For two weeks in February, the semente team was in a residency in Ubatuba, where the Brazilian coast is crossed by the Tropic of Capricorn. During the period, we were able to significantly evolve a streamlined version of the semente method, put it to test, and collect feedback.
The residency was hosted by GAIATO, a nonprofit located in Ipiranguinha, a neighborhood with one of the highest rates of social vulnerability in Ubatuba. Active since the late nineties, GAIATO is deeply commited to the surrounding community, particularly working with children and teenagers. The organisation is responsible for the Social Service for Coexistence and Strengthening of Bonds in the neighbourhood. GAIATO is recognized for its work in promoting local art and culture, income generation, solidarity economy, and youth protagonism.
In preparation for the residency, we had conducted online workshops and conversations both among the semente team and with the executive team at GAIATO. The perspective was to conduct it more as an artistic residency than a design consultancy. In other words, we were not necessarily expecting to create any sort of product, solution, or result. It was an open-ended investigation to learn with the GAIATO team, rather than us imposing an external method to address their issues. Of course, we expected to contribute to their understanding of project cycles and regenerative dynamics, just as much as we anticipated testing and improving on our vision of semente. But the residency didn’t expect particular outputs.
The days in Ubatuba were extremely hot, as is usual in the summer near the Atlantic Rainforest. We arrived right after the highest tourist season, when the population starts returning to normal after an intense spike of about one month. After learning a bit about the organisation and its history, the neighbourhood and their current issues, we and GAIATO have decided to focus our attention during those weeks on the education team. They are the ones in direct contact with the organisation’s main audience, after all. And while their activities are perennial, they also restart every year - which puts the team in a good position both to understand and also challenge the cyclical nature of semente and how the method is designed.
We conducted interviews with all members of the education team, while working on the design of the semente playfield and how to use it. Each person we interviewed was able to contribute to the design and help identify points that needed more work, clarification, or changes. During the residency we also performed two testing sessions. One with a group of women who attended sewing classes for two years and are now preparing to potentially establish a cooperative. The other session happened during the regular meeting of the education team, so that they could experience the updated version of the method after individual interviews.
Images, notes and insights produced during the residency can be found in the [Github Repository].
The semente residency at GAIATO was supported by the University of Bristol’s International Science Partnership Fund.