Challenge the Obvious, Episode One: A Day in the Life of Haas & Hahn
Dre Urhahn and Jeroen Koolhaas, the Dutch artist duo known as Haas & Hahn, spend a day moving between the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the row houses of Philadelphia, where they paint entire hillsides and city blocks in bright, coordinated color schemes. The film follows their working method up close: scaffolding rigged over steep favela alleys, local residents recruited as paid crew, and paint rollers covering walls that once served as backdrops for drug violence and neglect. Urhahn and Koolhaas talk through why they chose large-scale public art over gallery work, describing the murals as a way to give neighborhoods a visible sense of pride and to shift how outsiders see places usually covered only in crime reports. Interviews with residents in both cities show the practical side of the project too, including the jobs it creates and the disputes over which walls get painted first. As episode one of the series, it sets up the pair's method before later episodes follow individual projects in more depth.