A flâneur wandering on Brazilian streets with the kicker of caps by João Antônio

Abstract

Modern man is portrayed in many ways, but few of his depicted behaviors are as typical as strolling. There is nothing more modern than this wandering through city streets, as famously featured in many works of Baudelaire. Could the image of the strolling modern European man be adapted to the streets of Rio de Janeiro? Perhaps by the way that the suburban João Antônio’s protagonist walks, while idly kicking bottle caps on asphalt surface. The man who makes his medium, who gives meaning to it. The flâneur who doesn’t listen to Wagner, but to Noel Rosa; who doesn’t carry an umbrella, but kicks bottles; someone who makes this kicking his own way of watching the ordinary in the city.