{"id":36534,"date":"2017-05-21T11:38:20","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T14:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=36534"},"modified":"2017-05-24T09:57:41","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T12:57:41","slug":"national-historic-museum-receives-archives-documenting-vila-autdoromos-fight-against-evictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=36534","title":{"rendered":"National Historic Museum Receives Archives Documenting Vila Aut\u00f3dromo’s Fight Against Evictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Emotion and excitement filled the Gilberto Gil auditorium at Rio\u2019s National Historic Museum<\/a> (MHN) this past Thursday, May 18 on International Museum Day<\/a> as the museum received Vila Autodromo<\/a>\u2019s archive of documented history<\/a> and struggle against evictions<\/a>. The favela, located next door to Rio\u2019s Olympic Park<\/a>, faced enormous eviction pressures from\u00a0the City, but a small group of families managed to remain to the end. The entire community except for its Catholic\u00a0Church was demolished, and only twenty families managed to stay in newly built houses. The ceremony marked a symbolic moment in Brazil\u2019s history, where for the first time, the MHN engaged\u00a0in a collective process to create a space of action and resistance, beyond a traditional museum display. As resident and activist Maria da Penha<\/a> powerfully stated, \u201cthe archive serves as a resistance tool more so than simply preserving memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vila<\/a><\/p>\n

Members of the MHN and Vila Autodromo residents met several times to discuss the archive and which pieces should be displayed and preserved. As the MHN representative said, \u201cthe objective goes beyond bringing a social movement into the MHN, but to collectively construct the space with the participation of Vila Autodromo\u2019s movement.\u201d This new, participatory way of museology focuses on resistance and action, and adds\u00a0yet another breakthrough\u00a0to the long list of impacts that have come from Vila Autodromo\u2019s struggle. For the residents who fought so hard against the vicious eviction tactics of the City, the archive\u2019s presence in the National Historic Museum\u00a0is a symbol of strength and resilience.<\/p>\n

\"Resident<\/a><\/p>\n

Along with documents and photographs, the last remains of the original Vila Autodromo were given to the museum. These materials included, among others, a window grid from long-time resident Mainha\u2019s home on Gilles Villeneuve Road, one of the last homes\u00a0to be demolished. Mainha had previously been\u00a0evicted from Favela Via Parque in Barra da Tijuca before relocating to Vila Autodromo. Hexagonal paving stones previously part of the\u00a0sidewalk of long-time resident Ad\u00e3o\u2019s home on Beiro Rio Road, whose house had served as a spiritual center, were also submitted. And a bomba sapo <\/em>water pump\u00a0owned by Sandra Maria<\/a>, which had been\u00a0constantly shared\u00a0among\u00a0neighbors as a sustainability tool to clean the environment and bring potable water to the community. Throughout the eviction process, former Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes<\/a> constantly accused Vila Autodromo of causing environmental damage, when in fact the community participates in several\u00a0sustainability projects<\/a> without any help from the state.<\/p>\n

One of the most symbolic remains to be delivered to the MHN was a brick found in the ruins after demolition, and whose owner is anonymous. Some 700 families were evicted, and with only 20 who remained, many of the ruins had unknown\u00a0owners. This \u201canonymous\u201d house brick is a symbol for all those \u201canonymous\u201d people who were evicted within and beyond Vila Autodromo, and marks the importance of the fight to exist that so many favela residents face.<\/p>\n

\"Sandra<\/a><\/p>\n

To add to the cause for celebration, May 18\u00a0also marked the one year anniversary of the founding of the Evictions Museum<\/a>, a museum created by Vila Aut\u00f3dromo\u00a0and other favela residents, university and NGO partners, as a resistance tool documenting the community\u2019s fight to remain on their land, their right to exist, and the beauty of their residents, community, culture and dedication to social and environmental justice. The museum was created as more than a space for\u00a0preserving memory and history; it also reaches out to communities who either previously or currently experience evictions. Throughout the ceremony, favelas such as Via Parque, City of God<\/a>, and Morro do Castelo were remembered. It was important for Vila Autodromo\u2019s residents that their Evictions Museum<\/a> transcend space, and in addition to the archive, the MHN has reserved a space in its upcoming long-term exhibition, titled Citizenship under Construction, for the Evictions Museum. As the representative for the MHN at the ceremony emphasized, that space \u201cwon\u2019t be an invention of the MHN, but one that Vila Autodromo contributes to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the painful memory of Vila Autodromo\u2019s struggle shown in the powerful presentation made\u00a0by Sandra Maria, the ceremony also\u00a0contained emotions of joy, power, and hope. Vila Autodromo and the struggle it\u00a0represents transcends spaces, and is now occupying the National Historical Museum, bringing hope for further mobilization and empowerment of favela residents, and for eventual social transformation. As Vila Autodromo residents defend: “history should not be erased.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Emotion and excitement filled the Gilberto Gil auditorium at Rio\u2019s National Historic Museum (MHN) this past Thursday, May 18 on International Museum Day as the museum received Vila Autodromo\u2019s archive of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":36565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1293,1736,1288,1290,1333,1271,329,1329],"tags":[756,258,272,2032,674,11,188,26,25,1259,2432,716,2426,5,270,1403,2427,4,21],"writer":[2428],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-1736","9":"category-highlight","10":"category-civilsociety","11":"category-event-reports","12":"category-favelaqualities","13":"category-solutions","14":"category-by-international-observers","15":"tag-community-organizing","16":"tag-community-solution","17":"tag-mayor-eduardo-paes","18":"tag-evictions-museum","19":"tag-memory","20":"tag-forced-evictions","21":"tag-history","22":"tag-housing-rights","23":"tag-human-rights","24":"tag-mega-events","25":"tag-morro-do-castelo","26":"tag-museum","27":"tag-museum-week","28":"tag-olympics","29":"tag-resistance","30":"tag-solution","31":"tag-via-parque","32":"tag-vila-autodromo","33":"tag-west-zone","34":"writer-chloe-villalobos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36534"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=36534"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=36534"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=36534"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=36534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}