Get Lost in a Book with aMAZEme

On Tuesday afternoon of this week (31 July) the Royal Festival Hall on London's Southbank played host to the official launch of aMAZEme, an installation project from new Hungry Man division, Hungry Man Projects, their director and artist Gualter Pupo and his partner in the project Marcos Saboya.

Inspired by the writer and educator JL Borges, the maze will form the shape of Borges’ unique fingerprint, covering over 500 square metres and using 250,000 books, with sections standing up to 2.5 metres high. It was originally an idea that the duo created in their native Brazil and which was brought to London as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and in conjunction with Oxfam and various other book publishers. Here Pupo and Saboya explain the thinking behind the installation and the problems they faced in creating it.

Where did the initial idea for aMAZEme come from?

We had built a maze of books in Rio de Janeiro in 2010, and when the opportunity came to do the same in London we were very enthusiastic to get involved. We’ve just started to think about using Borges fingerprints as a labyrinth scenario to form a piece for theatre also, with the same name: aMAZEme.

After first creating the installation in Brazil did you always know you would recreate it elsewhere?

Yes, but always different shapes, adding new design, concepts and materials. The ARTE-LIVRE Project, which also included aMAZEme, consists of a series of ideas that mix concepts, languages, techniques and multimedia to create a link between spaces with different identities and audiences, sometimes in different countries at the same time.

How did the two of you meet and how did you work together on this project?

We met through a mutual friend in Brazil, and formed a partnership as a result of that. Usually, I (Marcos) start with the creative concept and Gualter helps in the artistic design. In the end his influence is so strong that I don't recognise the idea as mine only. We have the same weight in the final result.

Gualter is a person that has a pragmatic creativity in counterpoint to my chaotic and creative style. We agreed to only pursue our own ideas without the interference of third parties (clients, marketing or branding orientations). We also work on independent projects, and Gualter is a successful commercials director.

How difficult was it to plan the logistics of the project: getting the books? Making sure the venue could cope with the size/weight? Physically building the piece?

For aMAZEme, Gualter had done the majority of the calculations, and we had fantastic support from good friends plus Hungry Man Projects helped with the technical production and overall support. aMAZEme started as a self funded project by ourselves, with no money from government or sponsors.

Ruth Mackenzie from LOCOG and Jude Kelly from the Southbank Centre were very important for the realisation of the aMAZEme. But the first movement to bring us to London came from Paul Heritage a tireless supporter of the aMAZEme Project. We were extremely lucky to have worked with a fantastic group of London based volunteers in order to build the maze.

How important was Oxfam and Locog's involvement in this project?

We had support from several publishers and a special partnership with Oxfam, who have been very supportive. They do great humanitarian work, and give aMAZEme greater meaning. In Rio de Janeiro, during the time of the first project, we had already donated more than a thousand new books for the excellent program library of the Favelas.

What do you hope people who visit aMAZEme take away from it?

Helping to stimulate their curiosity, knowledge and creativity. aMAZEme is an art project that unites literature, performance, installation, live cinema, images and the Internet, based on three main concepts:

Literature /Art + Entertainment + Generosity

What are you working on next?

We are developing two new installation projects for wonderful museums/cultural centres. One in France and other in the USA, and also some jobs to make some day by day wine…

This project saw the inception of Hungry Man Projects; how important do you think it is that 'traditional' advertising companies understand the importance and relevance of projects such as aMAZEme?

Matt Buels, EP, Hungry Man Projects: We think its very important, building on previous projects such as Toshiba Space Chair, and Sprite Shower we are now in a fantastic position to offer clients a wealth of global industry knowledge and apply this to an ever-changing media platform. In the modern arena of communication this approach to advertising is of great interest to us. This gives the client and agency a wider range of options for communicating their creative.