Architect Gisele Taranto signs the bam'bo͞o bar 箂 at Casacor Rio 2022: A hybrid project – in-person and virtual – immersed in nature and uniquely innovative in the history of Rio de Janeiro’s most important architectural, landscape and interior design event.

Curatorship: Vanda Klabin (@vandaklabin)
Photos: Andre Nazareth (@andrenazarethfoto) and André Pinnola (@pinnolafotografia)

About Casacor Rio: https://casacor.abril.com.br/mostras/rio-de-janeiro/

3D tour: https://www.tours-casacor.com/jardim-bamˈbo͞o-bar-por-maira-ferreira-e-kaio-duarte-silva/

The space chosen by Gisele Taranto embraces the pool area next to a historic 19th century house listed by the Institute of National Historic and Artistic Heritage. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens and a large bamboo grove, integrated into the Atlantic Forest, overlooking the statue of Christ the
Redeemer.

With an outdoor lounge, art exhibitions, haute cuisine and a cultural agenda, the bam'bo͞o bar箂 celebrates the return of face-to-face meetings and freedom, reaffirming the importance of technology, which flourished and helped us so much during the pandemic.

▪ The bamboo grove inspired the project. Selected by curator Vanda Klabin and artist Carlos Vergara to present the Olhar 2022 exhibition ( www.olhar2022.com ), and supported by the Consulate-General of Brazil in Canton, China, with digital artworks available in augmented reality. The opening of the exhibition, in 04/27/22 at 6:00 pm BRT, took place simultaneously in Brazil and China.

▪ Visitors can experience face-to-face and virtual spaces at the same time, in a hybrid project, with access to holographic and augmented-reality works of art, crypto art with NFTs, and even an unprecedented metaverse environment designed by Taranto in partnership with the Metaverse Agency. With that she hopes to make the still little-known virtual world more accessible.

The bam'bo͞o bar 箂 spreads over spacious 7685 square feet, segmented by type of activity – Swimming Pool, Lounge, Bamboo Grove, Gardens, Bar and Bathrooms – as described below:

◼ Swimming pool. As an architectural element, the swimming pool relinquishes its traditional function and houses an artistic intervention by Maritza Caneca. The artist explores the changing colors of the water and the surrounding reflections by means of floating convex mirrors that reflect nature and the buildings.
Video about the creative process of Maritza Caneca (in PT-BR):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w2NjN-INK5Cx1TJRlY2r-KOjyYk7gFSC/view?usp=sharing

◼ Lounge. A large deck in ecowood was placed around the pool, with areas for sofas and tables for bam'bo͞o bar 箂 patrons. Employing the surrounding hues, Gisele Taranto created a palette especially for this space, in the green and saffron colors of the bamboos and the earthy red of the original architecture. The furniture, suitable for outdoor areas, is made essentially of aluminum, nautical ropes and waterproof fabrics.

◼ Bamboo Grove. Walking through the bamboo grove, visitors can connect through QR Codes with works of art in augmented reality from the Olhar 2022 exhibition.

◼ Gardens. The gardens delineate and frame the bam'bo͞o bar 箂. Holographic artworks integrated into the vegetation mark the entrances to the space. On the lawn, there is an easygoing area with rugs and beanbags, welcoming visitors to the cultural agenda.

◼ Bar. Evoking Chinese culture, the bar houses an artwork by Carlos Vergara, while two TVs display works by other artists from the Olhar 2022 exhibition. In this environment’s color palette, the green of the national stone chosen for the countertops calls to mind the bamboo grove, while the earthy color of the walls alludes to the architectural complex that houses Casacor Rio. Beautiful bottles with poetry inside, from Sandra Gasparian, can be seen on the left.

◼ Bathrooms. In lieu of mirrors, NFTs from the Olhar 2022 exhibition are shown on TVs.

The proposal of the bam'bo͞o bar 箂 is to bring the public into a hybrid space, conceived in three dimensions:

▪ In-person. The physical space was designed for a multi-sensory experience. Besides the surrounding natural landscape and the magnificent view of the Tijuca Forest mountains, the space offers gastronomy, works of art and musical performances.

▪ Integrated in-person. Both worlds – in-person and virtual – can be experienced simultaneously at the bam'bo͞o bar 箂. Within the bamboo grove, QR Code totems allow cell phone, augmented-reality access to
the Olhar 2022 exhibition organized by Carlos Vergara, where holographic artworks mark the entrances to the space. In the lounge, virtual reality headsets are available for entry into a metaverse environment. TV sets in the bar and bathrooms display NFT artworks from the Olhar 2022 exhibition. The space has its own Spotify playlist.

▪ Virtual. Gisele Taranto created a custom-designed Metaverse art gallery in partnership with Byron Mendes, CEO of Metaverse Agency. Access to the gallery is done through a link available in-space or externally, for those who access Taranto’s social networks. The virtual space, called Plastic or Post-Human Era, is a manifesto for the protection of the environment. The gallery houses an exhibition of generative art, and offers a cultural agenda and podcasts.

Link to the metaverse gallery: https://www.cryptovoxels.com/play?coords=W@1117E,893S

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