[12:55:01] Xingu: GOOD MORNING!

[12:55:10] Facundo Guerra: hi!

[12:55:21] Xingu: phew, i arrived in time

[12:55:25] Facundo Guerra:

[12:55:32] Facundo Guerra: wanna do it over the phone?

[12:55:36] Xingu: can you?

[12:55:40] Facundo Guerra: or should we do it over here?

[12:55:42] Facundo Guerra: Yes.

[12:56:23] Xingu: you see, since the idea is to have a chat, if we make it here
it is going to be published without cut

[12:56:30] Facundo Guerra: nice.

[12:56:33] Facundo Guerra: so here we go.

[12:56:37] Facundo Guerra: Shoot.

[12:57:15] Do iMOrales: let me tell you a little of how it works.

[12:57:18] Facundo Guerra : do it.

[12:57:40] Do iMOrales: this past year i wrote a text about the nightlife to
U+MAG, and there i mentioned you and andre almada

[12:58:26] Do iMOrales: so the boys got interested in you, and cine jóia, and
everything.

[12:59:35] Do iMOrales: but since people have been overtalking about cine
jóia, i think we can have a wider conversation about feelings and surprises of
your new businesses. What do you say?

[13:00:15] Facundo Guerra : that’s classy, let’s do it.

[13:00:47] Do iMOrales: you can also ask me anything you want.

[13:00:52] Do iMOrales: we can just do whatever we feel like.

[13:01:38] Facundo Guerra : ok. So here it goes: what do you think is the

most importante thing when you are establishing a nightclub? What do you
think changed in the nightlife in the last decade?
[13:01:54] Facundo Guerra : wanna know what? I think i should be making the
questions. I will interview you. Let’s trade roles.

[13:01:55] Do iMOrales: fuck!

[13:02:21] Do iMOrales: there are so many things i wanna ask you

[13:02:27] Facundo Guerra : from nightclub owner to nightclub owner

[13:02:42] Do iMOrales: alright let’s go then

[13:03:32] Do iMOrales: as to your first question, i would answer the nightlife
has become more professional, which is something fundamental in a city that
wants to have that aspect as one of its main attractions

[13:03:57] Facundo Guerra : i like trading roles with you, because you have
always been some sort of rulebreaker in Sao Paulo, right?

[13:04:11] Do iMOrales: might be

[13:04:50] Do iMOrales: i was thinking about it the other day, that my
experience with Xingu has been artistic, like an art installation that took two
years to fade away

[13:05:06] Do iMOrales: nightlife goes beyond that, you know

[13:05:14] Facundo Guerra : i think thats a great definition, when we look back
at it

[13:05:39] Facundo Guerra : Xingu has been a pioneer in many ways. Like
the end of an innocence cycle.

[13:06:09] Do iMOrales: i think i got more professional when the studio came
by

[13:06:20] Do iMOrales: but we share something that i just LOVE: your mind
takes the nightlife to places abandoned in the city

[13:06:47] Facundo Guerra : wanna know something you have taught me?

[13:07:08] Facundo Guerra : the importance of fetish in building up a space

[13:07:36] Facundo Guerra : think about it – all the places i have built were
built around some sort of fetish

[13:07:45] Do iMOrales: yes, yes, yes

[13:07:53] Do iMOrales: can you tell me the story of each one of them?

[13:08:05] Facundo Guerra : Vegas, city fetish. Volt, neon fetish. Z Carniceria,
meat fetish. Lions, gentlemen club fetish. Joia, diamond fetish. Yatch, sailor
fetish.

[13:08:14] Facundo Guerra : Everything came from a certain fetish. Xingu had
this primitive thing going on

[13:08:21] Do iMOrales: amazing

[13:08:43] Do iMOrales: tell me something: do you sometimes wander around
the streets looking for hotspots?

[13:08:58] Facundo Guerra : yes.

[13:09:00] Facundo Guerra : i ride my motorcycle.

[13:09:04] Facundo Guerra : have always done that.

[13:09:11] Facundo Guerra : when i see a rental sign, i stop by.

[13:09:17] Facundo Guerra : hop off my ride and get in

[13:09:19] Do iMOrales: is your mind always focused on the space?

[13:09:46] Facundo Guerra: No. It’s focused on the city. SP is made of layers.

[13:09:55] Do iMOrales: what do you feel when you first step into those
places?

[13:10:09] Facundo Guerra : sometimes, awe.

[13:10:15] Facundo Guerra : sometimes, pain.

