The main focal point and substance of the plot of Tupinicópolis is the reutilization of Brazilian indigenous civilization and culture. It uses the term tupiniquim not only to refer to a tribe, but also a collective of indigenous people and mostly, to translate a typical national philosophy; Tupiniquism: everything that is or becomes tupiniquim. The act of tupinication. Tupinicopolization.

Tupinicópolis, the carnival, is the visualization of a great indigenous metropolis. Tupinicópolis, the taba[1] of stone. It is a tupiniquim sci-fi, post-indigenous, retro-futurist carnival. The New Eldorado.

Tupinicópolis has its pseudo-origins based on the just and real demarcation of indigenous land. In these lands, rich lands, infinite natural resources were discovered, which were commercialized and industrialized by the indigenous people themselves. The ocas[2] multiplied, the tabas reached gigantic proportions and this is how Tupinicópolis, the legendary city of the Third Millennium, was born.

The parade follows the day to day life of the city. Day, night and day, focusing on duty, leisure, and the pleasures of the Tupinicopolitans. And the garbage.

The carnival uses the form and language of indigenous literature, where the indigenous live with and relate to animals, leading the carnival to become a fake fable, which lends more tropicalism and ‘Brazilianess’ to the spectacle.

Indigenous Brazilian art is revisited and relived in the aesthetics of the post-Marajoara[3] Tupinicopolitan. Tupi Look is the fashion. It is the era of Tupi Power. It is the Tupiniquim culture speaking to the world through Tupinicópolis.

Fernando Pinto 1987

[1] Tupi-guarani word for village or gathering of ocas

[2] Tupi-guarani word for typical indigenous house

[3] Pre-Columbian society that flourished in the Marajó island on the Amazon River.

 

Fernando Pinto 1987