Flávio de Carvalho
Subtitle: experience no. 2 : performed on a Corpus Christi procession : a possible theory and an experiment
By: essay, Lisette Lagnado
Contributors: Berlin Biennale (11th : 2019 : Berlin, Germany)
Publisher: Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
Published: 2020
Place of publication: Berlin
Language: eng
Number of pages: 62
ISBN-13: 9783982137339
Copyright date: 2020
Subjects: Exhibitions; Congresses; Mobs; Religious Psychology; Psychoanalysis
Other titles: Experience no. 2 :
Description: What kind of beast is a crowd? How does a pulsating collective body press against those within, outside, or underneath it? In what way are the powers of dissident bodies being incited today? These questions are at the core of Flávio de Carvalho's experiment in publicly disregarding religious norms. What was Flávio de Carvalho looking for in 1931 on the streets of São Paulo when he decided to walk through the crowd of a Corpus Christi procession without removing his hat? This simple gesture generated outrage and violent reactions among the audience watching the procession and almost led to the artist being lynched by an angry mob. Carvalho's decision to flaunt his irreverence before a group of fervent followers was sparked by the artist's deep interest in Sigmund Freud and mass psychology. Almost a century later, his account of his interactions with the crowd, Experiência no. 2, realisada sobre uma procissão de Corpus Christi [Experience no. 2, performed on a Corpus Christi procession], speaks to the spread of fear and hate inherent to the rise of nationalism and fanaticism all over the world.
Notes: Catalog of experience 2 of the 11th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, November 30, 2019-February 8, 2020.

Includes bibliographical references.