Still from Gê Viana's film Radiola de promessa

Hammer Projects: Gê Viana

Now showing19 September 2026 – 7 February 2027Free

The Brazilian artist's U.S. institutional debut, centered on her film documenting rural life, reggae and African diasporic memory in Maranhão.

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On now All of November 2026

The film opens on black screens, birdsong, crickets and a crackling fire, then palm trees under wisps of smoke. The camera tilts down to a towering yellow radiola, the stacks of speakers, amplifiers and subwoofers that Maranhão, in northeast Brazil, builds for its reggae parties.

Radiola de promessa (2025) runs 13 minutes and follows the hours before a celebration: dough kneaded, wood chopped, talk breaking into song, dresses twirling, and then the bass. ArtReview explains that the radiola is treated like an altar, tied to Tambor de Mina, a drum-led religion blending African and Indigenous Brazilian beliefs. In Maranhão a speaker stack can be an altar; in your apartment, the same subwoofer gets you a note from the landlord.

The film is shown in an installation alongside a new sculpture, after a run in the video room at São Paulo's Pinacoteca. This is Viana's first museum show in the US. Entry is free, Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm.

Look for

The yellow radiola
Look for the moment the camera tilts down from smoke-hazed palm trees to a towering yellow sound system of stacked speakers and subwoofers.
The run-up to the party
Dough being kneaded, the thud of woodcutting, speech breaking into song and dresses twirling, all before the drums set the beat.
The bass from the radiola
Once the drums have set the beat, the radiola's bass starts blasting, the reggae that gives Maranhão its nickname, Brazilian Jamaica.