The two projects have been initiated by local people, with the purpose of creating a novel and different space for the youth. The designer Henrik Vibskov has in association with Co-CreationLab supported the projects by sponsorung sports clothes to those involved.
Morrinho project is created by eight young men on a hill in their favela. It is a model of their community in colored bricks and using lego. The Morrinho model is sort of a parallel reality - it mirrors the life and the reality of the favela. It has rules, inhabitants, events, happenings, deaths... It is a whole universe created and lived daily by children, who are are the ones that animate the otherwise inanimate lego-people, and who construct a very complex and nuanced world and reality through play. Morrinho is in no way attempted as a reality-escape - it contains all the elements they are acquainted with - but it does give children a unique possibility of perspective on their own existence and a possibility of realizing how the "real-reality" is created and constructed daily by the people involved in it. It has been presented at the Venice Biannale in 2007!
Rocinha Surfe Ecola is located in the largest favela in Brazil- Rocinha. Ordinarily, our modes of representing favelas don't involve happy children, surfing great waves on one of the most beautiful beaches in Rio. Yet, it is precisly this reality that Bocao has created by starting a surfing school for the local children. A surfer himself, he has dozens and dozens of surf boards piled up in a hut at the edge of the favela. It is filled with kids, music, drum-sounds and laughter! A number of children shows up every day, spending the day learning how to surf. By doing what he loves, he has created a space for the children in which they can play, learn and explore.
Please watch the videos of the projects below:
Friday, January 11, 2008
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