[Featured photo by Ana Clara Roberti]

On 3 February 2024, the Minante project officially wrapped up its activities with a beautiful closing event. The project sought to engage various local publics to engage with the heritage, space and environment of the “Minante”, and I will humbly claim that it succeeded. The engagement of various school groups, of older adults as well as young generations and everyone in between, there was something for all. And it brought people to the space, gave them new memories, revived previous ones, and provided reason and knowledge to return, revive the space and give it the new but also well rooted life that this beautiful space full of memory and meaning and life deserves. I don’t mean to make this too romantic, so I’ll stop there, but do check out the project’s website, and especially the project documentary “Minante: Uma Galeria Viva” (soon to be available with English subtitles as well!). The photos below give an impression of the place and the activities performed, but the documentary, booklet and website give a much more complete picture!

The Minante project has had an impact and momentum that will certainly not allow it to simply halt here. And in Mobile Worlds it lives on as inspiration for how to engage different ages, to know that things can go well when not everything is centrally controlled (e.g. several of the initiatives were invited by the local NGO Rio Neiva but then mostly self-organized by the respective interested parties, such as local artists or schools). In my previous news post about the FCIC’24 conference I also refer to the project’s lessons some more, and the project Booklet reveals even more. I look forward to continuing to visit this space myself (and perhaps think about how it could be made more accessible without a car!), and to collaborating with the wonderful team that was involved in this project.