Public Art for the Tiny Ones

We continue to expand our commitment to rethinking where and for whom contemporary art can exist, and how it can engage with as well as be shaped by the spaces and audiences it encounters.

For this reason, part of our research for this particular intervention was through directly observing children as agents in their own learning journeys and what we could offer them in terms of art. We also rooted our research in the Montessori method of prepared environments where each object has a purpose and is designed to help children be creative agents in their own learning, and the Pikler’s free movement approach, founded on trust in the child’s motor autonomy as a problem-solving individual. The project also situates learning as a shared, bodily, and imaginative process based on the artist’s long-term research on educational cushions, and inspired by the legacy of Bichos by Lygia Clark.

In collaboration with Ateliê Cata-Ventos daycare center, we launched the first commission to  PIPA Prize nominee Traplev who developed a ‘pedagogical pillow’ based on a long term project (almofadas pedagogicas de Traplev). The pillows were originally designed for the 4-7 year age group to contribute to their motor development. The set consists of 15 pieces in 3 colors: white, gray, and orange, and each child is invited to configure and compose them freely where the elements could be arranged as a puzzle, a domino, or other forms of shared play.

By weaving contemporary art into the daily rhythms of nursery schools, we aim to demystify art, nurture emancipation, foster an independent connection to creativity, create long-term engagement with the space, and ensure children play a relevant part in the community’s cultural fabric. 

This first edition of the project was supported by the Proap grant from UERJ, curated by Amanda Abi Khalil for the Ateliê Cata-Ventos daycare center in Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro in close dialogue with the school.