History, Home and Pandemic

To read the entirety of Capital, by Karl Marx, is to reunite, not only with the authors that I have studied throughout my life, but with an understanding of the world in which we live in, in times of great sorrow and pain, but also resistance, and it’s also a revisit to the cornerstones of what I use as a tool for comprehension, and, perhaps, what is the most important: for the transformation of the world. During the pandemic, it had an individual importance, because it is not easy to triumph over hundreds of pages, and to understand them as much as possible, but also because it was a read. The book was a read and it has been a collective read.

“What would have my life been like during the pandemic without my Xbox? I asked myself that many times, because even before the pandemic began, I had already decided to take the year 2020 off on a sabbatical: a year to rest, study, step away from my concerns.
Staying at home, I ended up with too much free time, way too much of it. The days would never end, so to fill all of that void, nothing better than to play videogames, right? I prefer RPG games, as they tend to take a long time to finish, and so I went on to play and enjoy them the most.
So, the Xbox really did leave its impression on my life throughout the pandemic, as it was the thing that kept me sane. Sometimes, in these rough times, of reflection about life and everything else, I ended up immersing myself into the games and they occupied my time and my mind very well, and I’m very grateful to this object, even though it doesn’t realize it.”

"For Years I have been studying Tarot. Having chosen my deck for the exhibit elevates affective, spiritual, and temporal sentiments. A mixture, you know?
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been involved with esoterism, with religiosity, but with Tarot it goes beyond that! It transposes connections, it lives, talks, gestures and walks along with me.
During the pandemic, I have improved my relationship with Tarot, I began helping not just myself, but also other people through it.
Tarot is growth, it’s knowledge, for everyone and everybody. At any moment, with no differentiation and no better time."

“My object of choice was the tambourine. The tambourine has been my company ever since I was 16, I learned to play it with my brother. I have good memories of the time I played it in school, of when I used to play in the nights in São Paulo, and later, when I started accompanying my daughters, which led me to trips abroad and around Brazil. And now, during the pandemic, it has been here with me, so that we could bring a little bit of joy to the people.”

“My instrument, the transverse flute, is the object that I chose for this exhibit, because I’ve played the flute ever since I was 9 years old, so it has been my companion for my entire life. All thanks to it, I have travelled a lot, visited many places in Brazil and abroad, met incredible people, and had the opportunity to perform to many people, too. Not only perform, but to bring happiness, to thrill a lot of people. That is a fantastic thing. During the pandemic, the flute was very important to me; not only because I could sit down and play, you know? We’re all staying home, and it meant being able to distract myself and have a good time for expressing myself, for creativity. But, also, it was incredible to me because, with the livestreams and the weekly videos, we could bring forth messages of joy, of hope, to the people. So, definitely, the flute was the most important object to me during this pandemic, and also through my entire life. I can’t imagine what would I be if I didn’t play the flute.”

"I chose a musical instrument called mandolin. The mandolin has a very important role in my life because I started playing it when I was very little. So, I don’t have any memories of myself, of a time in my life in which I didn’t play the mandolin, because I’ve played it ever since I was 7 years old.
It was of utter importance to me during the pandemic, because, as everybody knows, playing an instrument allows you to forget about everything, you are present only in that moment and nothing around you is of concern, it’s like a meditation, only different.
When I play the Mandolin, all I can feel is the music, what the music says, even if it’s an instrumental piece, each song says something.
Whatever happens, the mandolin is always important in my life. It’s as if it were part of my family, because I’ve played it for so long that I can’t imagine myself without it. So, if there was no pandemic, it would definitely still be very important to me, because I would still be playing and composing. Even without the pandemic, there would still be problems, right? Life is not perfect, even with no pandemic."

"My object of choice is my Do Souto seven-string acoustic guitar, which was my first seven-string, so it is very important to me, as it symbolizes this transition to a new instrument, to a new phase. It brings many memories to mind, but I would say that the most special one was from the day that I was given it by my parents, as a gift from a good friend of mine, the great guitarist Edson Galhardi.
But he was a great guitar player and was a personal friend of Dino 7-Strings, who designed the language of the seven string guitars for playing Choro, with the bass notes, and the guitar phrasings.
So, Dino himself went to the Do Souto store, which is the most traditional brand for this regional kind of guitar, the Choro guitar, and he picked this instrument for me, and sent it to Galhardi. Later that day, we were at his house and Galhardi brought out the guitar, handed it to me and said: “Look, Lia, try this new guitar, it has just arrived. Let me know what you think”. Obviously, I loved it. It was only after a while that I found out it was a gift for me all along, that my parents were able to buy it through him, and the wonderful surprise that it had been handpicked by Dino. The funny thing is that this guitar was so good, and both of us liked it so much, that some time afterwards, he went to the store himself and bought the guitar’s twin: another guitar that looked just like mine, the same material and sound, although they’re never exactly the same. And so, we had twin guitars.
It was very important for me during the pandemic because it is an instrument that brings me fond memories, you know…
All that is negative goes away and all you can think about is the music, good thoughts, all that positive energy that the music can bring to you.
It’s my treasure, my precious [laughs]. So, it stays right here, with all the care in the world, so that it lasts a long time.

"My name is Jéssica and the object I chose was an embroidery, made by myself, with the word “Time” inscribed and with a dry leaf that I stumbled upon.
The importance of this object to me comes from the fact that it brings back a very good, very serene affective memory of a day I visited a waterfall, the Cachoeira do Alecrim, with my brothers.
I think that embroidery itself, the Free Hand Embroidery technique, was very important to me during the pandemic, because it was where I found a moment to breathe, and at the same time, of a lot of creative energy. But, because it is a slow process, from stitch to stitch, I think it was almost therapeutical to do it during the pandemic. And this one in particular, also makes me think a lot about the time, the actions, the transformations that time brings upon the objects, on the people, and how this time re-signified itself while in quarantine.
But, without a doubt, during the pandemic, it had a very special meaning, very distinct, because it was my moment, the moment in which I could connect with myself, in which I allowed myself to focus in one thing, with me, for my, by me."

“Hello, my name is João Carlos Vieira, I am a Geography teacher. My object of choice was my radio transceiver. I’ve been a ham radio enthusiast since 2009, and radio has always been my favorite hobby. When I enter my radio room, I forget about my day-to-day problems, and it wasn’t different during the pandemic, I simply had more time to dedicate myself to Amateur Radio.
Every evening, I can seat in the isolation of my radio room and chat with my friends through the radio waves. I heard the good news that many of them are already receiving their vaccinations. I do not know some of them personally, because they’re from other states in Brazil, but soon enough I’ll be able to meet them and then we’ll talk about the distancing days and how we remained in contact through the radio waves."

"My name is Flávio de Camargo and I chose the PlayStation 4, a videogame console. It is very important, as it has many different entertainment options, and, as I recall, I never had the opportunity to have this kind of object in my household, neither in my childhood nor teenage years, because of my family’s financial difficulties. In the pandemic, as I had recently acquired it, it was very important, because it gave me access to these forms of entertainment and culture.
So, in many moments during the pandemic, while social distancing, not meeting up with anybody, I wanted to watch a show, a video of a political interview, a cartoon. My daughter loved this acquisition of ours. Getting in contact with it, makes me feel like a kid again.
My daughter is having this opportunity now, and when the pandemic is over, it will still very important because of it, this assortment of options, you know? It’s a form of access to culture, to entertainment, to games, it’s pretty cool."