The Brazilian Campana Brother's Zig Zag urban intervention and their three gifts

By IASP. 

Two Brazilian siblings and a Minnesotan joined like a latte mixture of Brazilian beans and local milk. Starring Fernando and Humberto Campana meet Gary Johnson. Downtown is taken again by more renown artists from Brazil as Eduardo Kobra's emblematic mural of Bob Dylan. What a fantastic time to be alive. To walk and find these hidden landmarks all over the Twin Cities. Minneapolis is becoming a bright and colorful carnival ride that never ends. 

The Brazilian siblings' Zig Zag urban intervention is an intriguing proposal for a public space, perhaps too greedy. Displaying techniques to catch Brazil's multicultural carnival spirit. The Capana siblings aim to create a new public space, a market. However, it remains empty to this day.

 

The most characteristic feature is the roof made of straps of multiple colors leaving space for the light to create shadow patterns like a forest in which the sun finds the way between leaves and branches to draw unique shapes on the floor. Shapeshifting. This dance between shadow and light may never reach the motionless state of death.

 

I took pictures of different times of the day to embrace the Campana's proposal (below). I can attest that I was never able to take exactly the same picture twice. There were so many factors inter-playing: weather, light, time, people crossing the place, etc. A shapeshifting space a few steps of downtown. That cannot be unintentional.

 

Yet, the original purpose behind the project seems unaccomplished. This space was designed for becoming a public space for gathering, trading, in other words, community. None of these functions seems to be fulfilled by this project. To be fair, this space invites for all these things and more. The location and design is uncontested. Day after day, the image of a crowded and colorful market breaks into my mind amidst the roof straps being lifted by the pillars at both sides. Just to imagine an artist selling his/her paintings at the spot makes me shivering. Would that day come? We are left without answers.

 

Again, the Campana's work is thrilling. The use of unconventional materials with clean and shaped designs is unique. To find a common ground between opposite forces is a brilliant exhbition of technique and effort. To think that one of the Campana is not even an architect or designer but an attorney is encouraging. I believe there are reasons beyond the project itself why this spaces has not been recaptured by the community. The space is welcoming. Fact. Perhaps only time will bring an answer.

 

Another idea assaults my mind. Opposite thoughts. What if the Campana siblings brought a different gift? Yes, I do thing that. The market was solely the first gift. Instead, their second gift is a new sight of the skyline. I mean, what's the best way to enter Minneapolis? That's a fundamental question, and in my opinion, we lacked some sort of Arch of Triumph to guide us through Hennepin avenue and the main streets. I don't believe there was a straight answer before the Zig Zag because from which angle we could spot the most marvelous angle of the city. 

 

But we were given an answer, more like a second gift from the Campana siblings. You can start from Loring Park and walk -not too fast, but not too slow- heading to downtown. Half the way, you will encounter the Zig Zag, a kaleidoscopic and colorful arch of triumph. Yet, the arch is not only a door but also a frame made of shapes, colors, and lights.

 

There is more. What if the Campana siblings also nailed it with a third gift. Shapes, colors, light, and shadows. The Zig Zag is not solely a frame but an aspiration. The carnival is not what we find but what we wear. An aspiration what we dream for the Twin Cities. The brightest of the future. It is not a coincidence that the Pride finishes at Loring Park.

When you spot all these landmarks around the Twin Cities, you begin to wonder. What are these kaleidoscopic colors being painted at any corner or wall? The Twin Cities is slowly moving to become a never-ending carnival in which everyone is welcomed. That's the aspiration and true gift of the Capana siblings (I wanna hope).