Rá-Tim-Bum

The group show Rá-Tim-Bum brought together six young São Paulo–based artists at the independent space lapa, Lapain an exhibition about the particular flavor that optimism about the future had on the childhood palate of the 1990s. Shaped by environmentalist, pro-globalization, and broadly progressive—if still timid—discourses, children’s media of the decade instilled in the 1990s child the notion that the “progress” of human morality and technology was inexorable, letting us believe that the days to come could only be better than the ones we had already lived. Unfortunately, as is now evident, the “end of history” has also come to an end.

Opened on November 22, 2024, the exhibition featured the participation of Mari Ra, Wagner Olino, Daniel Castilho, Raquel Campos, Maria Livman and Carlos Matos.

Below, the curatorial text, translated from Portuguese, and some photos of the show.

rá-tim-bum

see? – this is how you do it.

a universe rendered entirely in Memphis Milano. Formica panels in primary colours the symbol of a vague promise of “multiculturalism” that, our grade-school textbooks assured us, approached inexorably with the fall of walls and the end of History. captain planet and the International Monetary Fund. a cool rush of well-being paired with the unshakable faith that the world could only get better.

but history just kept happening.

revisiting 1990s children’s culture leaves one feeling that those were times where the Horrors, though lively surrounding the average Brazilian child, was nothing more than a corridor of bad movies at the video-rental shop. the decade that brought us monetary austerity also gave us Glub-Glub, and for a preschooler a VHS tape is far more real than the inflation rate.

but that was yesterday, this is today. 

the belief in a world of fairies and talking animals is no longer tenable, and puppets, once alive, now are easily mistaken for mere satin-vinyl foam. still, we confabulate. 

it's time, it’s time.