The City as Forest Residency is an invitation to promote critical thinking about the challenges and powers of an urban future beyond the industrial paradigm. The initiative proposes to create and facilitate new narratives, to speculate on future scenarios on urban dynamics and their potential for transformation through a multidisciplinary dialogue between art, biology, botany, microbiology, ecological studies, physics, and life sciences.
The residents participated in immersive experiences in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro and in the Laboratory of Activities of the Museum of Tomorrow for scientific research and artistic creation. In this environment, artists and scientists interested in investigating and establishing a dialogue between art and science have the opportunity to work side by side, broadening their views and working beyond the practices and protocols of their laboratories and studios.
The end of the Residency Program culminated in the Exhibition at the Museum of Tomorrow, where the artists were able to show their processes in the exhibition between June 4th and 11th. Through artistic manifestations in various formats, the City as Forest Residents brought different perspectives in searching for new ways to live and exchange that are more autonomous, sustainable, and thoughtful.
The interdisciplinary group, which worked on exchanges between art and science beyond the individual projects of each artist, included: Séverin Guelpa, artist and curator based in Switzerland; the Brazilians Isabella Meirelles, Joelma Gomes Ferreira, Milena Manfredini, and Pedro Kosovski; and the German Lotta Ortheil.