About Us

Sailing the Islands of São Paulo was developed by Renato Hofer, Thais Ribeiro and Gabriele Oropallo. It was supported by the Lucius und Annemarie Burckhardt Stiftung and the Pro Helvetia foundation. The authors wish to thank the Consulate General of Switzerland in Sao Paulo, the Grupo XIX de teatroDolores Boca Aberta Mecatrônica de artesKunsthaus AussersihlFabiana De Barros, Franziska Sörensen and Marie-Anne Lerjen for their help, exchange and advice. 

Other projects were developped in a independent way.

Renato Hofer

Architect, graduated from FAU-USP in 1997. He studied installation and performance with Norwegian artist Inghild Karlsen and stage design with Antunes Filho at São Paulo’s CPT. He is currently attending a teaching workshop led by Evandro Carlos Jardim. He is particularly interested in the interaction between different artistic media and the relationship between humans and urban environment. These interests form the basis of his works, as the performance PAUTA in Fortaleza Urban Art Week, 2010; the urban installation Probably at Stockholm Fringe Festival,2011 and G.F. Travelbook, 1978-2008, and the exhibition at Casa das Onze Janelas, Belém, 2013. He worked as curator and designer for the exhibition "hortus delineatus sp," which revitalized the Horto Florestal Museum, relating its historical collection with works by 25 contemporary artists.

Thais Ribeiro

Obtained a diploma in architecture and urbanism from the Mackenzie University of São Paulo in 1998. During her studies she was an active member of the experimental and politically committed National Student Association of Architecture organizing and charing meetings, workshops, publications, seminars, and exhibitions. She participated to several design and construction projects in São Paulo. Based in Switzerland since 2005, she is currently working by Zurich's architecture studio Graber Pulver Architekten, where she took part in the design and construction of the extension of Geneva’s  Ethnographic Museum. In 2012 she co-curated the Urban Walks project that featured the Eternal Tour arts festivals in São Paulo. 

Gabriele Oropallo

Is a research fellow in design history at the University of Oslo. His current research is set within a wider research endeavour studying the visions of sustainability in the history of design, and looks at the treatment of duration in design. He previously taught design history at University College London, UK, where he also curated a programme of public seminars to discuss the impact of social commitment on design practice. His recent publications include chapters for books such as Iconic Designs: 50 Stories about 50 Objects (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014), Made in Italy: Rethinking a Century of Italian Design (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), Writing Design: Words and Objects (Berg, 2011), and catalogue essays for exhibitions held at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum and São Paulo’s SESC. He was the co-author of the Repair Society project, which was presented at the 2014 Istanbul Design Biennial.

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