https://jorgemennabarreto.com Jorge Menna Barreto Sun, 02 Nov 2025 21:13:15 +0000 https://jorgemennabarreto.com en https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Top Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:33 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Top JORGE MENNA BARRETO&nbsp; RECENT PROJECTS Olho Seco: Podcast- ︎ Enzyme Magazine – Residency @janvaneyckacademie – Alfabeto Maldito Mauvais Alphabet – Incômodo –Restauro: Visible Award 2017–Lina: a marquise, o MAM e nós no meio&nbsp;– Serpentine Galleries: Londelion –Restauro On Tour: Serpentine Galleries –Serpentine Galleries: Restauro Dinner–Sandhills Institute: Urtica Dioica–Restauro: 32 Bienal SP–Parque Lage: Exposição Depois do Futuro ARTISTIC PRACTICEProdução de Realidade–Desleituras–Café Educativo–Sucos Específicos–Projeto Matéria–Concreto–Lugares Moles–Metabólide–Inserções Revista–Minha Terra, Sua Terra–Massa–Con-fio–Área Semicrítica de Contaminação–Inseguro EDUCATION O começo pelo meio –Exercícios de Leitoria (Tese)–Lugares Moles (Dissertação)–A escuta do lugar–O alimento no campo expandido PRÁTICA EDUCATIVA Qual a tradução da palavra 'astonishment' para o português? –Oficina Site-specific e Agroecologia–Grupo de Educação Colaborativa TRANSLATIONS Introdução ao pensar como uma floresta –Um lugar após o outro–A Arte de Ser Testemunha na Esfera Pública dos Tempos de Guerra–Estética da Resistência?–A armadilha se fecha ABOUT Bio– Texts–Interviews– ︎– ︎ https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Olho-Seco-1 Sun, 02 Nov 2025 21:13:15 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Olho-Seco-1 ︎HOME Olho Seco é uma série sonora em três episódios do artista e pesquisador Jorge Menna Barreto. Entre ciência, poesia e artes visuais, conecta a síndrome do olho seco à aridificação dos ecossistemas, mostrando como o “seco” pode inspirar novas formas de ver e habitar o planeta. +&nbsp;Roteiros em Português e InglêsNo primeiro episódio de Olho Seco, investigo o paralelo entre o globo ocular e o globo terrestre, aproximando a síndrome do olho seco — uma pandemia silenciosa agravada pelo excesso de telas e pelo ritmo moderno — dos processos de aridificação que afetam ecossistemas no Brasil, na Califórnia e além. Em conversa com meu irmão, o oftalmologista Carlos Menna Barreto, com as climatólogas Ana Luiza Saraiva e Francis Lacerda, com o historiador Rondinelly Medeiros e com a poeta Sophia Faustino, busco conectar lágrimas e chuvas, córneas e caatinga, enchentes e secas, revelando como nossos olhos espelham a crise planetária. Este episódio é um convite a fechar os olhos por instantes, reidratá-los e reaprender a ver — não apenas com a visão, mas também com a escuta, a memória e o imaginário. No segundo episódio do podcast Olho seco, seguimos o convite feito na estreia: escutar de olhos fechados, deixando que as palavras, vozes e sons abram espaço para imagens internas e para um mergulho sensorial. Neste capítulo, Jorge Menna Barreto nos conduz a uma investigação poética e crítica sobre a seca e a crise climática a partir da obra de João Cabral de Melo Neto, poeta moderno que transformou a aridez em linguagem e estilo. Com leituras de Sophia Faustino, reflexões do professor Ari Vidal e diálogos com o escritor e crítico Cristhiano Aguiar, revisitamos os versos minerais de Cabral, seus encontros entre tema e forma, e sua recusa ao lirismo fácil, para compreender como o “seco” se desdobra em rigor e clareza. Entre memórias de viagem, caminhadas gravadas na Califórnia, análises de poemas como O engenheiro, A educação pela pedra e O cão sem plumas, e ainda a contribuição da escritora Ana Rusche sobre literatura, ficção especulativa e utopias, este episódio propõe uma escuta atenta ao poder da palavra em tempos de aridificação e crise socioambiental. Como nos ensina Cabral, mais do que aceitar o seco resignadamente, é preciso empregá-lo como forma de ver e, sobretudo, de responder ao mundo. No terceiro e último episódio de Olho seco, nossa investigação sobre o olhar e a aridez se volta às artes visuais, guiada pela obra do artista Antonio Dias, em diálogo com as palavras de João Cabral de Melo Neto. Acompanhados da voz da poeta Sophia Faustino, mergulhamos no universo seco e cortante de Dias, em especial na obra Keep dry my eyes (1968), desdobrada nas reflexões de Iole de Freitas, que compartilha sua experiência próxima com o artista, e da curadora Érica Burini, que recentemente pesquisou sua produção. Exploramos como a aridez se manifesta como método, linguagem e tema, aproximando-se da noção de imagem não-retiniana evocada pela arte conceitual. Ao mesmo tempo, Cris Freire nos conduz por sua trajetória na coleção de arte conceitual do Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP até sua atual dedicação à agroecologia no Sítio Jatobá, mostrando como atenção e cuidado são eixos que atravessam tanto a arte quanto a natureza. O episódio também se abre para o olhar da artista Letícia Ramos, que investiga modos