"Farol" is a 9-meter-tall vertical structure made up of 20,000 rubber and grease-coated rats, which was installed in the Anhangabaú Valley, in the historic center of São Paulo.
The idea came to me when I discovered that the metropolis has one of the largest rat populations on the planet: 170 million rodents—that is, 15 per inhabitant—and because of the meaning of the word “Anhangabaú,” which in the Tupi language means “Devil’s River,” since the indigenous people believed the place was haunted. Today, the city covers up this polluted river and its contaminated tributaries, which overflow during the flood season.
The installation brings to life the nightmare depicted in the exhibition *Dreams and Nightmares*, held in the city center, and reveals a black, unlit lighthouse emerging from the stone pavement, exposing the hidden underworld. I opened the exhibition with a performance in the Anhangabaú Valley, in which I applied 100 kilograms of grease to the rats in the installation with the spontaneous participation of the audience.
Metal structure, wood, acrylic, rubber mice, grease
9 m (height) x 4 m (diameter)
Photo: Nathália Abbud
