After the B3 bull, São Paulo wins the B32 whale

While in downtown São Paulo, in front of the B3, a golden bull makes an attack, about 11 km away, at the B32 development, on Avenida Faria Lima, a silver whale opens its belly.

The “Golden Bull”, installed in front of the Brazilian Stock Exchange, on r. November 15th did not last a day without protests. The replica of the bronze animal from Wall Street received on Wednesday morning (17) a lick-lick with the word “hunger”.

The whale from the B32 development, for now, has been attracting the mood on the internet.

The 6 m high by 20 m long metal sculpture welcomes those arriving at the B32 square, open to the public and around which a commercial tower and a theater are articulated.

This Wednesday morning, around 9 am, while the guests arrived for a debate inside the theater, the Faria Lima Elevator profile proposed a poll on Twitter.

“Do we already have a name for this newest work of art in the Shire?” —Condado is the nickname given to the Faria Lima region, the financial center of São Paulo.

The comments ranged from praise, much of which compared the whale to the bull, to less flattering sexual associations. An hour later, the winner was decreed by Faria Lima Elevator: Sardinhão.

It turns out that, if in the language of financial agents, the bull is an auspicious sign of a rise in the market, “sardines” are small investors, with smaller pretensions compared to “sharks”.

However, although the market has one foot on the B3 and the other on the B32 and surroundings, the intentions of Rafael Birmann, head of the Faria Lima venture, were not to honor any type of investor.

The proposal to have an element on the corner, which would help to make the square a landmark, came from the American landscape architect Thomas Balsley, who signs the design of the B32 square.

The form this element would have taken came when Birmann was leafing through an “old magazine” in an office waiting room. In the pages of the publication, he found a work by the Cuban art collective Los Carpinteros — today a duo, Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez.

It was an oval structure with a bar inside. Birmann, however, wanted to go further, making an “artistic business, but with meaning”. In fact, several meanings.

“In mythology and literature, whales symbolize rebirth”, says the businessman, recalling the biblical episode of Jonah, swallowed by the animal, “the rescue of the notion of humanity” in “Pinocchio” —in Carlo Collodi’s narrative, Geppetto is who it ends up in the cetacean’s belly—and “the quest to realize dreams and goals” in “Moby Dick,” Herman Melville’s account of Captain Ahab’s obsession with a huge white whale.

“All very human dimensions”, he summarizes, understandings inspired by an animal that “does not suggest confrontation, but cooperation, partnership”. In this sense, “the whale is a counterpoint to what the bull represents”, defends the businessman.

“It is not a symbol imported from the United States or anywhere else, as it was proposed and created by us, a multinational and multidisciplinary team, it comes from creativity and a collaborative spirit.”

In addition to being animals that travel in groups, “social like us”, emphasizes Birmann, cetaceans are also “a symbol of resilience and respect for the environment”, having been the target of “one of the first global preservation campaigns”, Save the Whales.

São Paulo, defines Birmann, is itself a Leviathan, the chaos from which we emerge modified, like someone passing through the belly of a whale.

The perspective is taken literally, as the sculpture is penetrable, remaining open to everyone until 8pm or 9pm. “It is our invitation to transform each one of us and all together, so that São Paulo becomes a more sensitive and humane city.”

Schedule and other eventual rules are not defined for the time being. “We hope that people will use this freedom conscientiously, respecting the work without damaging it”, says Birmann.

The entrepreneur is betting that the whale will soon become a landmark in the landscape, like the sculpture “Cloud Gate”, by Indo-British artist Anish Kapoor, in Chicago.

But if a work of this size costs “US$ 20, 30 million, ours we made with R$ 2 million”, laughs Birmann, adding that “it’s not the same thing, no”.

The B32 whale is collectively bred. The first drawings were by Pedro Birmann, son of Rafael.

Playing with a modeling program —”raise your tail, get fat here”, recalls the businessman—, they reached their current form, achieved through the work of a team of technicians, engineers, calculators and others, coordinated by architect Renato Silva.

To celebrate the engagement not only of whale breeders but also of others who worked on the project, there will be a ceremony, with dinner and show, this Wednesday night, at the B32 theater. Suppliers and designers will receive a letter and a small sculpture in the shape of the whale.

“It’s a work of art without an artist. Does anyone allow it?” asks Birmann.