Vera Uberti began her artistic career in 2001, enrolling in the Visual Arts course at Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation – FAAP in São Paulo, Brazil.

Her initial intention was to learn to paint, but this was soon replaced by an interest in more immersive research. Her works dialogue with architecture and the natural landscape identified by the artist not only as a canvas to paint on, but also as an invitation to the viewer to be taken into the artwork, not only to admire it, but to be part of it.

Participation, interaction and involvement of the public
Interaction with the city (traffic jam)
Transformation of daily habits
Surprise / estrangement
Irony / provocation
Activation of imagination / development of fantasy
Questioning and reflecting on what LOVE is and whether it can change the world in a positive way
Investigation of the human psyche and behavior
Positivity / hope and participation of art in the process of building a better world

Playing with people, surprising them, making them laugh but, at the same time, raising an important issue, certainly one of the most important in our lives, which is about loving and feeling loved. From the presence or absence of this feeling all the others arise: fear and courage, vulnerability and trust, self-esteem and insecurity, joy and sadness…
Spreading love around the city with an object linked to fairytale imagination and to the world of children, a vehicle that causes enchantment for its power to fly, to be free and to let be guided by the wind, to access places where our body cannot reach, is a simple and very powerful act that does not leave anyone indifferent: it is impossible, or at least very difficult, not to look at the sky and smile when you see balloons flying free in the air. Perhaps it is the memory of a lost balloon, or simply the memory of a joy felt as a child when we held in our hands a magical object capable of making us dream. Can the world be a better place if we spread love around the city or are we too busy to be able to smile when we see a balloon flying free in the air?

Aesthetic intervention and appropriation of public space
Participation, interaction and involvement of the public
Metaphorical action: tying fabrics to unite and connect people, desires and dreams
Adequacy / insertion in the context in which the performance is performed
Work on waste material, reuse and recycling
Transformation of social and daily habits
Surprise / estrangement
Participation / involvement / collaboration of the public
Irony / provocation
Activation of the imagination / development of fantasy
Questioning and reflecting on how we can desire and act positively for ourselves and for others
Evocative and activating power of the dream
Investigation of the psyche and human behavior
Popular beliefs
Positivity / hope and participation of art in the process of building a better world

Binding is a spiritual process used, especially in Umbanda, with the intent of connecting two people. It’s a popular brazilian belief according to which the person who ties wishes to strengthen an emotional bond with another person using the positive energy of the universe. It can also be used to solve love problems by requesting the help of spiritual guides or Orixás. Brazilians, rather than wondering what meaning this may have in reality, are ready to believe, participate, live and enrich the proposed experience.

Brazil is in fact a country with strong religious syncretism, where Catholic Saints and Orixás are unite, accentuating the faith of Brazilians through all types of popular beliefs.

Through the aesthetic activation of this popular belief, a new experience is proposed to the public that consists of asking users to write their dreams on a piece of fabric and connect them to others’ fabrics, to build a chain of positive wishes that travel around the city.

Appropriation and aesthetic and critical interventions in public space
Use of everyday objects (signage)
Transformation of daily social habits
Surprise / estrangement
Participation / involvement / collaboration of the public
Irony / provocation
Activation of the imagination / development of fantasy
Questioning and reflecting on what HAPPINESS is and whether it exists
Investigation and observation of the human psyche and behavior
Popular beliefs
Positivity / hope and participation of art in the process of building a better world

The city as a blank canvas on which it is possible to imagine and create a lighter, more colorful, more fantastic world, as unreal as concrete.
I would like the people who cross this imaginary line to be surprised by the indication it contains and to be able, at least for a few seconds, to experience what it means to feel happy forever – which in reality is a utopian feeling. Bringing this utopia into the real world describes my way of understanding the artistic operation.

The road sign was identical to those used by the Municipality to identify streets, squares and avenues, a service of extreme importance for citizens, many have written to the local newspaper to know if it was true that there was a sign aimed at the Line of Happiness: the fact is curious and symptomatic as it shows how much we want to believe in the things we desire and how much we want that what we believe in can become reality. The Line of Happiness passes through there, passes through all those who want to believe in it. A utopia, a place that does not exist, an illusion, a dream, a fantasy that becomes reality. The world would be a better place if we could cross the line of happiness every time something sad happens to us. Can this work help us believe that when we cross the line of happiness we will be happier or are we too serious to believe this “nonsense”?

Aesthetic intervention and appropriation of public space
Performance / Game
Adequacy / insertion in the context in which the performance is performed
Participation, interaction and involvement of the public
Transformation of social and daily habits
Surprise / estrangement
Irony / provocation
Activation of the imagination / development of fantasy
Questioning and reflecting on our being in the world: the challenge of knowing and facing ourselves
Investigation and observation of the human psyche and behavior

The Thinker is a performance held on an important viaduct in São Paulo, as it was the first to be built in the city and is characterized by an intense flow of users who cross it daily. The Viaduto do Chá, is one of the main postcards of the city and the stage for major city events, is also an immense irregular camelódromo where street vendors, fortune tellers and street artists occupy and compete for space side by side and daily in search of visibility and customers.

The performance consists of a solitary chess game with the board placed on a table and an empty stool in front of the player waiting for someone to play with.
An action to provoke an interaction with passers-by. An invitation to which no one actively responded. In fact, no passer-by was willing to sit on the stool and play with the player. Only a few curious eyes stopped momentarily to observe the unusual event. For many other people, in a hurry and focused on their own path, the show went unnoticed among the many passers-by and street vendors scattered along the path.

In the meantime, the game created itself, portraying the artist focused on her game, immersed in her thoughts and/or struggling with her interiority. Inspired by the famous sculpture by Auguste Rodin The Thinker, the performance portrays a free-thinking woman, determined to overcome her limits through her art.