'CARNAVAL!' UCLA ART EXHIBIT REVEALS PRE-LENTEN MASQUERADE TRADITIONS AROUND THE WORLD.

Byline: Steven Rosen Correspondent

As long as there are carnivals in this world, there is fun to be had. That's the message of ``Carnaval!, at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History now through April 23.

Through use of costumes, oversize photographs, and video and sound recordings, the exhibit visits eight pre-Lenten carnivals around the world - in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Trinidad and Tobago, and New Orleans.

All the carnivals in this show are rooted in Catholic tradition related to Easter. Because Lent consists of 40 fasting days leading to Easter, the days before its start on Ash Wednesday have been a time for festivities. This appears to have started in 12th-century Rome - the Latin term ``carnem-levare'' means to remove oneself from meat or flesh.

As they have become more secular events, the big carnivals have become a way for cultures to let off steam at the expense of societal proprieties.

``It's great when you let people have the opportunity to show their stuff,'' says Barbara Mauldin, the show's organizer and the curator of Latin American collections at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, N.M.

``Most of the time, there's not space in a society for them to do that. So it's nice when you have an annual event that forces people to play. It's a very healing thing.''

That healing aspect comes through most vividly in the section devoted to the Venice, Italy, Carnevale. It began with the wealthy city's aristocrats in the Middle Ages and was revived in 1981 after being halted early in the 20th century. It features people roaming the town's squares or riding the canals on gondolas in elaborate historical costumes.

Among the Venice costumes on display is one that's the most startling in the entire show. It consists of a white mask with a long, birdlike beak and spectacles, atop a black cape, ruffled collar and hat. There also are white gloves and a long, probing stick.

This is a 1991 costume, but it's a re-creation of an old favorite, based on the attire of a 16th-century French doctor who created this type of outfit to protect himself while treating plague patients. He kept herbs and perfumes in the beak. Why did this become part of Carnevale? Because those who survived the plague had to enjoy life a little. That was part of the survival ethos and societal healing. ``The Carnevale people thought it was a fabulous costume,'' Mauldin said. ``Plus, they thought he was a little crazy.''

In carnivals in the Americas, participants often call attention to a heritage of colonial or economic exploitation. At their annual carnival in south-central Mexico, Tlaxcala Indians masquerade as dandified Europeans with rosy pink faces and don formal wear such as tuxedos and top hats. They are spoofing the French who tried to occupy Mexico in the latter half of the 19th century.

And at the most famous U.S. carnival, New Orleans' Mardi Gras, which is featured in the exhibit's final gallery, the costumes of black participants comment on the city's history of segregation and slavery. One krewe - these are parade groups formed by Mardi Gras organizations - known as Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, lampoons racial stereotypes by dressing as African kings and wearing blackface with some white paint. Another dresses as Mardi Gras Indians in tribute to an alliance between Indians and slaves long ago. ``That's an intentional statement on the way they're viewed in society,'' Mauldin said.

Other times, a carnival is a chance for people to make fun of each other. And sometimes they get physical about it. In the exhibit's section devoted to the Carnaval in Laza, Spain, a video shows the strange custom of participants whipping spectators and throwing dirt from anthills at them.

Carnivals also beget some really big costumes and head coverings, such as the Lady Olinda giant puppet from the Carnaval in Olinda, Brazil. The event was introduced to this bustling, humid harbor city in northeastern Brazil by Portuguese colonists in the 16th and 17th centuries and now has exuberant, costumed Afro-Brazilian participants in the streets.

Lady Olinda was in the event's fantastical Parade of Giant Puppets, in which young men peering through peepholes in front carry the papier-mache creations on frames resting upon their shoulders. ``I danced with them and kept giving them water, it got so hot,'' Mauldin said.

Ultimately, it may be that carnivals serve as safety valves.

``You can criticize leaders, have licentious behavior and be as transgressive as you want for this little period of time,'' said Marla Berns, the Fowler Museum's director. ``It reinforces the social order because you know you have to give it up when the carnival is over.''

CARNAVAL!

Where: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, North Campus, UCLA (enter from Sunset at Westwood).

When: Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays; through April 23.

Tickets: Free. Call [phone] or visit fowler.ucla.edu.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) ``CHIVARRUDO,'' TLAXCALA, MEXICO, 1999

(2 -- color) ``RECIFE/OLINDA,'' BRAZIL (EXHIBIT INSTALLATION)

(3 -- color) CARNIVAL MASQUERADERS IN VENICE, ITALY, 2001(4 -- color) MASQUERADERS IN A GONDOLA, VENICE, ITALY, 1988(5 -- color) REX ON HIS THRONE IN THE KREWE OF REX PARADE, NEW ORLEANS, 1981

(6 -- color) no caption (art sculpture)