AVAF is a dangerous virus. AVAF is contagious – infectious in its sheer vivacity and colour, its joie de vivre. With their collective Assume Vivid Astro Focus, or AVAF for short, Eli Sudbrack of Rio de Janeiro and his partner Christophe Hamaide-Pierson turn art into an orgiastic spectacle of colour.

The name AVAF is an amalgam of the name of the American indie band Ultra Vivid Scene and an album entitled Assume Power Focus by the British industrial group Throbbing Gristle. “Our strategy is to maximise the joy of living,” say the artist duo. “We want to give people experiencing our projects in museums and public places a sample of the kind of pleasure they’re capable of feeling, show them that anybody can be AVAF. People’s pleasure should be infectious. Genius exists in us all.” And so they inexhaustibly mix wildly ornamented wallpapers, Brazilian calligraphic graffiti known as pichaçãos, stickers, tattoos, neon, mirrors, fluorescent lights, beaded curtains, feathers, stars, balloons, photos of surgically enhanced pop divas or department store mannequins. Any accessory that stimulates the nerves is welcome. Their goal: “If, later on in their lives, teenagers who were here remember it as five fantastic minutes of their youth, then we’ve done a good job.”