Rafael Hanuman

The current time, globalized, technological, integrated by various means: physical, analog, vibrational, and social.

Where did this world come from, the one that is once again divided in two; and why is it divided in two?

Various ships, increasingly large, supersonic planes, ultra-fast trains sliding on magnetic rails.

This world will generate a new art. However, let us not forget the arts of the past, especially those that were fundamental.

Analyzing an art: it’s either done at the time it’s contemporary, creating a manifesto, or it’s done later, creating art history.

Since we are in neither of these situations, and artistic practices still appear in memory, let us remain within the context of the arts of flow.

From the end of the USSR to the war in Ukraine, there was a period when the world was seen as one, globalized, a global village.

Many made an effort, and others had no objections, to integrate peoples.

Because the rich united with the rich, and the poor, in their misery, united with the poor.

And the good united with the good, and the bad with the bad. And so on.

The decrease in transport costs and the establishment of long-range routes,

Translation technologies, and finally pocket computers called smartphones,

Facilitated a flow. And if countries had perceived that they were losing qualified labor, there would have been no flow.

Yet at that time, qualified labor wasn’t understood. As it still isn’t today.

The flow was made up of the curious, the eccentric, the adventurers, those who didn’t fit,

not good people, people of ill repute and poor living.

The artists, ultimately. Just as in the transition from feudalism to capitalist urbanism. The art of flow. Art made within the flow.

The labor that flowed back and forth was the labor of ideas. The Western factories remained, but ideas were lacking.

What importance do ideas have? Ideas are the solutions. Every industrial activity has problems and needs solutions.

And where do solutions come from? They come from the minds of creative people. They come from artists. Those artists who left.

Street musicians, street poets, sidewalk artists and cartoonists, street artisans, jugglers, etc.

And there were so many creatives who left that it represented an artistic movement.

Many, because people had the freedom to unite by affinities.

The context allowed people to unite by affinities.

Some, because they had the courage to throw a backpack on their shoulders and travel.

The rest joined by affinity because they were left behind. Those who stayed.

I, who made this post 15 years ago, the photos were taken at a party that was key to changing perspective.

The original text was about the art of flow. I called it *Panis et Circenses*, Bread and Circus in the sense of the circus that generated the bread during the flow.

And I, who was in the flow, at that time still had no awareness of the number of people who were thinking the same way.

Suddenly, family came to mean the closest people. And nation came to mean the most similar culture.

No one had to tolerate the 60 people surrounding us in the small towns of the 1980s.

This once again created a polarized world. This flow is no longer possible because like-minded people are already together.

It’s impossible to simulate affinities. Many tried to leave Brazil and were forced to return.

From the Middle East (Iran) to the Far East (China), it’s no longer possible to reach.

Now, if we assess the countries that have been technologically revolutionized, they are precisely those in the East.

And, in large part, these technological revolutions were supported by the travelers of the flow of the early 2000s/2010s.

These were people born in the 1980s/1990s who didn’t follow conventions. If a convention didn’t please them, they left to live another way.

But let’s go back to the art of those who were in the flow. Each one who traveled did not travel with financial support.

Each one had to solve the question of how to support themselves. And each was creative.

And street activities, like peddling, had their costs.

But art didn’t cost anything.

I needed a musical instrument.

I made a musical instrument. I invented an instrument.

And in the same way, each one managed as best they could. Poets, musicians, sidewalk artists.

I left Blumenau. At that time, I was working in the textile industry and at the same time was a visual artist.

And I was doing another activity that has lost its meaning today, artistic photography.

After smartphones, having a professional camera lost its sense.

I went out into the streets with my professional super-camera, capturing what I saw as unusual. And I encountered a silver living statue.

He was painting himself in front of a mirrored storefront, and I asked to photograph him. I no longer have those photos.

One thing that happened on my travels was losing much material from previous works.

But I photographed this group from the party a lot and promoted their arts.

Until, at one point, I was already part of the group.

The Brazilian in a group of foreigners in Brasil.

I was invited to a gathering at the house they rented.

I noticed they were very talented but never settled anywhere.

And so they made bolero with a Brazilian touch, salsa with an Argentine tango touch...

Artisans who mixed works from various indigenous cultures from different countries, a cultural mix.

And the important thing was that they did it well. They had all gone through the natural selection of the streets in very diverse places.

That’s why you can’t make these journeys on sponsorship or funding. Because not everyone has this ability. People need to be tested.

And those who were tested and approved managed to go far. I, for example, intended to reach India.

And I didn’t make it. I ended up in Chile, although I had a second route option, which was to reach Cuba.

I didn’t make it, and yet I returned. Let’s see if I manage to leave again.

I’m going to share a situation with more seasoned travelers.

The one where you meet a foreigner and want to know that person’s country.

And when you arrive in that country, you find that the rest of their compatriots have nothing in common with that person.

This happens because people who travel a lot don’t look like any place, they don’t have an accent from any place.

This group in the photos was like that. Later, I lived with a Frenchwoman, an Australian, two Germans, an Indian,

a Korean, two Chinese women, a Venezuelan, an older American, and a young Russian. None of them represented the standard type of their countries. Nor did I.

My Australian friend, who was dating the Venezuelan in Chile, explained to me: those who travel a lot don’t belong to any place; they’re what they call world citizens.

And at that moment, I had what I was told at that party in the photos.

To travel, you have to have an open mind; countries are whole worlds.

You have to learn to live as if you’re on another planet. And that’s why those who need financing can’t adapt.

It’s impossible to live outside the womb and maintain the umbilical cord. Those people couldn’t succeed.

But I point to that group as very important to me because they gave me this standard.

In the family of world citizens, they were my siblings.