Brazilian shantytown turns heads in Venice

VENICE, June 10 (Reuters) Italy's picturesque lagoon city of Venice is known for many things, including, at least for now, a Brazilian shantytown.

It is complete with a drug trafficking gang, riot police, a hospital and even a soccer pitch -- oh, and it's at least 20 times smaller than in real life.

The so-called ''Morrinho project'', created by the residents of a real Rio de Janeiro shantytown, was among one of the most talked-about installations at the Venice Biennale art festival, sometimes called the ''Oscars'' of the art world.

The Biennale opened to the public today.

Those behind the Brazilian project are still mildly uncomfortable about being called ''artists''. For them, it all started as a game, building their own version of doll-houses that simply recreated the life they saw around them.

''I never thought it was art. We were just playing around, like normal,'' said Maycon Souza de Oliveira, who started the project with his older brother almost a decade ago, when he was seven years old.

''Now I'm convinced''.

Their model in Rio stretches 300 square meters. To do a smaller version in Venice, they flew in more than 5,000 bricks from Brazil and used 120 cubic meters of sand. It took three weeks to mount the ''favela'', the Brazilian word for shantytown.

Over the past several days, the world's art elite descended on Venice for the Beinnale's preview, and got as close to a favela as almost any of them ever had -- or ever will -- get.

They stood around marvelling at the sloping streets and colourful honeycomb of housing, taking photos with the artists.

''I think the favelas are a big part of Brazil. But it's a hidden part. You can't go in,'' said Silke Eberspacher, a German visitor to the preview. She had been to Brazil 4 or 5 times, but, like most tourists, never stepped foot inside a favela.

''This shows us what it's like to live there and what can be good about it.'' The Brazilians themselves, thrilled at the chance to fly around the world, are highly positive about their experiences but careful not to glorify poverty.

Characters in the miniature favela, which are made from Lego blocks, often die during role-playing by the artists.

The sincerity of the exhibit stands in stark contrast to the often bizarre nature of the art festival around them. Just footsteps away, there was a wacky artist walking holding a video screen that showed moving images of his penis.

But the Brazilian artists shrugged it off, saying the contrasts were part of what makes art appealing.

''In the same way we see his art like something strange, he could think our art is strange,'' Souza de Oliveira said. He marvelled at the man's technology more than anything else.

''A hand-held TV? That's not normal at all.'' REUTERS SLD BST1908