Museological and museography project for the AngloGold Ashanti Memory Center
In October 2021, together with Micropolis Architecture firm, I completed the museological/museography project for the AngloGold Ashanti Memory Center, with the theme “Archeology of the Present Time”.
The proposal was developed for the production of a permanent exhibition on industrial heritage and territory, considering the archaeological traces of mining activities related to gold extraction.
Adapted to the size of the room, the exhibition seeks to articulate objects from the AngloGold collection, their information, and data into a multimedia experience that invites visitors to be active researchers and make their own interpretations of the content on various layers – archaeological, historical, sociological, every day.
The exhibition invites visitors to explore, through a curatorial selection of objects, the archaeological process – the main focus behind AngloGold Ashanti’s desire – which helps establish relationships and reflections on the working practices that involve mineral extraction and its constitution as heritage. At the same time, each archaeological object serves as a point of branching narratives and broadens the perspective on what archaeology is.
While delving into the materiality of the collection objects, the exhibition also presents, in a multimedia format, various possibilities for reflecting on how archaeology, even when looking at the past, relates to and informs the present time.
In this expanded perspective of archaeology (THIESEN, 2018), the objects of the field are not limited to excavation, which is often prevalent in the popular imagination. That is to say when we approach “archaeology,” we do not only consider what is buried or ancient, no longer in use or obsolete. Archaeology, in this sense, is also the science of the present time, of current issues where memory is evoked.
Tales of care and repair
In 2021, I was a collaborator on the international project Tales of Care and Repair, conducting research and interviews with self-taught professionals engaged in object repair and restoration. The project was supported by various institutions, including the University of the West of England.
Tales of Care and Repair (@repairacts) brings together stories of everyday object repair from India, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.
Considering repair as a potentially radical act that can transform our relationship with our material worlds, the program aims to build a repository of ‘stories’ of repaired everyday objects. It also gathers artists, designers, policymakers, and academics to conduct specialized workshops and seminars and create Repair Declarations for citizens to embrace local repair mindsets in cities, towns, and neighborhoods.
Access at: https://tales.repairacts.net/tales
Forest Fire Prevention
One year ago, in June 2021, I completed the Training Course for Fire Brigade Members of the Forest Fire Prevention and Combat Program of the State Forest Institute (MG). Now, during the dry season, I am starting to prepare myself to be available as a volunteer in firefighting efforts, which have been increasing in recent years, especially in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte.
From January to December of last year, there was an increase of over 17% in fire incidents compared to 2020 and over 30% compared to 2019 throughout the state. In the Metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, there were 1,805 reports from January to August 2020. In 2021, it rose to 3,158, which corresponds to a 75% increase during the same period.
