Associação Cultural Videobrasil

Editorial

Despite the present time of crisis, this year, when doing the planning for the 9^th Videobrasil International Festival, I opted for designing a much more ambitious structure than in previous year. Now the Festival is actually set up and I can see that surpasses the initial project. There are moments in history when creativity emerges with the beauty, energyand transformative power of a volcano. Probably we are at a brink of one of this periods . I dare to say this because the organization of an event such as Videobrasil puts me at the centre of a convergence of energy, in both Brazil and in the rest of the world.

It's a great privilege to work with this wonderful space, converted from an old factory by the architect Lina Bo Bardi, which seems ideally suited to the video festival: The SESC Fábrica Pompeia. From now on, at a pointwhen it has arrived at a more organic structure, Videobrasil will take place there. There are four big independent but interrelated programs: the Competitive Show, is open to productions from the whole of the southern hemisphere; the Jury's Proposal, takes advantage of its international jury, which gives us a chance to see other trends from abroad, and places the work of Brazilian artists within an international context. Homages gives a retrospective view of the work of the most important artists who have contributed in the development of the audivisual language; Images of the Future, a program dedicated to the technological evolution and its consequences on the art of video and on the media.

Pivoting around these central ideas, there are other events and activities circulating which prove to me that, even in the world context, the 9^th Videobrasil International Festival is important as a centre of reflection and debate. Many of these parallel activities fell accidently "into my lap" through ideas brought from people who, after enthusing about the Festival, became involved with it. There are six installations which use sophisticated technology. Two exhibitions: Impulsos Eletrônicos - produces especially for the Festival - and Totem Domésticos - performances by Otavio Donasci and Fausto Fawcet; two Round Tables about art and technology: a computer art workshop; a lecture about the oeuvre of Peter Greenway, and the launching of the survey-project 10 Questions for 100 Heads which Influence 100 Million People, basically proposing a reflection of the role of TV in Brazil.

There are two things which always intrigued me about the basic recipe of the Festivals : its ephemeral nature and spacial limitations. This year we are breaking these limits. The project 10 Questions transforms Videobrasil into a less ephemeral thing, because it will at least generate a publication of the analysed results. Three activities will break the spacial limits; TV Anhembi, community TV linked to the Govenment of São Paulo City, will be in their lorry, equipped with two-way link and videowall, with cameras ready to bring moments from the Festival to various points in the city. TV Cultura will produce and transmit Videobrasil/ Lanterna Magica, a daily half-hour program for the whole state of São Paulo, along with two-hour long programs broadcast nationally on the opening and the concluding day, The Videojornow program which has, since 1988, borne the trademark as Videobrasil's communication vehicle, will this year be produced in Betacam and brings with a novelty: the Videofone, which enables live interviws between videomakers direct from America. Videojornow will be produced by the Magnetoscópio team, directed by Marcelo Dantas and presented by the actor Carlos Moreno.

To conclude, I hope my intuitions are right and the sign of new times will be realised, taking the Festival through to the 21^st Century.

(9th Videobrasil catalogue). ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL VIDEOBRASIL. "9th Videobrasil International Festival": 21st to 27th September 1992, pp. 6 and 7, São Paulo, Brazil, 1992.

9th Videobrasil_ SESC São Paulo

In 1992, the Videobrasil International Festival completes its 9^th active year, which constitutes sufficient proof of the creative and formal possibilities of video. The works that the public will see demonstrate that this medium isn't just hi-tech, but above all, it is a language of aesthetic exploration, documentation and multimedia, enabling us to explore our less common sensibilities. This way of perceiving video seems important to us, because the main imagewhich springs to mind is that video is entirely dependent on the cinema industry, reaching us a family entertainment . To us it seems like a private capillary network, and our pleasure in its confined to the comfort of our living rooms and bedrooms. But the Festival dismisses such a simple and prosaic idea. It reflects upon and widens the possibilities of the plastic adventure.

The Serviço Social do Comércio - SESC of São Paulo, has through its production and support of artistic work, shown itself to be an institution of extreme importance for the survival, dispersal, and the development of our world culture. For these reasons its honoured by and at the same time responsible for the co-realisation of this, the most significant event of videoartistic creation in Brazil.

(9th Videobrasil catalogue). ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL VIDEOBRASIL. "9th Videobrasil International Festival": 21st to 27th September 1992, pp.9, São Paulo, Brazil, 1992.