Brincadeiras de Papel ( Paper Fun ) – Children Interactive Exhibition On An Institutional Environment

ATELIER CENOGRÁFICO
Based on our cenography experience, we have been developing for more than six years an extensive work on Toy Libraries, where we could imprint our concern in redeeming the playing joy and in giving back children the right to play. With this background we were invited by Sesc "Belenzinho" to develop a project where Paper would be the main motif. On april 2001 the BRINCADEIRAS DE PAPEL (PAPER FUN) EXHIBITION was inaugurated and during three months received more than 180.000 visitors, most of them pre school and fundamental students, mainly from the local community. Sesc "Belenzinho"is situated on São Paulo East Zone periphery, needy of leisure and playing dedicated public areas. It was a great pleasure having the freedom to create a huge playing area with playing modules where everything was made from Paper. To exhaust all its possibilities, to show unprecedent and surprising ways of using it. Paper is a world itself with all its diversity: textures, colours, flexibilities and resistences, and we had to search for the technologies that would give the necessary support to the project. With the intention of sensitize children to the presence of the paper in our routine and make them conscious of the necessity to recycle to the environment preservation in a playing way, where playing was the starting point, we create a Paper City that was divided in the following modules: Inflatable Paper Triturator Animal joined with a permanent Open Air Maché Paper Workshop; Paper Orchestra; Paper Strips Forest; Village - inspired in the brazilian "sertão" façades we built an entire city, structured and ornamented with paper scrap, in chlidren proportion, with restaurant, small markets, mail, hair dresser etc; Square with standband, carousels, benchs, exuberant trees, animals and plants from brazilian fauna and flora; Circus with various cardboard boxes of different colours and forms creating a big constructivist collective game and the Big Toy - a net of paper tube connections for the children go through, climb and slide. Our intention was to arouse in children a feeling of fascination, where the paper manipulation would be exploited to the maximum and would bring astonishment and pleasure. Show that with creativity is possible to create many ways to play and that the human being has a great power of transformation; that from the simple "crepon paper" can be born a wonderful "Ipê" (Brazilian’s tree). Bet in the possibility of a completely democratic space: children, adults, old, poor, rich, black, white... where playing is for everyone.