As part of the activities of the Zero Waste Week in Casa Branca village (municipality of Brumadinho), Tales of Care and Repair and Gambiologia in collaboration with Cabra Institute will organize the first repair cafe ever in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The event will be held with the participation of voluntaries who are experts in the fields of electronics, mechanics, sewing and arts. The meeting will be in-person with all precautions related to Covid-19 and the repairs will be published in Tales of Care and Repair gallery.
Agenda
14:00-14:15 – Welcome and “Tales of Care and Repair” presentation
14:15-18:00 – Repair cafe with collaborative repair practice
Facilitator
Fred Paulino is an artist, designer, researcher and curator. He is the catalyst of Gambiologia project, which since 2008 investigates art and technology in dialogue with education and popular culture, especially around the themes of improvisation and reuse. Fred is also the coordinator of “Tales of Care and Repair” in Brazil.
Guests: Augusto Dourado, Daniel Ladeira, Fred Mol, Mario Mol, Sara Lana, Thais Mol
Partner
This workshop will be held in partnership with Cabra Institute, a local organization from Brumadinho-MG which works in the intersection of art, nature, technology and social engagement. Cabra also provides institutional support to “Tales of Care and Repair” in Brazil.
What Happened
The sixth Tales of Care & Repair workshop in Brazil took place in person on 10/30/2021, in partnership with Cabra Institute, in the village of Casa Branca, in Brumadinho (Minas Gerais state), at the Curupira cultural space. It was a face-to-face action with a practical proposal, and coincidentally it was the first Repair Cafe held in the state of Minas Gerais ever.
The activity had an engagement of the local population above expectations. During its 4 hours of duration (2:00 pm to 6:00 pm), more than 20 people visited the site, including curious people, collaborators and participants.
The activity was coordinated by Fred Paulino, with three main collaborators for technical consultancy. Attempted (failed) repairs and successful repairs were made to some items such as: roof of a tent, coffee grinder, Italian coffee maker, bakery machine, chairs, ceramics (using the kintsugi technique), electric mixer, audio amplifier and a steel sculpture, among others.
All items repaired in the workshop (around 10) were published on the project’s website, and the initiative had great repercussions in the community. Since then there has been a demand for it to become periodic. Another Repair Cafe will be scheduled in Casa Branca in January/2022 and the activity will probably become periodic every two months.
One factor to be observed in the activity is that is necessary to improve the participants’ engagement in the sense that they themselves try to fix their objects. There was some confusion that the Repair Cafe was meant to be a kind of “free repair service”. We note that additional clarification and a more straight-ahead encouragement of DIY practices during the activity are needed in the next issue.