Brazilian multi-disciplinary artist Allan Weber makes his international debut at Nottingham Contemporary with a solo exhibition: My Order, a show exploring the many meanings of the word ‘order’ with its focus spanning orders enforced by police in Rio de Janeiro to orders received by food delivery drivers.
Weber’s work pays close attention to the favelas in Rio, which are areas where people build their own homes from materials like sheet metal and plastic in close proximity to one another. Favelas tend to have a poor reputation in Brazil where they are considered dirty and crime-ridden. Weber aims to correct these prejudices by highlighting the ripe culture within these low income communities, specifically the presence of ‘bailes funk’ (or ‘funk parties’ in English). These parties happen in tents made from tarpaulins where residents gather to listen to loud music and dance.
Weber spent time observing and interacting with Nottingham-based delivery drivers, attending popular social spots for drivers, such as the cafe, Made in Brazil, and barbershop, Arabian Barber.
Despite the vibrant cultural benefit to these events, Brazilian officials have banned funk parties, oftentimes arresting attendees and cutting apart these tarpaulin structures. My Order shows work made from deconstructed tarpaulins to represent the injustice of this criminalisation of culture in Brazil, and to criticize the oppressive law enforcement responsible for the destruction of these tarp-tents and obstruction of community expression.
Weber has explored the profession of the food delivery driver, both in his home country Brazil, where he worked as one alongside his artistic pursuits, and more locally, through his month-long residency in Nottingham. During this time, Weber spent time observing and interacting with Nottingham-based delivery drivers, attending popular social spots for drivers, such as the cafe, Made in Brazil, and barbershop, Arabian Barber. Including various delivery driver paraphernalia, specifically carriers and motorbike parts, Weber’s largest piece is a deconstructed motorbike hung in nets and spans an entire room. This work represents the precariousness of a career of working for a food delivery service due to the lack of both job and financial security. His time at Arabian Barber led to the creation of a work made completely of razor blades generally used to cut fades, which are popular haircuts in Rio. This piece stands in the exhibit, while another work of the same medium hangs in the barbershop itself.
Football is a key component of Weber’s artwork. In Rio, Weber started an art gallery called Galleria 5 Bocas and within it, a football team called Cinco Bocas FC. The club aims to provide job opportunities for young locals in art and football in the hopes that they will then avoid turning to illegal activities to make money. My Order shows a collection of football shirts, each inscribed with words and phrases in Portuguese, some from Weber’s writing, some proverbs, and others from the Bible. During Weber’s time in Nottingham he worked with Art of Football to create the football scarves for sale in Contemporary’s shop. These scarves have ‘Cinco Bocas’ written on one side, and on the other, ‘nenhum lugar do mundo e igual nosso lugar no mundo’: ‘no place in the world is like our place in the world’.
Catch Allan Weber’s My Order at Nottingham Contemporary until Sunday 4 May.
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