DEED – Design, Entertainment and Education Research Cluster View Activity Log

Abstract

DEED is a Brazilian research cluster, a formally recognised group of researchers and practitioners whose expertise is applied to the fields of Arts and Design. DEED activities includes, but are not limited to, lectures, study groups, master and Ph.D. researches, seminars, work-in-progress meetings, workshops, networking events, and creative artefacts developments. While working in a research cluster context this can be observed as contributing to new knowledge and gain by means of practice outcomes in a wider community.

DEED is an acronym for “Design, Entertainment, and Education” and also is a noun that can etymologically means “action”, “activity”, “fact”, “practice”, “deal”, “share”, “feat”, “accomplishment”, “writ”, “muniment”, “tool”, “device”, and “fact”. All of these meanings are potentially related to the scope of the research cluster’s activities, especially those interrelated to practice-based researches and deeds.

In this text, we will present some initiatives and projects developed in a partnership with “Paço das Artes”, which is an art institution of the Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy of São Paulo State (Brazil). During its 50 years of existence, the Paço das Artes has played a prominent role in the contemporary art and digital art scene in Brazil. Through this partnership, issues such as “digital museum”, “digital curatorship” and
“digital collection” have been providing a broad discussion about the role of creative artefacts as the basis of the contribution to knowledge, and also about the role of research leading to new understandings about practice.

The first initiative comes in 2016, when Paço das Artes was forced to vacate its headquarters, without having the definition of a new address. On this
occasion, DEED organized “Games + Art”, an event with an exhibition of experimental games, lectures, and workshops. The event also debuts a work entitled “ExPaço” (a pun between the name “Paço das Artes” and something like “ex-space”). In this work, the public could “walk” through the threedimensional virtual space at the Paço das Artes headquarters, deliberately projected empty and abandoned. This work was also exhibited at the Computer Art Festival from Immersphere Fulldome Festival.

In 2020, on the occasion of the launch of the new headquarters of Paço das Artes and celebration of its 50 years, DEED develops “Expaço VR”, an experience in Virtual Reality. In this work, the interactor could learn more about the history of Paço das Artes in a virtual tour through the five different headquarters occupied since its foundation. Currently, in addition to a mobile version, DEED is working on an online platform for digital artists based on the “Expaço” developing experience. Future improvements foresee the development of a (native) digital museum by 2022, the year that celebrates the centenary of the Modern Art Week - a turning point event for art in Brazil.