THE WORKSHOPS

Between September and October 2025, the Communities and Territories area, in partnership with Ateliê Azulejaria, brought together approximately 100 people, including children, teenagers, young people, and adults living in the region (which encompasses the neighborhoods of Gamboa, Santo Cristo, and Saúde – also including the hills of Conceição, Livramento, Pinto, and Providência) to participate in 5 art and tile-making workshops.

The workshops were structured as collective creation processes, committed to ensuring active participation and fostering the expansion of knowledge for all involved.

Thus, throughout the meeting, participants were introduced to key concepts, as well as learning about the characteristics of tile materials, application possibilities, painting techniques, and detailing all stages of the preparation process.

In total, each of the meetings lasted an average of 3 hours and 30 minutes.

In this way, the workshops were organized around three thematic axes: the museum, time, and territory. Thus, the artistic productions of each participant unfolded on the tiles from the encounter between brushes and paints that translated their individual and particular experiences regarding the investigated theme. However, at the end of the process, those multiple perceptions would give shape to a new collective work, just as the construction of tomorrow happens – built by many hands!

THE BURN

After the workshops, all the materials were taken to the Azulejaria Atelier so that the pieces could be fired in a special ceramic kiln (which reaches an average temperature of 800°C). This process is necessary because the firing process fixes the paint, making it resistant, durable, and waterproof (the color tones can also be altered during the firing process). Furthermore, the paint used in the workshops also had to be special, precisely because of the high temperatures during firing.

This firing process can take 24 to 48 hours, and each batch can produce approximately 150 tiles. Once fired, they can remain outdoors, exposed to sun and rain, without damage. Because it is a vitrified material, its maintenance is simple, requiring only a cloth and water.

The curation and installation

After firing all the tiles, the artist Laura Taves gathered everything produced by the participants throughout the workshops to begin the creative process for producing new tiles and composing the artwork. In addition to establishing a poetic dialogue between each piece, they also end up producing new tiles that will bind together to create a new work. To this end, each tile is numbered according to a map. Then it is packaged and transported to the installation site.

In total, three weeks of hands-on work were spent: first creating the physical structure of this furniture, and then covering it with the pieces produced in the workshops. The side coloring of the furniture was inspired by one of the participants' works, which proposed a psychedelic design with a kaleidoscope pattern alternating dashes in blue and green (used during the workshops). In addition, a very famous and recurring phrase in the museum is printed all over the side of the furniture: "IT'S DAWNING SOMEWHERE ON THE PLANET NOW".

The choice of this phrase reinforces one of the initial intentions in proposing this project: to create a landmark in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Museu do Amanhã! That is precisely why this construction was shared with those who are an inspiration and give meaning to each new dawn: our neighbors! And now, the artwork, which is installed in our outdoor area, will be available to all museum visitors, giving life to one of our greatest aspirations: to be a museum that extends beyond our walls and fences!

The tiles

Based in Rio de Janeiro, Ateliê Azulejaria is dedicated to carrying out art, education, and urban intervention projects. Since 2003, it has developed a series of activities culminating in tile panels permanently installed in public spaces, through participatory creation processes with a diverse audience. Thus, its work is a multidisciplinary teaching tool that connects art to citizenship.

Credits

Art and Production Project

Laura Taves

Tile Workshop

Collaboration

Camila Oliveira

José Egídio

Juca Fiis

Márcia Queiroz

Frase

Luiz Alberto Oliveira

Thanks

Sonja Kill College

Vicente Licínio Cardoso Municipal School

General Miter Municipal School

Darcy Vargas Foundation

Voices for Tomorrow Project