World Cup 2014 Memory Project

“A Copa é nossa, a memoria é global”

Overview

The FIFA World Cup is one of the world’s most powerful sources of collective memory. Every time a World Cup Final occurs, it is the most watched event in human history. World Cup games define national and personal histories, stimulate exchange between distant and disparate cultures, and renew rivalries that resonate through time and space. Since 1930, the quadrennial World Cup has marked time for billions of people, connecting generations and cultures through a shared memory.

The World Cup is a global event that occurs in local stadiums. These stadiums function as stages for sport but also serve as repositories of global memory. Players, coaches, dignitaries, residents, tourists, and television audiences share the emotional and cultural space of the stadium, remembering what happened there long after the floodlights dim. Despite the importance of the game and stadium in peoples’ lives, there are very few mechanisms through which they can build upon, share, and connect with the memories and events they helped to create. Long after the World Cup has passed, the stadiums and the games they host occupy a permanent position in the global memory of sport.

Twelve Brazilian cities will host the 64 games of the FIFA 2014 World Cup. Incredibly, there are currently no stadiums in Brazil that meet FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) requirements for the month long event. Therefore, the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) in conjunction with national, state, and city governments have embarked upon an ambitious stadium building program. The minimum projected cost for seven renovated and five new stadiums is in excess of R$4.3 billion (US$ 2.15 billion). The estimated investment in transportation, communication, and tourist infrastructure is a staggering R$100 billion. The historic nature of the World Cup and its profound impact on Brazilian cities call for a project that can contextualize and memorialize these monumental projects.

The mission of the 2014 World Cup Memory Project (2014WCMP) is to document, enhance, and catalogue the histories and events associated with the stadiums of the 2014 World Cup. This unique project will serve as a resource and archive for laborers, project managers, government officials, residents, tourists, researchers, and policy makers. Multiple forms of public engagement will allow a diverse cross-section of Brazilian society to interact with international tourists so that the experience and events of the 2014 World Cup can be preserved as a living history.