Mineral Elite was developed in the context of a collective endeavour for an exhibition organised by curator Ana Pato about the archives of the period of Brazilian military dictatorship of the years 1960’s to the 80’s. Mabe Bethônico, in collaboration with Victor Galvão and  Ana Carolina Reginatto questions the role of mining companies during the period of the Military-Civil Dictatorship. –What were the political interests that led them to support the coup d’etat?

The work presents the circumstances prior to the coup, when a national debate took place in the Ore Week in favor of the constitution of Minerobras, based on the exploration model of Petrobras, favorable to internal development. In so far, agents who supported the coup managed to implement another model of exploitation: having benefited from the dictatorship, and holding high positions between the industry and the government, they were influential in opening up mineral exploitation to foreign capital, perpetuating the colonial system in which raw material serves international industry, from which the country acquires its benefited products.

The doctoral theses of Ana Carolina Reginatto from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), “The Military-Entrepreneurial Dictatorship and the Mining Companies (1964-1988)”, is mediated in two short videos, made as explanatory classes. These are supported by an installation with documents. From operations of visual synthesis and reorganization Bethônico’s work brings a reflection on this history, which remains invisible. The work takes the form of a “learning platform”, seeking to rescue pedagogical means of the 1960s, such as booklets and posters, taking as a reference materials of the adult literacy program of the Basic Education Movement, elaborated in an agreement with the Ministry of Education (MEC), which aimed at educating adults to exercise their rights, besides teaching them to write. After the implementation of the military government, this material was considered subversive and later withdrawn from circulation, generating persecution and wide debate in the press. From this reference Bethônico proposes a new pedagogical publication, with the purpose of transmitting the history of mining companies and individuals benefitted by the dictatorial regime.

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[2019] in Collaboration with Victor Galvão and Ana Carolina Reginatto.
“Class 1 & Class 2” [15”aprox. each]. voice: Ana Carolina Reginatto, video editing by Victor Galvão, audio editing by Jalver Bethônico. Photographs ... Two facsimiles of historical study booklets/ programme Viver é Lutar and publication  "Perguntar é Saber".  Photographs by Julio Kohl .