CONTEXT

Barranco Ateliê is located in Anápolis, a city in Goiás situated along the route connecting the state capitals of Goiânia and Brasília. With approximately 400,000 inhabitants, the city is known for hosting the largest industrial hub in the country’s Central-West region, the Anápolis Agroindustrial District (DAIA), in addition to a national logistics platform that integrates highways, railroads, and cargo terminals from different regions of Brazil. The city is also home to the Anápolis Air Base, an Air Force unit strategically established to defend Brasília.

Construction of the Anápolis Agro-Industrial District. 1970s. Collection of the Alderico Borges de Carvalho Historical Museum.

The studio is located near the historic center of Anápolis, an area that grew out of the first settlements that led to the formation of a village in the second half of the 19th century, which was officially incorporated as a city in 1907. The center of Anápolis was a local symbol of modernity and development in the first half of the 20th century, thanks to the economic prosperity brought about by the construction of the Railroad Station (1935), which for years served as the final transfer point for the Goiás Railroad, connecting the region to ports in the southeastern part of the country.

The infrastructure created by the railroad made the city a strategic economic and logistical hub during the March to the West (1937), during the administration of Getúlio Vargas, a national colonization policy aimed at expanding the agricultural frontier and migrating labor to the interior of the country, when the city served as a logistics hub to support the construction of Goiânia (1933), the capital of the state of Goiás, and Brasília (1960), the federal capital, as well as the Belém-Brasília Highway (1960).

Arrival in Anápolis of the iron frameworks used in the construction of the National Congress in Brasília (1958). Source: Mário R. dos Santos. Collection of the Public Archive of the Federal District.

Residência que ocupava o atual espaço do Barranco Ateliê. 2003. Acervo Valdson Ramos.

In operation since 2022, Barranco Ateliê was founded near the center of Anápolis on steep terrain (a geographical feature popularly known as Barranco) along the banks of the Rio das Antas, an area where, decades earlier, a traditionally styled residence stood, featuring characteristics typical of local buildings constructed along the railroad line in the first half of the 20th century. Barranco was inaugurated at the site of artist Valdson Ramos’s (b. 1972, Formoso, Goiás) studio, a more recent masonry and concrete structure built in 2018.

Barranco Ateliê is situated near two important landmarks of the local landscape and history: Senador Onofre Quinan Park, also known as Central Park, and the iconic water tower of the Goiás Sanitation Company (Saneago), which opened in 1952. Founded in the 1990s, Senador Onofre Quinan Park was formerly part of the Fanstone family’s farm, where the dam on the Rio das Antas was used for water collection, while the Saneago water tower served as the city’s primary water distribution infrastructure until 1976; together, they formed the city’s first water system.

Senator Onofre Quinan Park. 1999.
Source: Anápolis na Rede.

Saneago water tank. Source: Context Portal. Collection of the Alderico Borges de Carvalho Historical Museum.

However, for decades the downtown area has been facing increasing neglect from both the public and private sectors, suffering from the deterioration of public spaces and the loss of its urban character. This decline is linked to rapid urban growth as well as the emergence of new urban centers in the city after the 1970s, leading to a restructuring of the city’s dynamics and the configuratio n of its traditional downtown area.

In this context, the iconic reservoir currently stands with its architectural features obscured and hidden behind fences, its grounds now used as a Saneago storage facility. At the same time, Senador Onofre Quinan Park and the Rio das Antas have faced challenges in recent decades, including siltation and severe flooding caused by the river’s channelization, as well as a lack of regular maintenance for the park’s public use.

From this perspective, Barranco Ateliê is part of a broader effort to reclaim and revitalize the city center, where various cultural spaces, collectives, and artists have taken the lead in cultural initiatives as a means of revitalizing and invigorating life in the central district of Anápolis.

View of the water tower on Pedro Ludovico Avenue. 1960s. Collection of the Alderico Borges de Carvalho Historical Museum.

References
LUZ, Janes Socorro da. A (re)produção do espaço de Anápolis-Go: a trajetória de uma cidade média entre duas metrópoles, 1970-2009. Tese (Doutorado) apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. Uberlândia, 2009.

SILVA, Ana Caroline Caixeta. Do edifício histórico ao espaço urbano : um estudo sobre a Estação Ferroviária no Centro Pioneiro de Anápolis-GO. 2019. Dissertação (Mestrado em Territórios e Expressões Culturais no Cerrado) - Universidade Estadual de Goiás, Anápolis, GO .

SILVA, A. C. C. ; VALVA, M. A. . A modernização da cidade de Anápolis (GO) e a repercussão no seu Centro Pioneiro. Revista Memória em Rede , v. 12, p. 222-242, 2020.

SILVA, José Fábio. O progresso como categoria de entendimento histórico: um estudo de caso sobre a modernização da cidade de Anápolis-GO (1930-1957). Dissertação (Mestrado) apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em História, da Faculdade de História, da Universidade Federal de Goiás. Goiânia, 2014.