Rio Baile Funk #004, 2008

Vincent Rosenblatt  

Rio Baile Funk #004 - Equipe Furacão Gigante,
Baile do Boqueirão, Rio de Janeiro 2008 - 60 x 40 cm
fine-art print on baryta paper - edition 2/8

This artwork vividly captures the pulsating energy of a crowded Rio de Janeiro's Baile Funk, as they existed in the 2000's. The focal point is the immense wall of speakers, dominating the background with their circular patterns and evoking a sense of amplified sound. Above, ethereal lights cast a glow, mingling with the fog to create an atmosphere thick with excitement. The foreground is a sea of silhouettes, each figure raising arms in unison, embodying collective euphoria and rhythmic unity. This composition uniquely blends the physicality of sound equipment with the emotional resonance of its audience, capturing the essence of live music culture. The detailed portrayal of light and shadow enhances the immersive experience, inviting viewers to feel the palpable beats shared within this vibrant gathering.

This photograph is part of the “Funk! Um grito de ousadia & liberdade" exhibition at the Museu da Lingua Portuguesa in São Paulo, until the 30th of August 2026.

"Carioca funk is a kaleidoscope of rhythms, rituals, territories, and identities.
My photographs attempt to capture collective movements, individual impulses, and bodily details: the bodies of the funkeiros as living manifestos of freedom. 
Since 2005, I have sought to preserve the fragile memory of these gatherings, to depict the energy, gestures, and desires of a particular youth in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the 21st century. Drawn irresistibly by the beats booming from giant speaker walls and the rawness of lyrics that shake, at every baile, the foundations of social propriety and the illusion of a Brazilian racial democracy, I discovered another Rio.
Very quickly, DJs, MCs, and dancers took me deeper and deeper into their favelas and peripheral neighborhoods—where funk is created and danced. 
The funkeiros shared with me both the responsibility and the risk of producing images of places “forbidden" from representation, stigmatized by certain media outlets and constantly under threat of prohibition. They knew that the most beautiful bailes were destined for repression and destruction, and that this fleeting beauty needed to be documented.
In recent years, in a climate of latent bans on favela bailes, a generation of young producers has reinvented Rio's nightlife. In popular clubs, “Black parties" have amplified the funk carioca revolution: the celebration of identity and diversity without discrimination creates, for the span of a night, safe space-times in which to live and dream".

Vincent Rosenblatt, born a Parisian, lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He studied at the National School of Fine Arts (ENSBA) in the Atelier of Lesly Hamilton where he graduated in 2001. Rosenblatt moved to Rio de Janeiro and set up a photography workshop: 'Olhares do Morro' on the hills of the Santa Marta favela, providing a place where local youth could develop and study photography - from 2002 to 2008. While working as a photojournalist, Vincent documented the underground Baile Funk scene and fringe urban cultures in Brazil since 2005, when he began a collaboration with the Rio organizers of Baile Funk, dj's & dancers.

Personal exhibitions:

- Galerie Salon H, Paris, 2025

- Tropisme, Montpellier, 2025

- Galerie Pierre Passebon
- Galerie du Passage, Paris, 2022
- Alliance Française - Rio de Janeiro, 2022
- Galeria da Gavea - Rio de Janeiro, 2020
- Centro Cultural Internacional of Panama City, 2019
- SESC Madureira in Rio de Janeiro, 2016
- SESC Madureira in Rio de Janeiro, 2016
- CACP - Vila Pérochon in Niort, France, 2015
- Alliance Française - Rio de Janeiro, 2014

- MEP (European House of Photography), Paris, 2011

Collective exhibition:
- "Funk! Um grito de liberdade e ousadia", Museu da Lingua Portuguesa, 2026
- "Clubbing", Grand-Palais Immersif, Paris, 2025
- "Funk! Un cri de liberté", Maison Folie Wazemmes, Lilles, France 2025
- "Funk! Um grito de liberdade e ousadia", Rio de Janeiro Art Museum (MAR), 2024
- “Dance and music", Galerie du Jour, Fondation Agnès B, Paris, 2023
- “Electro" - Philarmonie de Paris, 2019
- Historias Afro-Atlanticas - MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo), 2018
- “Designing Club Culture 1960-Today" - Vitra Design Museum, Germany 2018
- “Rio, a peace of France" MAR (Rio Art Museum), 2015
- "Made by Brazilians, feito por brasileiros", Cidade Matarazzo, São Paulo, 2014.