Social Projects in Rio: Morrinho and Rocinha Surfe Ecole

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:

Organizing the Alternative Climate Summit for 2009

Co-CreationLab is co-operating with the group of Pioneers of Change in Copenhagen in creating an alternative summit in 2009, when the official Climate Change Summit is to take place.

The core idea behind the initiative is to create and facilitate an event that focuses on the possibilities, on sustainable solutions and on the potentials behind different initiatives in the world. The intention is to show that we must think beyond immediate problem-solving, that we must focus on the solutions already present and that we have to begin c0-creating a future as we want it!

It is intended as an event that gathers various fields, initiatives from different domains and inspiration from global sources in order to create an interactive, liveable and engageable space for all the participants.

The event is currently in its early development stage. However, we invite ideas and initatives from others who are interested in creating an event focused on the sustainable futures.

Join!

Best

Co-CreationLab

Events: Co-CreationLab at Global Journey in Brazil

From 1 December to 8 December, we have been participating in the Global Journey in Brazil, organized by the global network Pioneers of Change. This event gathered over 40 people from all over the world, and from a wide number of disciplines and areas of interest. The topic of the gathering was sustainability and sustainable communities, which was explored in-depth throughout the 7 day process. The hosting team invited all the participants to host sessions, to raise topics of interest and to explore the issues that were most relevant to them. Thus the process as a whole reflected the richness of the perspectives, backgrounds and expertises of the participants. Activities ranged from open space sessions, world café sessions, theatric explorations, life council sessions, coaching and project presentations. A vast number of ideas, co-operative links and future plans arose in the process, regarding everything from the future and the shape of the PoC network, over project-co-operation and sharing to entirely new projects being formed!

We at Co-CreationLab had the chance to get familiar with other projects and form associative links between Dreamers Inc. and other youth projects around the world. Furthermore, Co-CreationLab was able to present the project of Alternative Climate Summit initiatied by the Pioneers in Copenhagen. The consequence of presenting this project in an open space session was vast! We acquired very rich imput, we had been given a number of implementable ideas and importantly we acquired interst from others to co-operate on the creation of this event!
Thank you to all the pioneers - it was a most rewarding experience!!!!!

Co-CreationLab - Summer School in Brazil

On 29. November we are going to Rio in Brazil to particpate in the summer school organised by the global network Pioneers of Change (www.pioneersofchange.net). The event bears the name Global Journey, and it invites practitioners from different countries to explore together. The focus this time would be on:
- sharing personal stories and journeys
- sharing collective journeys
- exploroing the possibilities and tools for sustainable initiatives/projects/work


Recently, we have become involved with the members of PoC in Copenhagen in organising an alternative climate event in 2009 when the Climate Change Summit is to take place in Denmark. Co-CreationLab is therefore bringing the ideas and questions from this forum to Brazil, in order to explore with others further possibilities and options and in order to gather knowledge, advice and contribution from other pioneers.

(We will be updating upon this subject. )