The National Museum of Rio de Janeiro burned to the ground in 2018. Over 20 million pieces were lost, including the largest collection of archeology, paleontology, geology, Indigenous and African culture in Brazil. The Museum represented much of Brazil's origins: it was founded by the Portuguese King D. João VI in colonial times and hosted the first scientific research institution established in the Republic. The collection included the oldest skeleton found in America, numerous artifacts from indigenous groups that no longer exist as well as sound recordings of chants and languages that are no longer spoken. Brazil, today under a scenario of growing fascism, is going through a process of memory erasure – historical, imagetic, identitary –, of which the disappearance of the Museum is not only a symbolic representation but also a practical consequence. The Bendegó meteorite, the largest one found in Brazilian territory, passed unscathed through the fire that ravaged the Museum. Found in 1784 in the hinterland of Bahia, it is estimated that it had laid in place for thousands of years, until the Emperor had it brought to the National Museum for its opening. The meteorite is a witness of the pre-Cabralian past, a survivor of the dystopian present and shall witness the paths of a future to come. 

In the short sci-fi story Utopia of a Tired Man, J. L. Borges proposes a distant future in which, in order to forget the past, there are no museums or libraries and Latin is the only language spoken. When the main character, a man from the present, sees several blank canvases hanging on a wall, the man from the future tells him: “They are painted with colors that your ancient eyes cannot see”. Taking the Bendegó meteorite as a symbol of resistance that sees both the colors of the future and the past, the work speculates about the possibilities of collective memory against the attempts to erase the voices and narratives that constitute the plural identity of Brazil. The installation consists of a replica of the meteorite in 3D print produced with the file granted by the Museum; sound recording of a museum guide reading of excerpts from Utopia of a Tired Man translated into Latin; canvases printed with images of lost items of the Museum’s collection and oil painted in white; and a timeline of the Bendegó meteorite.

Multimedia installation. 3D print of Bendegó meteorite, digital file granted by the National Museum; canvases printed with images of lost items of the collection and oil painted; sound. Various dimensions. 2019.