de ver o invisível por meio da ciência popular e de dispositivos ópticos inventados, e para a curadoria de Júlia Rebouças, que nos convida a pensar palavras como “sertão” enquanto imagens insurgentes e abertas a múltiplos futuros. Entre cortes, retiradas e desertos, este episódio pergunta como a arte pode ser uma aliada para repensarmos o colapso ambiental, ao propor novas formas de ver, sentir e comover. Criação: Jorge Menna Barreto Apoio: Instituto Mesa e Office of Research, Universidade da Califórnia, Santa Cruz Coordenação: Karina Sérgio Gomes Assistente de Pesquisa: Sophia Faustino Roteiro: Karina Sérgio Gomes, Sophia Faustino e Jorge Menna Barreto Som: Bruno Bonaventure para Sound Design Projeto gráfico: Joe Buggilla Aquarela: Jorge MascarenhasRevisão Checagem: Gabriela Erbetta https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Enzyme-Magazine Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:38 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Enzyme-Magazine <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7941c97ba7bcc069d6358f8a8d81fa45f4a7bb7d7afd4fe3df4ede8b3d75367f/ALayer-25_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635565" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7941c97ba7bcc069d6358f8a8d81fa45f4a7bb7d7afd4fe3df4ede8b3d75367f/ALayer-25_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8db8bf0607a10da607a0b77345ed0a66bd01bfc66d8ef55974500a187688820c/Layer-0_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635564" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8db8bf0607a10da607a0b77345ed0a66bd01bfc66d8ef55974500a187688820c/Layer-0_1340_c.jpg" /> <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/78faaa6b7acce244d2a476bcfdc73b39bc4e80e04e34f65b0114f8e1c3c933b3/Layer-2_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635562" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/78faaa6b7acce244d2a476bcfdc73b39bc4e80e04e34f65b0114f8e1c3c933b3/Layer-2_1340_c.jpg" /> <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ea7020da10a7cbacaa996f1c8dbc7ca5e95c6820ec7c70af5c79315e5d64e083/Layer-3_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635561" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ea7020da10a7cbacaa996f1c8dbc7ca5e95c6820ec7c70af5c79315e5d64e083/Layer-3_1340_c.jpg" /> <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c74b216968b574c1626eba6700d1af873ac71e4069d0ca992f959073052d1c5d/Layer-5_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635559" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c74b216968b574c1626eba6700d1af873ac71e4069d0ca992f959073052d1c5d/Layer-5_1340_c.jpg" /> <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7599871d6b2c5b7b86b4e68adcf5b6df02a8349b359747ea776805dafdc7938b/Layer-6_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635558" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7599871d6b2c5b7b86b4e68adcf5b6df02a8349b359747ea776805dafdc7938b/Layer-6_1340_c.jpg" /> <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8fe582bdecbb55513a5128eb7339bf2e1cce1d3ef03afe0a273dd4c6c2c69eac/Layer-7_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635557" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8fe582bdecbb55513a5128eb7339bf2e1cce1d3ef03afe0a273dd4c6c2c69eac/Layer-7_1340_c.jpg" /> <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/78c0226b9f078bb229971e865e16c2d9cd4b50fdd5b2186bdd511583c06fb376/Layer-8_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635556" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/78c0226b9f078bb229971e865e16c2d9cd4b50fdd5b2186bdd511583c06fb376/Layer-8_1340_c.jpg" /> ︎ HOME Enzyme Magazine 200 copiesPrinted in RisographJan van Eyck Printing &amp; Publishing Lab2020 &nbsp; &nbsp; Jorgge Menna Barreto and Joélson Buggilla perceive the digestive system as a powerful sculpting tool. What humans choose to cultivate and consume shapes and transfigures entire landscapes. Using the term environmental sculpture, Menna Barreto and Buggilla seek means of writing onto landscapes in ways that support biodiversity and more regenerative forms of agriculture.&nbsp; &nbsp; Feeling a growing suspicion toward exhibition formats, Menna Barreto and Buggilla devoted their time at Jan van Eyck to initiating projects that felt more sustained and ever more sustainable. At the Academie they founded a periodical titled Enzyme whose format they hope will allow for multiple iterations and greater continuity. The publication forges an intersecting ecosystem between the surface of the earth, the surface of the plate, and the surface of the page.