Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUQatar), in partnership with the Qatar-Brazil 2014 Year of Culture at Qatar Museums, will host MFA Designer in Residence Felipe Fonseca for a lunchtime lecture on November 5.
The lecture will be held at 12:15pm at the Atrium, VCUQatar, and is open to the public.
In his lecture titled “Gambiarra: Repair Culture”, Brazil-based Fonseca explores the popular practices of Gambiarra and Mutirão in Brazil, demonstrating how social creativity is latent in virtually every human activity.
Through the lenses of Gambiarra, critical issues of the maker culture will be addressed – in particular the tension between fabricating new products and dealing with non-degradable objects that have been created over the last centuries.
Brazilian initiatives such as the MetaReciclagem network, Gambiologia collective and others will offer concrete examples of the reuse and repurposing of discarded objects and serve as an inspiration to further discuss open source methodologies, upcycling and how society relates to the waste it generates.
Fonseca is an activist and independent researcher in the fields of digital culture, free and open technologies, collaborative networks, participatory society and local development. He serves as a consultant to the Brazilian ministry of culture and the United Nations Development Programme, advising on public policies for digital culture.
Fonseca is one of the founders of the MetaReciclagem network (2002), a self-organised network that proposes the deconstruction of technology for social change.
He worked in the conception and planning of the Brazilian ministry of culture’s Pontos de Cultura project (2003/2007), where he also co-ordinated the implementation of the digital culture strategy.
Fonseca currently lives in Ubatuba along the São Paulo coast. In 2008, he established Ubalab, an experimental lab focused on the crossroads of free/open technologies, environment and society. He teaches at Tancredo Neves Technical School and is the chairperson at Gaivota FM, a community radio station.
Fonseca will be in residence in the MFA in Design programme at VCUQatar until November 13, working with students on developing creative and artistic approaches to
reduce and rationalise waste.
During the residency, students will conduct field research, looking for manifestations of repair/upcycling/creative reuse in Doha and Qatar, and then articulate observations into concrete products.