Caravana Fusca

Sabine Beyerle & David Reuter: Käferhaube
Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2009

As part of the Caravana Fusca, Sabine Beyerle and David Reuter developed the mobile installation „Beetle Bonnet“ (Käferhaube):
In Brazil, there is a tradition of covering everyday objects such as water filters, washing machines or microwaves with lace capes to protect them and to decorate them. Inspired by this, Beyerle/Reuter developed a lace bonnet for a VW Beetle and asked a local tailor to manufacture it to make it fit perfectly. In different places various beetles were repeatedly covered with the bonnet.
Caravana Fusca is a cooperation between the Universities Unicamp in Campinas/Sao Paulo and UFSJ in Sao Joao del Rei/Minas Gerais and students of the HBK Braunschweig. Accompanied by Angela Camara Correa Gelhaar and David Reuter, German students in Brazil initiated a caravan as a cultural bridge between the two countries.
The concept should enable both sides to realize a collaborative artistic project in a relatively short period of time. The caravan consisted of 15 VW Beetles and a team of Brazilian and German students who transformed the vehicles into small mobile installations or stages. At the different stops of the caravan, spectators could participate in the actions and installations and actively join the intercultural exchange.
The first meeting took place in September 2009 in Brazil, where the caravan started its journey after a first presentation at the “Festival do Instituto de Artes” in Campinas. The presentations were announced in public at the different stops and took place on marketplaces, in front of cultural or civic centres, galleries, etc. The tour ended with a final presentation and documentation at the Universidada Federal de Sao Joao del Rei.
The year after, the Brazilian students were invited to Germany to present their projects in a similar setting. From Braunschweig on, the caravan travelled via the VW city of Wolfsburg to Berlin, where an exhibition in cooperation with the artist-network interArte, the Verein Kulturkontakte e. V. and the Werkstatt der Kulturen was realized.

in collaboration with Angela Camara Correa Gelhaar, Adilson Siqueira and Veronica Fabrini