&nbsp; &nbsp; In times past, many indigenous Brazilian tribes were known to cannibalize their conquered enemies as a way of absorbing their power. Enzyme is a nod to the legacy of Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade and his Anthropophagic Manifesto (1928), in which he proposed cultural cannibalism as a means for Brazilians to forge their identity as a formerly colonized country. According to Menna Barreto and Buggilla, Brazilian modernism was based in large part on artists who traveled to Europe, digested what they saw, and returned home to transform it into something distinctly local. Enzyme proposes cultural criticism as yet another metabolic activity. Menna Barreto and Buggilla posit the intellectual work of digestion as a way in which we can process, break down and de-compose thoughts anew.Text by Amanda Sarrof200 copiesPrinted at Jan van Eyck, Maastricht, Netherlands 2020RisographRead the editorial hereSample article here ︎ Order a copy:jorgemennabarreto@gmail.com <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f1efa39c5d74035a4de2df7280aa49027e64cce85abd3d8122e08438e64727a1/Layer-4_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635560" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f1efa39c5d74035a4de2df7280aa49027e64cce85abd3d8122e08438e64727a1/Layer-4_1340_c.jpg" /> <img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8cbd3796cd90a52011c5c4f720bc68efd737f60c88eef35b5cf74b56a58675e7/Layer-10_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635554" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8cbd3796cd90a52011c5c4f720bc68efd737f60c88eef35b5cf74b56a58675e7/Layer-10_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/589060d2fa34d56b017a613ebfafc61009de76a4d7b80f8f69f4c74b41326305/Layer-11_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635553" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/589060d2fa34d56b017a613ebfafc61009de76a4d7b80f8f69f4c74b41326305/Layer-11_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b5a49175c4457454fde9eaab8ce97071537d51e2b1e8da415fd5dec442b08932/Layer-12_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635552" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b5a49175c4457454fde9eaab8ce97071537d51e2b1e8da415fd5dec442b08932/Layer-12_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/35ec53dd59ea6e54ec6af48915f6454cf07deca66879dc372237d4887dcb9a73/Layer-9_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635555" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/35ec53dd59ea6e54ec6af48915f6454cf07deca66879dc372237d4887dcb9a73/Layer-9_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7dd76ef2116688bf1fe42145c22bd323166708c92ce458cf9280624f51acf081/Layer-13_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635551" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7dd76ef2116688bf1fe42145c22bd323166708c92ce458cf9280624f51acf081/Layer-13_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/43480f5afc2afea33bb7b0f29c53e80602375773d697dd62f7e66ef2a475ca10/Layer-14_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635550" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/43480f5afc2afea33bb7b0f29c53e80602375773d697dd62f7e66ef2a475ca10/Layer-14_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6b20496c2390ae77386bc86e6822396e24b0259ccbe7b2feb8aea9df0ef2f805/Layer-15_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635549" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6b20496c2390ae77386bc86e6822396e24b0259ccbe7b2feb8aea9df0ef2f805/Layer-15_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d39d775d016c8f0a3c8877c115b737ac169e12d9b6a18b81ae1bee4665016684/Layer-16_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635548" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d39d775d016c8f0a3c8877c115b737ac169e12d9b6a18b81ae1bee4665016684/Layer-16_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7dd76ef2116688bf1fe42145c22bd323166708c92ce458cf9280624f51acf081/Layer-13_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635551" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7dd76ef2116688bf1fe42145c22bd323166708c92ce458cf9280624f51acf081/Layer-13_1340_c.jpg" /><img width="1340" height="1006" width_o="1340" height_o="1006" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/43480f5afc2afea33bb7b0f29c53e80602375773d697dd62f7e66ef2a475ca10/Layer-14_1340_c.jpg" data-mid="68635550" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/43480f5afc2afea33bb7b0f29c53e80602375773d697dd62f7e66ef2a475ca10/Layer-14_1340_c.jpg" /> Photos by Lara Fuke https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Restauro-On-Tour-Serpentine-Galleries Mon, 27 Apr 2020 12:35:48 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Restauro-On-Tour-Serpentine-Galleries ︎HOME Restauro On Tour aconteceu em 2017 na cidade de Londres. A partir de uma residência de pesquisa de 2 meses, Jorgge Menna Barreto mapeou produtores agroecológicos e criou uma rede de fornecedores para realizar um jantar com receitas que homenageavam esses locais. No programa público, o artista criou um sorvete inspirado nos matinhos dente-de-leão que nascem espontaneamente nos parques londrinos, servindo-o para o público visitante do Serpentine Pavilion 2017 criado por Francis Kéré. Além do sorvete site-specific, o programa contou com uma caminhada para reconhecer os matinhos comestíveis que nascem espontaneamente no Hyde Park, guiada