Wall: of the Family Petrasi, Porto Alegre, Brasil, July 2000

organization: Stadt Porto Alegre   co-operation: Infostelle "Dritte Welt" des Ev. Kirchenkreises Duisburg Süd, die Entwicklungsgesellschaft Duisburg mbH und die Kindernothilfe e.V. Artists: Luis Flavio de Lacerda Vitola; Nestor Omar del Pina Salas, beide Porto Alegre / Brasilien; Eunice Duarte, Deutschland / Brasilien; Wolfgang Pilz / Deutschland

City of Porto Alegre

Die Wand in Porto Alegre

Mural Global in Porto Alegre

Detail 1

In 1999 first contacts between Duisburg and Porto Alegre were established as part of an exchange between representatives from trade unions. The " or¸amento participativo“, the "participatory community budget", which allows all citizens to take an active part in determining the priorities and financial matters regarding the quarter they live in, aroused great interest in Duisburg. This is a model that has found world-wide recognition and is worth being taken up elsewhere.

To begin with, this exchange did not really cover any cultural aspects. Hence it was decided to make Mural Global their first joint cultural project. Two walls were selected for painting, in Marxloh and Bruckhausen, both quarters that needed urban renewal. A third mural, at Duisburg central railway station, was adopted by students of Sophie Scholl Vocational School. They plan to look after the mural and provide information to passers-by, trying to create public interest in what the mural stands for.

Detail 2

The paint had hardly dried on the Duisburg murals when the four artists were off to Porto Alegre. This is the only mural project that has been realised in such a short time.
This speed is mainly due to the fact that the Secreatariat for International Relations and the Porto Alegre cultural department have supported and funded the project right from the beginning. The painting itself was done as part of the 14th Porto Alegre Art Festival. This enhanced the public attention the painting was given. The mural, acknowledged and praised by the mayor of Porto Alegre as a "present for Porto Alegre", is to be seen in its shining colours in the middle of town at a busy intersection.

Detail 4

Here again, as in other exchange projects between North and South, it has become obvious that partners in the South attach much more importance to the exchange and the project involved than is the case here in Germany. "The hospitality extended to the artists and the respect shown for their work provide an experience from which we can learn a lot.", says Jürgen Sokoll, One-World-Promoter and the person behind the Duisburg project, who went to Porto Alegre with the artists.

Detail 5

Stadt Porto Alegre: www.portoalegre.rs.gov.br

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