The Fever Rages On

For those feeling blue that France gob-smacked the defending champs out of the World Cup and spoiled your party, you can still samba on over to the Miami Art Museum where Stephen Dean’s Volta keeps the dream of a Brazilian victory alive. Dean’s euphoric experimental film, spooling at the museum’s new video gallery, captures hordes of frenzied soccer fans in Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, where the antics of spectators becomes the spectacle instead. “Like a musical composition, Volta harmonizes various pitches of emotion, from breathless anticipation to disappointment and delirious frenzy,” explains MAM assistant curator René Morales.

The film focuses on swarms of fans stoked to a fevered pitch as they pound on drums, clang cowbells, blow trumpets, detonate fireworks, stomp their feet, and generally shake the stadium like an ass made of Jell-O.

“Occasionally Dean’s camera uncovers organized, geometric patterns within the chaos,” Morales muses. “The scenes culminate with footage of massive homemade flags enveloping the throngs – peaceful waves of color washing over a vast human ocean.” Slip into your favorite thong and shake that tail like a soccer champ through August 16 at MAM.
Sat., July 15