por Jason Irwin, e uma oficina de ilustração botânica com a artista Gwen Burns. Programa Público: Londelion Restauro Dinner <img width="4608" height="3456" width_o="4608" height_o="3456" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/119b62cd60776d1a6f8cbf5e1b1ad8d9dee16cd84ea0713b1bce8fcd8e54334c/_9300192.jpg" data-mid="68640584" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/119b62cd60776d1a6f8cbf5e1b1ad8d9dee16cd84ea0713b1bce8fcd8e54334c/_9300192.jpg" /> https://jorgemennabarreto.com/CCA Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:43 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/CCA https://jorgemennabarreto.com/The-Voedselbos-Speaks-an-afternoon-with-Wouter-van-Eck Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:44 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/The-Voedselbos-Speaks-an-afternoon-with-Wouter-van-Eck * This text will be published in the Magazine Enzyme, which is under construction and shall be launched during Open Studios at Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, Netherlands, in March 2020. Here is a link to how the magazine is at this moment: Enzyme Magazine (under construction) <img width="1531" height="862" width_o="1531" height_o="862" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3818fa9ae05e8cf8bdb349d9bf534f18b7583c1f99ef0e70851e46cb7e8ee73/22048107_1952176918378298_5964143222118345154_o.jpg" data-mid="68635567" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3818fa9ae05e8cf8bdb349d9bf534f18b7583c1f99ef0e70851e46cb7e8ee73/22048107_1952176918378298_5964143222118345154_o.jpg" /> - How do your neighbours see your food forest, Wouter? - To summarise, I think they see us as friendly aliens. But it is an equal relationship, because we find their farming methods very strange. The food forest that is cultivated by Wouter van Eck and Pieter Jansen in Groesbeek, Netherlands, looks like an island, packed with multiple species of plants, bushes and trees, surrounded by a flat ocean of monoculture. If you are driving by, you may feel you have encountered a weird loose page in an apparently coherent book, as if that specific patch had been written in a foreign language, or even in a whole other alphabet. The Dutch landscape is that book and all of a sudden you realise, when confronted with difference, that all the pages you were reading till now told the exact same story, over and over again. But once you enter this alien page and read all the complex stories it tells you, learn about the biodiversity it supports, its soil regeneration properties and the abundance of food it produces, you realise that the former pages you were reading are the ones which should be under suspicion. They are the ones which are very strange and hardly make any sense. Modern agriculture, if translated into letters, would look something like this: A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A One singled-out element, repeated to infinity. Now try to read the above paragraph aloud. The resulting lack of movement of the mouth attempting to pronounce this continuous one-letter sequence causes discomfort. By line 3, I am out of breath, as there are no commas, periods or breaks in the mono field. A limited amount of muscles are engaged in producing that prolonged single sound as I feel my mouth dry from remaining open. The lack of sense in doing so also kicks in by line 4, when after a short break to catch air I re-engage with this desert of meaning. By line 7 I already understood this paragraph is not feeding me back. I am putting a lot of energy and effort in trying to perform it, but I get no reward, no communication, no excitement, no learning. Just like a monoculture, it tells me no stories in return. Or does it? As a matter of fact, it does. If we are to look into the history of single species cultivation we will learn that it dates back to thousands of years. What today has been naturalised as the best way to grow food does have a very specific history. The apparently simple process of isolating plants to optimise productivity is not a human thing, though, at least not in its beginning. It is a method that was developed by specific societies at a specific time and for specific reasons. According to Anna Tsing, it was in the Near East about 10.000 years ago that those societies gradually began to change the focus from multispecies landscapes to one or two particular crops, especially wheat and barley [1]. That history intricately connects the rise of state, the formation of elites and social hierarchies. In the shift from foraging to intensive cereal agriculture, biological transformation of people and plants occurred, resulting in more sedentary lives and stable farming methods. Family-based households also became part and supported this system, which confined women and grains to maximise fertility. The new high-carbohydrate diet allowed for women to have more children, creating larger families who were immediately employed in an agricultural