Dark Forest collaboration with Active Ingredient

I began collaborating with the group Active Ingredient, based in Nottingham UK with the education outreach program of their beautiful project Dark Forest. A schools exchange concept, to connect a group of young people between the two forests of Sherwood in Nottingham and Tijuca in Rio. The initiative aims to bridge through technology and art activites a space between England and Brazil, and hopes to realize some examples through practical art workshops. It is an ambitious ground for interplay, which links two distinct and far places with a common interest. Our forests and our shared world environment. NEA (Núcleo de Educação Ambiental) of the Botanical Gardens in Rio accepted my invitation to support the project and proposed a local state school to work with me and Active Ingredient in Nottingham on a series of workshops, with the support also of artist and botanist Bruno Rezende (Department of Environment and Tecnology) also of the Botanical Gardens who I also had recently met in Rio. Active Ingredient began to simultaneously work with the Djangoly City Academy in Nottingham and the the state school in Rio; Camilo Castelo Branco, nominated by NEA to develop this work with. I chose the Botanical Gardens in Rio is the ideal starting point for these first experiments to take place. Its rich history and resources would support the workshops, paving the way to future collaborations, between trees, people and indeed continents.


Silvia meets with Matt Watkins, Rachel Jacobs and Dominic Pote at Nottingham University after visiting Active Ingredient HQ and Mixed Reality Lab, Nottingham July 2009.

Bruno Rezende at the foot of the 'Master of the Forest'. Our expert guide to this magestic pre-colonial 700 year old tree (indicative that it pertains to primary forest) in the Horto, Tijuca Forest, November 2009.

NEA - Núcleo de Educação Ambiental at the Botanical Gardens in Rio de Janeiro. January 2010.