Sesc Jazz 2023

The fifth edition of Sesc Jazz showcased contemporary musical productions linked to jazz, popular instrumental music, and improvisation. The event took place from October 18 to November 5, 2023, at Sesc Pompeia and Sesc 14 Bis.

The festival’s curatorial design tours countries where musical practices of African origin have deeply marked the territories bathed by the Atlantic. In this context, jazz functions as a form of opposition to colonial culture, an avant-garde black expression resulting from improvisation, sharing, and connection.

Giulia Fagundes explains that developing visuals to represent “the displacement of the center”, as proposed by the festival’s curators, and “assuming the symbolic place of contesting the power relations present within it” was the project’s greatest challenge. The goal was to bring the various paths of the Afro-diasporic culture and its aesthetic autonomies into a cohesive visual identity.

The graphic solution involved surveying references from posters promoting “Bailes Black”, dance balls organized in Brazil in the 1970s–80s, like the “Chic Show” parties in São Paulo. The political nature of these gatherings promoted an affirmation of the identity of black people in the diaspora and created a new way of occupying urban space through shared sound, a way of dressing and being in the world.

This visual exploration resonates with other references, such as the posters and newspapers of the Black Panther Party designed by Emory Douglas and the pamphlets from African independence movements of the same period. These references informed the festival’s illustrations, mainly through halftones, which convey the urgency and insurgency of serialized printing, valued for its speed and practicality.

Inspired by the typographic mix in the gathered materials, Giulia Fagundes chose Monopol and Monopol Kompakt by Nguyen Gobber as the main typefaces. Acumin by Robert Slimbach and Tiny by Jack Halten Fahnestock were used for supporting text.

The colors create contrasts and unexpected combinations that, together with the illustrations, define the visual language for various applications, including the festival’s printed materials, posters for decorating the venue, websites and promotional videos.

Design and art direction: Giulia Fagundes
Illustrations: Pedro Pessanha
Design printed materials: Thaíse Carvalho & Júlia França
Design digital materials: Wendel Anthuny & Tainá Simões
Motion / photography: Laís Dantas