system that, due to its antagonistic approach to nature, requires intensive labour [2]. This complicated history is behind every "simple isolation of one species", which are usually "annual plants that by necessity require the eradication of an ecosystem in order for their seeds to be planted" [3]; in other words, modern agriculture. More recently, in the past 500 years of colonialism, this kind of land use that was once specific to certain parts of the planet, managed to spread globally. In Anna Tsing's words: "Plantations were the engine of European expansion. Plantations produced the wealth— and the modus operandi—that allowed Europeans to take over the world. We usually hear about superior technologies and resources; but it was the plantation system that made navies, science, and eventually industrialisation possible. Plantations are ordered cropping systems worked by non-owners and arranged for expansion. Plantations deepen domestication, re-intensifying plant dependencies and forcing fertility. Borrowing from state-endorsed cereal agriculture, they invest everything in the superabundance of a single crop. But one ingredient is missing: They remove the love. Instead of the romance connecting people, plants, and places, European planters introduced cultivation through coercion. The plants were exotics; the labour was forced through slavery, indenture, and conquest. Only through extreme order and control could anything flourish in this way; but with hierarchy and managed antagonism in place, enormous profits (and complementary poverties) could be produced. Because plantations have shaped how contemporary agribusiness is organised, we tend to think of such arrangements as the only way to grow crops. But this arrangement had to be naturalised until we learned to take the alienation of people from their crops for granted" [4]. Strangely enough, Wouter van Eck was also part of that story. Having studied Political Science and Development Studies in the Netherlands, he used to monitor Dutch development projects looking into ways of improving food production in Africa, ironically using European conventional methods of agriculture. In his trip to Kenya, he accidentally came in contact with local food forest systems, when he visited an area that produced abundant food in organised layers that mimic the forest. The managed system produced avocados, mangos, coffee, papayas, bananas and other tropical fruit in a rather unique method they did not call agriculture. And even more surprisingly, that system was also regenerating the soil and the environment. In a counter-colonial move, Wouter went back to the Netherlands with a changed perspective, fertilised by what he had experienced. But it was only years later that, together with Pieter, they found the means to start their own food forest, translating the warm climate systems into the specificities of their home country. Their plan was to use the species available in the Dutch surroundings and think in terms of layers, diversity and soil life, introducing edible species that can cope with the local weather conditions. Their focus on the local specificities also led them into translating the expression "food forest". The pioneers of agroforestry in the Netherlands then created the expression "voedselbos", which was inexistent in Dutch and soon became a movement in the country. Today, many voedselbos can be found around the Netherlands, most of them having been originated from the people who have attended Wouter's courses and lectures [5]. The seeds are being spread. According to UK agroforestry pioneer Martin Crawford, food forests have been common in warmer parts of the planet for at least 10.000 years, but it was only recently, in the last 40 years, that these systems started being used in colder climates. Wouter and Pieter's Ketelbroek Food Forest only started in 2009. With his usual sense of humour, Wouter says that only three years after they had begun their food forest, they received a phone call saying they were the "oldest food forest in the Netherlands". Prone to a good laugh, he also likes to make jokes about how lazy he is. If a farmer is not working on antagonising natural processes, the intensive work is substituted by a collaborative atmosphere with other species in which you are not working against, but working with nature. Laziness, in his words, means surfing the wave of ecological succession and not engaging in the battle called monoculture. The joyful ride of collaborative work, in which a "soft guidance" of species cultivation is practiced, shows in the smile and good sense of humour of someone who wisely understood that a life based on multispecies entanglements can be far more interesting and fertile than the usual dictating to the land what it should produce. Indigenous people from Brazil were often considered lazy by the colonisers. Working, in the antagonist sense of conquering nature and fighting against biodiversity, was never part of the