a taça do mundo é nossa (the world cup is ours), 2018
replica of the Jules Rimet melted in brass and ammunition cartridges used by the Brazilian Armed Forces on naval plywood basel
130 x 30 x 30 cm
photos Filipe Berndt
A Taça do Mundo é Nossa (The World Cup is Ours) is a sculpture made from a replica of the Jules Rimet Cup, using melted remains of ammunition cartridges, collected in areas of armed conflict in Brazil; especially the ones used by the military army. The idea of making a precise replica of the Jules Rimet Cup is based on two main concepts: the first one focuses on the use of football as an instrument of propaganda for military regimes that dominated South America, from the 1960s to 1980s, marked by the Condor Operation, which promoted the interaction between the intelligence services and the repression of the dictatorships of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. That is the reason it has got engraved at its base the name of these four countries and their respective time periods of the dictatorships regime. The second concept is based on the history of the cup itself. Marked by robberies, the original cup disappeared in Brazil in 1983. After winning the World Cup in 1970, therefore keeping the Jules Rimet Cup, Brazil began to show it publicly. In 1983 the cup disappeared and, to everyone’s surprise, melted. The cup on display at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) is nothing more than a replica, given by FIFA years later it was stolen.
The visual and conceptual choices that have guided A Taça do Mundo é Nossa (The World Cup is Ours), came while researching about the Brazilian and South American political contexts during the years between 1960 and 1980, specially the historical facts due to the military coup in Brazil. Moreover, one of the aims of A Taça do Mundo é Nossa (The World Cup is Ours) is also to show how the violence has been naturalized in Brazil and is present in most of the public spaces’ experiences in Brazilian cities.