2008

Three-channel video installation  with 550 weighing scales covered with yellow and green vinyl

Loop: 5’47” | Variable dimensions

Though local histories and official records disagree vehemently in their accounts, they do address the same globalized capitalist economy. One of the many existing expressions of this disagreement, funk has become as popular and as present as the local—and likewise unofficial—realities it represents. Of the Universe of the Ball points toward the mechanisms of social exclusion and the consequent exoticization that takes place within the culture of the image.

Three national symbols are confronted with their civic ineffectiveness: the Brazilian flag, which hangs inert, despite the vats of a fan swirling in the background; the Federal Constitution, read aloud by a drag queen who can barely read; and the National Anthem, played backward to the frenetic rhythm of Rio funk. In front of these three projections, the floor is covered by a chequer carpet of weighing scales covered in green and yellow, creating a sort of dance–floor. The visitors can walk across this floor and see their weights oscillate as they watch the three screens.