indigenous tribes repertory. If you are not fighting nature, then you must be lazy. The effortless work, in the European perspective, was immediately noticed by the Portuguese colonisers when they saw these people feeding from the abundance of the forest. But they also were intrigued by bodies who looked much healthier, and perhaps happier, than those who were domesticating animal and plant species to produce food. In the words of Pero Vaz de Caminha, in 1500, this is how he described his first contact with the indigenous tribes of Brazil on his letter to the king of Portugal: "They do not plough or breed cattle. There are no oxen here, nor goats, sheep, fowls, nor any other animal accustomed to live with man. They eat only inhame [yams], which are plentiful here, and those seeds and fruits that the earth and the trees give of themselves. Nevertheless, they are of a finer, sturdier, and sleeker condition than we are for all the wheat and legumes that we eat". [6] After all, what we are talking about are two very different worldviews, which also create very different worlds. For Wouter, common sense says "either you are a farmer, or you are a nature conservationist. You are not allowed to do the two at the same time". In the frame of mind we were taught to think, these worlds collide, and that is when bridging attitudes such as the one happening in Ketelbroek Food Forest start making sense, as the farmers-conservationists are thriving in bringing nature back, combining it with food production, which, by the way, is not just for humans. Their sweet revenge on conventional agriculture includes the welcoming of birds, insects, fungi and many "volunteer species" that have decided to live in the lazy lifestyle of the food forest. All are welcome, as each has a role to play in thickening the plot. And by then we already start understanding why Wouter rarely uses the pronoun "I". Most of the time, he is using "we" to refer to the farm, and by the end of the conversation, the "we" that first referred to him and his partner Pieter, gradually seems to expand to become a multispecies pronoun. As we listened to him, we also understood his voice was built collectively and that we were actually listening to a complex [7] environment that speaks, or sings, through him. What a beautiful soundscape! [1] Unruly Edges: Mushrooms as Companions Species, Anna Tsing [2] Ecological succession is modern agriculture's worst enemy. It is nature's constant effort to create diverse environments. Wherever there is the isolation of one species, it will be "attacked" by insects, weeds, fungi and animals in order to make it into a more complex environment. Singling out species thus require a constant battle against biodiversity. The vocabulary of war is adopted by conventional farmers, who have to fight 24/7 against nature's propensity to create multispecies landscapes. Pesticides and heavy machinery are human's weapons in a fight that cannot possibly be won. [3] Restoration Agriculture, Mark Shepard, p.27. [4] Unruly Edges: Mushrooms as Companions Species, Anna Tsing [5] Wouter van Eck has lectured widely on the subject, both in privately organised courses, as well as in universities. [6] Letter to the King of Portugal, 1500, Pero Vaz de Caminha. [7] According to Edgar Morin, complex is "that which has been woven together". See On Complexity, Hampton Press, 2008. https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Residency-janvaneyckacademie Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:45 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Residency-janvaneyckacademie ︎home Residency @janvaneyckacademie In residency with Joélson Bugilla at the Jan Van Eyck Academie until March 2020, where we are developing a project that short-circuits the surface of the page, the surface of the table and the surface of the earth.<img width="1772" height="1331" width_o="1772" height_o="1331" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4716419ab6e7dab469071f89197dd94e2d4a2b282268441977917a50c77d83d2/cozinha_VJE.jpg" data-mid="68635569" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4716419ab6e7dab469071f89197dd94e2d4a2b282268441977917a50c77d83d2/cozinha_VJE.jpg" /> Gut view: this picture was taken by placing the camera at the height of the stomach. It features the food lab on a Saturday, August 17, 2019. Deprivatizing the Digestive System Your skin covers about twenty square feet. Your lungs, if you were to flatten out all the tiny air pockets, could cover hundreds of square feet. And your intestines? Counting all the little folds, some scientists estimate that your gut would blanket thousands of square feet, vastly more expansive than your skin and lungs combined. What you eat may very well be your primary interface with the outside world. Dr. Michael Greger This week we did not go to the supermarket and we barely used the kitchen in our homes. Eating and dealing with food stopped being a personal matter and became part of a larger