The forest within the city

This was the starting point for the first edition of this residency, probably the most obvious one when we think of Rio de Janeiro. We could have started with the roots, with the infrastructure, but we left that for next time. For now we dive into the green and the countless practices that already exist to take care of life in this city, starting with plants, the body, and the resonance between smells, sounds, and tastes. These are forms of collectivity that organize the encounter between the gray of the concrete and the green of the plants, which often happens through conflict. What history is revealed and hidden underneath this dazzling green distributed so unevenly in our city? From this encounter we seek to to deepen the exchange between art and science and broaden our imagination of the city as coexistence between species. Against the artificial winter of the dominant economy, with its cycles of crisis, we want to understand how the rainforest, under favorable conditions of ecological stability, manages to create an environment of maximum diversity: of species, of life forms, of relationships of constant exchange, communication and collaboration. The forest is much more collaborative than competitive, and we do not learn about this in school. The forest produces a planetary intelligence that is still little known. What kind of city can we imagine based on this observation? What can the city learn from the forest? Who will lead the way in the transition from the factory city to the forest city? Who listens to the forest?