History
Meeting with the Guaraná farmers

Guaraná Power developed out of a meeting between Superflex (art group based in Copenhagen, Denmark) and a Brazilian Guaraná farmers’ cooperative, XXXXXX (based in Maués). Superflex had been invited by NIFCA (Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art), a São Paolo-based foundation called Extra Arte and the Amazonian government to undertake a research residency based in the town of Maués.
Maués is known in Brazil as the home of guaraná, a fruit whose caffeine-packed seeds are a luxury health-food product in Europe but in Brazil form the basis of some the Country’s most popular soft drinks.

Guaraná is a berry that has long been harvested by the indigenous people of the Amazon region for its medicinal and energy-giving properties and whose caffeine-packed seeds now form the basis of some of Brazil’s most popular soft drinks. The multinational corporations that buy most of the guaraná have, through mergers and mutual agreements, formed a cartel, and consequently the price paid to the farmers has dropped. The corporations – Xxxxx, an affiliate of Dutch food giant Xxxxxxxx formed out of the merger of Brazilian drinks manufacturers Xxxxxxxx and Xxxxxx, and XxxxxXx, who have signed mutual distribution deal with Xxxxx – have established a small plantation of their own in Maués. Nowhere near large enough to supply their needs, it functions as a veiled threat to the local producers – accept the situation, or we will expand and put you out of business completely.

The XXXXXX cooperative was formed by farmers who refused to accept the conditions the corporations are trying to impose, in an attempt to find a way to regain their livelihood.

An idea is developed
During a workshop organized by Superflex and XXXXXX, the participants raised two contradictory points. In order to resist the corporate monopoly on the raw material, it was necessary to find a way to produce a secondary product that could be sold in a different market, perhaps even competing directly with the corporate brands.
Second, the community has no capital and no access to manufacturing equipment or distribution mechanisms to make this possible.

Superflex presented various examples of products and models, such as Mecca cola and some of their own Supercopy products and suggested that local products might be developed without the need for impossibly expensive industrial technology.
For some time, Superflex have been producing ‘Supercopy’ goods – copies of designer products, including Lacoste shirts and Poul Heningson light fittings, that don’t try to pass as the real thing but declare themselves as ‘Supercopies’ in a classic anti-marketing move. Superflex talk about the international profile of global brands as being a ‘raw material’ that can be exploited by such counter-economic strategies, in the same way that the raw materials and labour forces of developing countries are exploited by multinational corporations.

During a second workshop the farmers then presented several potential local products as home-made prototypes - and ideas for how these could be marketed. These ranged from chocolate bars branded Maués Bars in competition with Mars Bars, Mauéscafé against Nescafé as a breakfast wake-up and PepSim (EnergyYes in Portugese) against Pepsi cola.

As a result of the product proposals and discussions they came up with a plan to produce and market a competing guaraná drink of their own.

With very few resources, the funding available to the project when presented as art to Western audiences and voluntary work from various individuals , the Guaraná Power project kicked off.