system as Joe and I started to work in the kitchen of Jan Van Eyck on a daily basis. From 9am to 3pm, we have been committed to preparing lunch for the residents, staff and occasional visitors. This week, as we are still on coming-back-from-holiday mode, we served around 30 people each day, also catering for coffee and some sweets. That number should increase from next week on. Even though Joe and I had been part of a restaurant project before, during the 32 Biennial of São Paulo in 2016, this week felt relatively new for us. At the Biennial, we were not always directly involved in the kitchen, at least not everyday. Another difference was the scale. At Restauro, we were serving from 100 to 400 lunches a day. Our relationship to the people who came to eat then was more impersonal, as the hectic atmosphere did not allow for many in-depth interactions. At the Jan Van Eyck Academie, the pace of the kitchen work is much slower, which also generates room for reflection. Writing about the process has thus become a way to digest the experience. The idea of "deprivatizing the digestive system" is not new for us. We have been using the expression to discuss issues related to food choices in the contemporary world. Many times, we use our personal tastes to justify what we eat. Frequently we divide foods into categories of "the ones I like and the ones I don't". Our sense of taste is often residing in our mouths. We say we like something when it is pleasing for our taste buds, when our tongues and mouths like the texture or crunchiness, and even sound may play an important role in our chewing satisfaction, as our ears are so close to our jaws and may also find pleasure in what we eat. Our sense of taste is built culturally and very much centered around our personal experience. And that is when the contradictions begin. It may well happen that something that I love eating may come into a fight with the rest of my digestive system, but the seconds of pleasure in my mouth justify for the sacrifice of the body in trying to deal with something that is unfriendly to my metabolism. Our mouths are thus many times detached from the trajectory of food in our bodies. I love the taste of wine, but my liver has a hard time dealing with it. I can drink and "pay the price" though, after all, we were also taught that paying can reverse damage. We could also think about the trajectory of food before it arrives in our mouths. Our sense of taste does not usually consider how that food was grown, how it was transported, if it had and environmental impact or if it causes suffering to other species. Our eyes cannot reach such vast landscape and we miss out on the complexity of growing food, as the system we have created has also produced strategies for erasing that complexity and its dead ends. The meat that is on my plate was bought at a supermarket in a very neat package. So neat that it is able to erase the perverse industry of animal farming and the environmental impact behind it, such as its relation to the deforestation of the Amazon forest and the climate crisis. In school, we learned the digestive system begins in the mouth and ends in the anus. Isn't it time we begin considering all that happens before the mouth bites into a piece of bread? Shouldn't we try to redraw the digestive system so that it begins on the land, including all the complexities that may be involved, all the species and kingdoms that take part in the dance that results in that product? Deprivatizing the digestive system has been the way we refer to this alignment and coming to light of the processes that occur beyond the mouth, cultivating a sense of taste that is not based solely on self-satisfaction, but that can also be inclusive of the many stories that are interwoven when we say we like a certain food. Can we also say we like the way it was grown, how it was transported, how it relates to our cells, and what becomes of it once it leaves our bodies? And how do we see the relationship between art and food? Certainly, it is not in the aesthetics or how the food is displayed, which is usually the easiest answer: making food beautiful to our eyes. The idea of considering food in the expanded field is much more related to shedding light on processes which have been rendered invisible than on the pleasure we may get out of the visuals of food display. The beauty of illuminating the stages which have been made invisible is also related to image creation and language, and thus concern art. How we talk about food, how we draw the digestive system, how we "see" the food relating to our guts and cells is also of interest to art. Taste, then, which is a word much used in the art field, in this case becomes something more than a personal matter. It is here treated as an open problem, to be discussed, evaluated and dealt with collectively. That became clear this week for us, as we did not address our hunger as a personal issue. The fact that we were part of a cooking