“Centrópole 457”– “Downtown 457″ is an exhibit celebrating São Paulo’s 457th anniversary. The show is a result of the research conducted in the nineties with black and white pictures of downtown São Paulo, including the updated transformation of the pictures in Digital Art, printed on acrylic. Eight pictures in black and white and eight in digital art were exhibited, comparing the old and the new.
Shopping Center Cidade Jardim (January 2011 – February 2011) • São Paulo, SP – Brazil
“Centrópole 457” (Downtown 457)
Going to the city meant going downtown. What was once glamour is now only a shadow. A shadow that sleeps on the sidewalks, and leaves the fragrance of abandonment in the air, though it has no perfume. The symbols of the past nobility are the antique poles, the classic façades, the designed sidewalks and the reminiscent commerce.
“Downtown 457” is an exhibit celebrating São Paulo’s 457th anniversary.
It is the result of my research made in the nineties with black and white photos taken at Praça Santa Cecília (in downtown São Paulo), when I was still studying architecture and urban planning. In 2010, these images were transformed into Digital Art, one of the most commonly used techniques nowadays.
At the time (1990), the images were used to show the deterioration of downtown São Paulo to the authorities, after the construction of the Viaduto Costa e Silva, a local overpass. Lack of planning, investment and sensibility, has anything changed?
The idea behind the pieces in DA (Digital Art) printed on Acrylic is to maintain the beauty of the past and to give soul to the new.
Andrea Annunziata
