be.Living’s Art and Science Fair – MAC IX – is an invitation to reflect on the importance of words. With the title “I need these written words” – inspired by the work of Arthur Bispo do Rosário, the Fair is the end result of a long investigative, reflexive and creative process for the Elementary School classes on the subject “Languages”.
Coordinator Gabriela Fernandes says that the idea of exploring this topic with the children arose from questioning by the pedagogical team about the importance of words, of different languages, and especially about the relevance of scientific language in the current global scenario. “We are living in a time of many questions regarding science. The school must be the space where the way to produce scientific knowledge is validated and learned. The theme for this year’s MAC came from this great questioning about what is being done with language, about why scientific knowledge is so often questioned, and about the processes of writing, reading and language production in these post-modern times. The school, as a place of written production, has the conviction that words produce meaning, create realities, and are an important mechanism of human construction. We decided to further explore this issue, through Science and Art, starting from an initial provocation based on Bispo do Rosário’s work” – says the coordinator.
Our art teacher, Bruna Amaro, explains that the use of words is a strong characteristic in the work of the Sergipe artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário. “By addressing them, expressing reflections about his daily life and society, Bispo do Rosário offers us many possibilities to understand the word not only as a way for recording – writing, but also as a tool for plastic, material and poetic experimentation.” She says that the educational outing with the children at the beginning of the semester to visit the exhibition “I came: apparition, impregnation and impact” was conclusive for the choice of the MAC theme. “The children dove deep into different exercises of scale, textures, three-dimensionality, and projections into the present and the future through Bispo do Rosário’s impactful works. They were enchanted by the simplicity of the materials and at the same time with the artist’s great resourcefulness in collecting these materials, just as he does with words.”
The MAC presents a different proposal this year: although each Year has delved into a specific artistic research, the Artwork exhibited by the children will be built collectively. “To propose collective work is to share the responsibilities around what we expect for the final result of a project and, more importantly, is to make the intention and the importance of each one’s participation in this process evident. When performing collective work, the children begin to feel part of a whole, and in this whole, each one is responsible for taking care of the dynamics and those who are part of it. This type of work also highlights the dimensions that a project can reach when we do it together,” says professor Bruna.
The work “A origem da arte”, by artist Marilá Dardot, is one of the references for the collective ceramic installation “Cultivating the Word”. The letters of the alphabet will be produced by each child in clay, taken for firing, and will be displayed in the school garden available to anyone who wants to build-cultivate their words.
Coordinator Gabriela Fernandes explains why the MAC consists of science and art at the same time. “We put Art and Science in the same space because we understand that they are two essential areas for the process of understanding and transforming the world. These are areas in which the individual can see himself as very participative and part of a universal process of collectivity.”
In the area of sciences, there will be two work axes: “Material and Energy” and “Earth and Universe”. Within these axes, each class developed a deep research process considering their interests and particular universes: stuffed animals, graffiti, sticker album, lightning and thunder, light, cameras, vision of animals, earth and sky, construction of cities and houses… “The children’s investigative process is always experienced from a protagonist point of view. Starting from their own interest, they experience all the stages of research: they raise a question, develop the hypotheses, conduct research to refute or validate these hypotheses, and will always seek to build new hypotheses or new questions or provide some solutions. This is all built collectively because they exchange a lot among themselves,” says coordinator Gabi.
Gabriela says that the decision to present all the scientific knowledge produced by the children in an exhibition is based on an educational ideal that aims at the formation of critical and socially active citizens. “The idea is that they produce knowledge throughout the year and share this knowledge. It is to teach that if you are a critical and active citizen, you tell others what you have learned and share with them all your knowledge.”