team, with Sasja Uisser and Claudia Bos, in a kitchen that is not "ours", feeding more people than just the two of us, complexified our experience of food to the point of considering that taste and our digestive systems should be a public matter, interpersonal, interspecies and deeply political in its privileged relationship to the outside world. Project we applied to Jan Van Eyck with, written in 2018 https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Alfabeto-Maldito-Mauvais-Alphabet Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:47 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Alfabeto-Maldito-Mauvais-Alphabet ︎Home Alfabeto Maldito / Mauvais Alphabet Is a collaboration with artist Joélson Buggilla. It started during a residency at Utopiana, 2019, when we worked with the "mauvaises herbes" (weeds) that grow around the urban area of Geneva, Switzerland. The project soon travelled to Paraty, Brazil, where we worked with the spontaneous plants that gr ow in that area. Departing from the weeds images, we created an "alphabet" in each of these places, with which we have been experimenting different modes of writing. A version of the alphabet was printed on fabric, using cyanotype, for the exhibition at Le Commun, Geneva, Switzerland, also in 2019. Texto de Maykson Cardoso/English version <img width="641" height="787" width_o="641" height_o="787" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/39815e79a4b4979d8d44e7520053f58911f17a83b67b38e8d1efb83aba1a061c/Screenshot-2019-07-16-at-19.01.31.png" data-mid="68635571" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/641/i/39815e79a4b4979d8d44e7520053f58911f17a83b67b38e8d1efb83aba1a061c/Screenshot-2019-07-16-at-19.01.31.png" /> Click on the image below to download the book <img width="960" height="640" width_o="960" height_o="640" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9e3a0b1b664c70af9a199cd98885dc8b480d856a3afeb8c5ce84017e12f1abd7/6b4d2d66-40b6-48c7-be71-e0009596f8d7.JPG" data-mid="68635573" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/9e3a0b1b664c70af9a199cd98885dc8b480d856a3afeb8c5ce84017e12f1abd7/6b4d2d66-40b6-48c7-be71-e0009596f8d7.JPG" /> Installation view at SESC Paraty, 2019 <img width="960" height="640" width_o="960" height_o="640" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/41dfed9ca963483849b9f2384f18940082bd8dcbf347306c6930b9170c814c91/945b328a-0c70-4a17-a4b6-f568571d3411.JPG" data-mid="68635574" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/41dfed9ca963483849b9f2384f18940082bd8dcbf347306c6930b9170c814c91/945b328a-0c70-4a17-a4b6-f568571d3411.JPG" /> Installation view at SESC Paraty, 2019 <img width="2480" height="2554" width_o="2480" height_o="2554" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/423abe25eb4ba0ae06adc6142b0834fac7caf8f80ea752ca0bd415eee333e247/letra-planta.jpg" data-mid="68635584" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/423abe25eb4ba0ae06adc6142b0834fac7caf8f80ea752ca0bd415eee333e247/letra-planta.jpg" /> A "letter" <img width="3024" height="3024" width_o="3024" height_o="3024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9b28d2f1ecf8b7fb17c4db9092f4839a9633f0e5736091cc704fb69435f5777b/9.-Mauvais-Alphabet.JPG" data-mid="68635575" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9b28d2f1ecf8b7fb17c4db9092f4839a9633f0e5736091cc704fb69435f5777b/9.-Mauvais-Alphabet.JPG" /> 1000 écologies, Le Commun, Geneva, September/October 2019 <img width="1852" height="1228" width_o="1852" height_o="1228" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0864d9ad825eb48b3d7bc40233c00015b2b843d5f3c98a5e4196db3e6b762c6f/12.-Mauvais-Research.png" data-mid="68635576" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0864d9ad825eb48b3d7bc40233c00015b2b843d5f3c98a5e4196db3e6b762c6f/12.-Mauvais-Research.png" /> Researching spontaneous plants in Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, 2019 https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Incomodo Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:49 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Incomodo Video-instalação site-specific criada em colaboração com Traplev durante residência realizada na FUNDAJ, Recife, 2012/13. https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Restauro-Visible-Award-2017 Mon, 27 Apr 2020 11:55:50 +0000 Jorge Menna Barreto https://jorgemennabarreto.com/Restauro-Visible-Award-2017 ︎Home Restauro: Visible Award 2017 <img width="825" height="510" width_o="825" height_o="510" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ad40610bc11bc752c40a2c46bf5bf06a4489955aa94d1da3cde2ff44a655a2c/predominant-landscape-in-brazil-monocultures-where-once-it-was-forest-825x510.jpg" data-mid="68635589" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/825/i/7ad40610bc11bc752c40a2c46bf5bf06a4489955aa94d1da3cde2ff44a655a2c/predominant-landscape-in-brazil-monocultures-where-once-it-was-forest-825x510.jpg" /> Award 2017 - LonglistedRESTAURO – Environment al Sculpture