[13:10:16] Do iMOrales: yes, we run away from the ugly things and find
pearls

[13:10:35] Facundo Guerra : because some of those places were destroyed,
abandoned… they represent another city. When life had more beauty. When
people still cared for their surroundings.

[13:11:27] Facundo Guerra : today everything is brutalist. Luxury is easy,

cheesy. Including nightclubs. They think luxury is to have more crystal pieces
in the room.

[13:12:16] Do iMOrales: YOU KNOW I LOVE LUXURY, RIGHT?

[13:12:25] Facundo Guerra : I also love it. But that’s not luxury. Wanna know
what luxury is, to me? Luxury is a space that is intelligent. See things that
have been handmade, and not simply bought in a design store.

[13:13:40] Facundo Guerra : Money can be held by any drug dealer. Money
doesn’t necessarily become luxury. I would say luxury is actually born from
the lack of money.

[13:15:41] Do iMOrales: do you see yourself as a foreigner?

[13:15:46] Facundo Guerra : no. I think i am more brazilian than many
brazilians. Because i chose to be so.

[13:19:17] Do iMOrales: tell me of your teenagehood, about your music
experience, the first nightclub you went to…

[13:19:41] Facundo Guerra : i was never a club kid. First time i actually bought
a musical album i was, like, 21. I live in a small apartment with other 7 people,
there was no privacy, there was no way i could have developed a music taste.

[13:21:59] Facundo Guerra : I had fun on Friday nights, going out on foot in
Augusta street to talk to whores and transexuals. I always hated playboys.
I still have this rejection towards rich people. This is my only prejudice: rich
people. I dont know why, i see them, i run.

[13:22:54] Do iMOrales: maybe its not the money, but the surroundings…

[13:23:14] Facundo Guerra : let me rephrase that. Its not about the rich
people. Its about the people that like to show off their wealth by means of
easy social mechanisms, like the Mercedes car, or the Rolex watch, or the
Hermès bag.

[13:24:21] Do iMOrales: I like this in you. I remember when we travelled to
Rio and you stayed with some of your relatives in the Rocinha slums.

[13:24:51] Facundo Guerra : When i go to Rio, i still stay there

[13:25:07] Do iMOrales: i was shitting myself everytime i had to pick you up

[13:25:16] Facundo Guerra : i really like the Rocinha slums, i feel better there

than i would in the Fasano hotel. Some people think i pretend to be humble.
It’s not that… i just dont like the obvious.

[13:37:07] Facundo Guerra : At my clubs, i dont go into the backstage, for
example. I dont like to hang there stating that i am the owner of the club…
i stay on the floor, with everybody. I hate the VIP area. I always stick to the
dance floor, because the private areas are never entirely true.

[13:49:07] Do iMOrales: there is something else i have seen in your clubs, its
the lighting. You just love lights, dont you?

[13:50:29] Facundo Guerra : to me, its the most important aspect of any
project. If i cant see the light, i dont know where to start. Everything comes
from the light. The light at the Yatch club, for instance. I just love it! I am so
tired of LEDs.

[14:02:26] Facundo Guerra : Fetish. Everything i do is based on fetish. Isnt
that what people are looking for in a nightclub? Sex. People want to get laid.

[14:02:50] Do iMOrales: feed the other’s dreams

[14:03:28] Facundo Guerra : thats why this line of fetish turns out to be so
effective in a nightclub. You just have to be careful not to trespass the line,
unless you want to end up with a swing club in your hands.

[15:53:07] Facundo Guerra : Yatch was developed around this gay aesthetics,
and I am not talking about the sexual orientation. Because this doesnt matter
anymore. Its not something worth discussing in our times. I think both gay and
straight are obsolete concepts.

[16:28:04] Facundo Guerra : Yacht came to be because initially i have been a
marine in the past.

[16:29:05] Facundo Guerra : simple like that: it’s a fetish, you have your own
and you know what im talking about

[16:29:51] Do iMOrales: thats too much fetish

[16:30:06] Facundo Guerra : what? It’s gotta be that way, otherwise we’d both
be dead by now.

[16:30:22] Do iMOrales: its about being in love with the life you lead

[16:30:28] Facundo Guerra : of course it is

[16:30:39] Facundo Guerra : the day i dont love my life anymore, i will just
shoot myself in the head.

 

Facundo Guerra in a artwork by Zega Gerace

Cine Jóia

Cine Jóia

Uh La La party invitation from Yatch Club designed by Kleber Matheus featuring Fabio Gurjão

Yatch Club

Yatch Club