TecnoCabana is a 3D “tecnobrega” sound system [aparelhagem] developed by artist Rafael Bqueer for the digital platform Pivô Satellite. The proposal is part of the project O Assombro dos Trópicos [The Haunting of the Tropics], curated by Victor Gorgulho.

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The new work is inspired by the tecnobrega parties in Belém do Pará, in the North of Brazil. Its title refers to the Cabanos War (1835-1840), or Cabanagem, a popular social revolt that occurred in the region during Imperial Brazil. Bqueer seeks to establish cyber-spatial connections between territories and rhythms in the Amazon, by rescuing the memories of the revolt led by the local black and indigenous population. “All artistic and cultural production on the outskirts of Belém descends directly from the cabanos resistance”, says the artist. “TecnoCabana represents this ancestral, festive and political encounter for the life and appreciation of the Afro-indigenous existences in the region”.

With a “futuristic” aesthetic that refers to spaceships, transformers and megazords, the “aparelhagens” are structures formed by sound and light equipment characteristic of tecnobrega parties. The musical genre emerged in Belém in the 2000s, making use of electronic instrumentation to fuse international pop music and regional rhythms. The world of tecnobrega, with its mix of regionality and technology, especially the music of singer Gaby Amarantos, is an important reference for Bqueer. The artist’s performance practices were born in the context of these counter-hegemonic cultural manifestations on the outskirts of Belém, with the creation of drag queen Uhura Bqueer, in 2014.

According to the artist, TecnoCabana appears as a 3D project on Pivô’s digital platform to, in the future, gain its own materiality. The project also includes a new song, composed by the artist, which will serve as a soundtrack for his fictitious sound system. Bqueer’s goal is to activate what he calls body-systems [corpas-aparelhagens]. He explains: “The corpas-aparelhagens are bodies that belong to the performative universe of tecnobrega parties, which shake and vibrate with the intensity of the speakers. Led light bodies that show our complex Amazonian identities”.

Cabanagem was a popular and social revolt that occurred during the Brazil Empire, from 1835 to 1840, in the former Province of Grão-Pará, which included the current states of Pará, Amazonas, Amapá, Roraima and Rondônia. The rebels were mostly Indians, blacks and mestizos who lived in precarious situations in mud huts by the rivers and were used as semi-slave labor (source: Wikipedia).

In addition to Rafael Bqueer, Diambe da Silva, collective Anarca Filmes and the duo Davi Pontes & Wallace Ferreira are part of the project O Assombro dos Trópicos. Each artist occupies the platform with individual proposals for a month. Created in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the digital platform Pivô Satellite is a kind of project room housed on the Pivô website. It contributes to the creation of a support network for the local artistic community by giving research grants for each participating artist. The idea is to promote the visibility of these productions and ensure that these artists continue to produce in such an adverse context. Its program is created by artists and curators invited by the institution and comprises artistic proposals in different formats,  conceived especially for digital media.