrations for millions of Brazilians. If you haven’t experienced it, I recommend living it at least once. I haven’t been back there in two years, so this edition will be quite nostalgic with my birth city. And parties.

Also, this is the seventh edition of The Nexialist, and that’s is a lucky number for me. Maybe something good will happen (such as you hitting the like and share button😏). This week has been intense with work, so forgive any mistakes you might find below. It’s all made with love.

🏞Amsterdam Alps?

Santiago, Belo Horizonte, and the North of Italy all have something in common: mountains all around it. When I visited these places, I kept thinking about how it changes your perception of space and size having mountains around you all the time. This video shows us what Amsterdam would look like with mountains. (Thank you, Mats!)

🇰🇵Peeking at North Korea

This week I came across this video from Duo CINZA at NOWNESS and it pulled me in immediately. I think since we are not able to travel, seeing new places, even in a video, can trigger some traveler’s feelings. This one especially got me thinking about how they collected these images. It is also so eerie to see these ordinary moments in a country that we don’t get to see a lot, filmed, and edited in such a beautiful way. NOWNESS, by the way, is a great place to go to the visually inspired.

A rainy day in Pyongyang, North Korea. KOREA is part III of a project that explores areas marked by conflicts looking for a personal and contemplative look at its landscapes and people. Having the ultra-secretive North Korea as a subject imposed many obstacles whilst capturing the images due to restricted movements and constant supervision. Through these images and sounds, we look to evoke and shed light at the tense atmosphere of a country that looks displaced in time and space.

🌆Concrete Jungle

If you enjoy street art, this documentary from 2014 is a must-watch. São Paulo’s walls are filled with art and it has become a trademark of the city, with artists known internationally, such as OSGEMEOS and Nina Pandolfo. Cidade Cinza (Grey City) shows the tension and cultural dispute of this artform. It brings into the real world the debate of what is art and for whom.

🫀Meet Criolo

Criolo is a Brazilian singer and rapper from São Paulo. This song was the soundtrack from the “Grey City” documentary above and I remember falling in love with it from the moment I heard it. I decided to add this musician here because he is a good example of humility. In a nutshell: a song he had released years before had transphobic terms in the lyrics. After he was called out he openly apologized, took this song (along with others) out of streaming platforms, and released it with new lyrics.

A couple of years later he released Etérea, such a chic song (it’s the appropriate adjective, yes) that poetically talks about being open to learning, acceptance, and fluidity. The dancers in the video represent different LGBTQ+ collectives from Brazil such as Batekoo and Coletividade Namíbia. It’s great to see how he used his platform to introduce these collectives to the world and it feels so authentic.

You can watch the video above with subtitles (English and Spanish), as well as a mini-documentary to get to know these artists and hear their stories.

👂Fierce

I might have found a new favorite fashion video. The shoes clacking music, the collection, the accessories, the models, the craftsmanship. Just WOW.

🌃Reclaiming The Jungle

In São Paulo, as a movement against the elitism in nightclubs with absurd prices for entrance and drinks, people started organizing parties in public places, for free or at a low entrance rate. These parties stole the scene, changed the face of the city and impressed anyone who would come from abroad as well as other cities.

In this 2014 documentary, they show some of the people behind these collectives and the political meaning of this movement that promoted collective and democratized fun and culture, by occupying the city streets.

Read: São Paulo’s nightlife collectives are building a home for themselves

🔫A Machine Gun in State of Grace

I just had to squeeze this here: a must-listen Brazilian group from São Paulo, TETO PRETO. A few years ago I wrote a text about the meanings in references in the lyrics, from the Bible to surreal Brazilian poetry.

Beyond all the meanings about Brazil’s current state, sung by old verses and influencing our future, this piece reminds us of a saying that I see clearly in Brazil, that partying is also fighting [o fervo também é luta]. And if you allow me: today, every gesture and expression become protest.

🏳️‍🌈In Defence of Sex and Parties

It’s been almost a year since partying and sex became basically illegal. And now – according to a lot of people on Twitter – stating that you miss these things, and that lockdown life is boring, should basically be illegal, too.

I saw this article shared quite a few times on my social media and I immediately connected it to the Reclaiming the Jungle documentary. Sophie brings important reflections about the social and political meaning of partying and defends our right to party (beyond the pandemic) and protest. She also reminds us to resist these socially conservative impulses to shame people for even wanting to party.

“A good party is, among other things, an affront to capitalism. It can provide a collective escape from drudgery, a sanctuary from oppression, a chance to transcend. It revives our utopian imaginations. A good party has elements of prefiguration, glimpses into a better future; it gets you high on hope.”

🤞A reminder:

In 1918, the Spanish Flu took over Rio, leaving tens of thousands of victims. In 1919, Rio had its most memorable and iconic Carnaval celebration of all-times, with nonstop celebrations and euphoria taking over the city. They say history is cyclical, so I can’t wait to be part of the moment when we’ll beat that record. Hopefully in 2022. We can do this!

❤️If anything made your brain tingle, click like and don't hesitate to share it with the world. It helps The Nexialist to reach more curious minds. See you next week!🦦

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