Bolsa Pampulha is one of Brazil's most traditional art residencies, promoting the visual arts within the Belo Horizonte region. Along with the team from JA.CA, the organization responsible for the event's production, I was in charge of everything graphic design related for its 7th edition.
As in other editions, the starting point for the visual identity was the museum itself. The idea was to absorb its many forms, colors and textures and rearrange them, creating a flexible system that could then be adapted to the event's various needs.
One key element to said system was the MAP font, based on the lettering on the museum's façade, and developed exclusively for the project. Throughout the identity, the rigidity of its geometric letterforms (a remarkable feature in modernism) was intertwined with curves from the museum and the lake in its surroundings (a remarkable feature in Niemeyer's modernism).
Throughout its six month duration the identity was able to 'evolve' along with the event itself. As the selected artists' work started to take shape the identity slowly went from a 'leading' to a 'supporting' role.
The event's identity was conceived before the artists who took part in it were even selected. The catalog, however, was only organized after the exhibition had taken place, and so it was possible to look back and absorb everything that was produced during the 7th Bolsa Pampulha.
Conceived by Daniel Toledo, the common 'theme' that emerged as its guiding principle was the contradiction between what's considered "modern" (as a synonym for "new" and "progress") and what "modernism" actually was (the octogenarian school of thought that lead the creation of Pampulha's Modern Ensemble).
The catalog covers reflected this duality. Its jacket's front highlight the idealized version of the modernist ideal, while its back and the catalog's actual cover show the current state of the modernist utopia, having to deal with the whole lot of things that were left out of its original masterplan.
Bolsa Pampulha's 7th edition was produced by JA.CA Center.
The photos of both the event's catalog and newsprint were taken by 42 Fotografia.
MAP, the font developed for the event's identity, can be downloaded Github under a SIL Open License (aka: for free), though it should be noted that it is still a prototype in an early stage of development.
The artists featured in the event were Alex Oliveira, Davi Jesus do Nascimento, Dayane Tropicaos, Desali, Gê Viana, Guerreiro do Divino Amor, Sallisa Rosa, Sara Lana, Simone Cortezão and Ventura Profana.
