Two years ago, Pivô arrived in Salvador, occupying a house that, in the 1960s, brought together artists and intellectuals who gave rise to movements such as Tropicália and Cinema Novo. To celebrate key milestones so far—and what is still to come—Pivô Boulevard opens its doors with a free public program. A series of events will take place over the weekend of September 6 and 7 and on Wednesday, September 10, including artistic activations, the opening of the exhibition Transmigração, and a Public Program. See details below.
On September 6, starting at 4pm, Pivô Boulevard hosts a Collective Okra-Cutting, which will give origin to the Caruru offered on Sunday (7), in honor of Saints Cosmas and Damian and the Ibejis, and prepared by Cida de Nanã, Iyá Egbé of the Ilê Asipá terreiro.
In connection with the collective spirit proposed by the okra-cutting, at 6pm the artistic activation Sopa de Rumores will take place, consisting of a ritual of collective soup-making that culminates in a shared banquet, accompanied by sonic invocations by singer MIMA, in collaboration with Salvador-based musician Julio Caldas.
The project directly references stories of the community soups prepared at the Boulevard Suíço house in the 1960s, which helped ferment Brazil’s revolutionary Tropicália movement—a practice immortalized on the back cover of Caetano Veloso’s 1968 album. Transmigração is organized in partnership with OtherNetwork and ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.
The utensils used in Sopa de Rumores—cauldrons, spoons, and tablecloths—together with fragments brought from Puerto Rico, will later be transformed into artistic artifacts carrying the marks of shared experiences, and will be integrated into the exhibition Transmigração, opening for public visitation on Sunday (7).
Saturday, 06/09
- Collective okra-cutting for the Caruru – 4pm to 6pm
- Sopa de Rumores (artistic activation with Beta-Local) and musical performance by MIMA, in collaboration with Salvador-based musician Julio Caldas – 6pm to 10pm
Jochi Melero, photographer and cook, is recognized for a body of work that began in the 1970s, marked by iconic portraits of figures such as Benicio Del Toro and Silvio Rodríguez, and a singular sensitivity for capturing the world around him. Also known as the soup magician, he brings to Transmigração a speculative culinary practice rooted in Afro-Caribbean traditions, botany, and domestic alchemy. In this project, one of his cauldrons has been transformed into a pinhole camera with which he has captured images that oscillate between the ritual and the sensorial; another cauldron will be activated through the preparation of Sopa de rumores, a culinary spell that will enchant the object and turn it into a new piece. In this way, image, nourishment, and object become entangled in an affective archaeology where the material, the spiritual, and the symbolic coexist in a single gesture.
Fabián Vélez is a sound artist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who has been active since the 1990s in Puerto Rico’s experimental and independent music scene. His practice spans modular synthesis, analog tape, and musique concrète, explored through both sonic and sculptural formats. In Transmigração, he collaborates in the live performance of La Caída del Alfiler (2025), a work by Michael Linares created using electrodes connected to living plants. His participation activates a sensitive ecology between the biological, the electronic, and the spiritual.
Michael D. Linares Vázquez is a visual artist, curator, and co-director of Beta-Local, whose work explores the symbolic power of objects and their potential to activate new forms of perception. His practice has been presented at venues such as LACMA, the São Paulo Biennial, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, and Art in General. In Transmigração, his contribution unfolds through site-sensitive interventions that combine performance, drawing, and assemblage, functioning as a connective infrastructure within the exhibition. His piece La caída del alfiler proposes a sensory and affective form of communication between humans and plants.
Pablo Guardiola is an artist, curator, and co-director of Beta-Local whose practice spans sculpture, photography, and writing. His work examines how narratives are constructed and perceived, and has been exhibited in spaces such as Romer Young Gallery, El Lobi, Km 0.2, and the San Francisco Arts Commission. In Transmigração, he presents an installation of images of trees and plants from dry and humid forests of the Caribbean, arranged in dialogue with the environment of Salvador de Bahía. These photographs act as vegetal presences that cross geographies, expanding through space as a constellation of memory and landscape.
Yarimir Cabán Reyes is a singer-songwriter, composer, and creator of the musical persona MIMA, active since the 1990s and known for a hybrid repertoire that weaves together plena, reggae, bachata, dub, and jíbaro popular music. With a distinctive voice and sharp lyricism, they have released two albums —Mima (2005) and El pozo (2011)— and collaborated with ÌFÉ, Rita Indiana, Villano Antillano, and Alegría Rampante, among others. In this project, their participation unfolds as a sensitive invocation of bodies, memories, histories, and territories through a singular performance. MIMA transforms singing into a practice of expanded listening, embodied archiving, and transformative communion.
William Murphy is a fashion designer with over a decade of experience, whose practice celebrates Black, queer, and Latinx cultures through garments infused with technique, memory, and identity. Trained by Carlota Alfaro and Lisa Thon, he has collaborated with artists such as Villano Antillano, Elvis Crespo, and Alyssa Hunter, using fashion as a poetic language and a tool for social transformation.
In the Transmigração project, he designs the garment worn by MIMA during a sonic invocation conceived specifically for the occasion. After the performance, the piece remains in the exhibition space as a sculpture, tracing a sensitive transition between body, object, and territory
Julio Caldas is a Brazilian musician, producer, and researcher of plucked strings, with seven albums released. He has performed with big names in Brazilian popular music, is an award winner, and is a reference in Brazilian violas, guitar, and Bahian guitar. His new album, O Blues de Delta do Paraguaçu, highlights slide guitar and vintage sounds in original compositions and blues classics.

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