We are the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory [LTC]at the University of Brasília created by Prof. Dr.[UnB] Sônia Paiva. It is an extension program designed for university students and the artistic community in general. It provides a space for experimentation and learning, grounded in project management, with a focus on the creative economy and the practice and education of stage design.
Our mission goes beyond theatrical production; the LTC aims to foster an design ecosystem, generating multicultural and diverse connections through transdisciplinary actions within a collaborative and innovative culture.
The LTC Manifesto
We are here (whisper). We have our language – We have our mathematics – We have ourselves and nobody can take that away from us.
The end of the 15th century and the entire 16th century were certainly one of the saddest periods on the planet (a total sadness). European nations, armed with their great ships, established colonies in almost the entire world, aligning trade and production to the European model through the colonial regime. As a consequence, local knowledge, its intellectual and cultural aspects were ignored, prohibited, demonized and subverted (total massacre). At that moment, the contact with the traditions of the people, the true heirs of the colonized lands, was almost completely and irreversibly lost (and we were left orphaned).
Since ancient times, humans have created ways to compare, classify, order, measure and quantify elements. Long before the invention of numbers, early humans needed to develop methods to solve everyday problems, such as locating themselves in time and space, as well as describing and explaining the physical world. Therefore, my dear ones, mathematics is not only made up of numbers.
Ethnomathematics – a strategy of organization, quantification and numeral systems.
Ethnomathematics – Ubiratan D’Ambrósio, considered its father.
Ethnomathematics – a field of reflection on the sociocultural roots of art and techniques of explanation and knowledge.
Ethnomathematics – we all have one
(whispers ethno – math – matics, matics, math, ethno).
We are the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory (LTC)[LTC] at the University of Brasília [UnB](UnB), created by Prof. Dr. Sônia Paiva.
It is an extension program designed for university students and the artistic community in general. It provides a space for experimentation and learning, grounded in project management, with a focus on the creative economy and the practice and education of stage design.
Our mission goes beyond theatrical production; the LTC aims to foster an design ecosystem, generating multicultural and diverse connections through transdisciplinary actions within a collaborative and innovative culture.
We seek our creative emancipation, our actions set us free from the compartmentalized ideas of disciplines, set us free from visions that do not encompass the complexity of our daily lives, set us free from ego and the vanity of thinking that only our knowledge is valid.
We have developed a lifestyle that, through arts, education, sciences management and technology, utilizes available human resources and diversity as a fertile ground for the creation of projects with collaborative, cooperative and inclusive actions. We teach and learn from each other, sharing our subjectivities, beliefs and knowledge in order to create realities of cultural, social and political power.
MINHA MISSÃO
CARTA AO PAI
Um dia meu pai me disse: Filha, você está se especializando em coisas inúteis! Isto me fez refletir sobre a missão de fazer “inutilidades”, numa sociedade onde o ser humano ilude-se de sua “utilidade” material. Abrindo a porta da casa, convidando as crianças e os adultos para brincarem com arte, abri uma fenda – fresta na estrutura material familiar – na qual as inutilidades puderam entrar com seus pequeninos e preciosos momentos de acontecimentos imateriais, onde produzimos nossas “quinquilharias” materiais. Concordaria com a frase de meu pai, se estivesse do outro lado do espelho… Se este conceito de utilidade pode ser aplicado na arte, a arte é útil para quem a faz, invisível para o espectador ocioso (como dito por André Comte-Sponville) que, não sabendo do trabalho da arte, acredita na ideia de que a obra é resultado do acaso e não do esforço do artista, “obra-milagre em oposição a obra-trabalho”. Somente o fazer artístico é esclarecedor e interessante. As várias partes da criação que demandam infinitas tomadas de decisões, que geram expectativas e decepções, descobertas, nos proporcionam encantamentos, criam nosso conhecimento multidirecional, causam satisfações e enormes decepções, as anotações, os mapeamentos diários. Isto tudo é o que interessa e que somente o artista tem acesso. Então, o que é a obra que se compra? É o produto do processo, o final, a compactação dos acontecimentos. Ela, a obra, se desprega do leque de acontecimentos que estão repletos de significados (para o artista) conectados e inter-relacionados e é instalado em um local público ou privado. Torna-se, então, outra coisa: reflexo de quem a vê. São os acontecimentos pessoais que serão projetados na obra. A ilusão das Ilusões. Sônia Paiva, Brasília, 8 de fevereiro de 2008.
Main Projects
Entre Temas
Collaborative exhibitions of stage design promoted and produced semi-annually by Sônia Paiva and the LT
Projetos do LTC na PQ
Sônia Paiva and the LTC chose to participate in the Prague Quadrennial editions, because its themes are aligned with the international context and serves as a source of updating and transforming our theatrical practices.
Theatrical repertoire
The LTC conducts research on various languages such as shadow theater, animation and eco-performance, among others, which are incorporated into their scene creations formed by the mixture of participants’ experiments.
Entre Temas
RE-Carne
Staging 3, 1/2020
Dois Lados da Moeda (Two Sides of the Coin)
Staging 3, 1/2020
Hoje é Domingo (Today is Sunday)
Staging 3, 1/2021
Circo Horror
Staging 3 - 02/2022
Terror de Natal (Christmas Terror)
Staging 3 - 02/2022
This web page began in early 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, as a collaborative online magazine focused on Staging. Throughout its four editions, it has become a well-established space for dissemination and discussions about the language of scene design, providing a poetic respite in such challenging times.
Theatrical repertoire
O rio rio rio ri
The spectacle O rio rio rio ri was created for the catacombs of Minhocão at UnB. It was developed based on the project that won the Brazilian Student Showcase at the Prague Quadrennial in 2011, titled “A terceira margem do rio” (The third bank of the river).
Alice e as quatro quedas (Alice and the four walls)
The result of Sônia Paiva’s desire to stage Dario Fo’s play Alice in Wonderless Land, co-directed by Eric Costa for the project of the Direção 1 (Direction 1) course, guided by Simone Reis at UnB. The project was presented at the Parque de Produções as part of the Cometa Cenas program at UnB.
Temos todas a mesma história (We all share the same story)
Based on the work of Franca Rame and Dario Fo. LTC combined Sônia Paiva’s research on Alice with various forms of language, including acting, animation, shadow theater and video. It was part of the Direção 1 (Direction 1) course and included in the Cometa Cenas program at UnB.
Desenhos narrativos da areia à luz (Narrative drawings from sand to light)
An immersion in the studies of Ethnomathematics in the Sona tradition of Angola and Kandinsky’s theory of “Point and Line to Plane”. Presented at Funarte in 2016, it was part of the program of the Cultural Exchange between LTC and Coletivo Terron - Terra e Luz – which gave birth to the Drawing Narratives workshop at PQ19.
LTC Projects at the Prague Quadrennial
PQ11 School Exhibition
The Transdisciplinary Laboratory of Scenography (LTC), Extension Project of Continuing Action of the University of Brasilia, was created by professor Sônia Paiva in order to be part of the selection, at USP, of the Exhibition of Brazil ́s Schools of Scenography for the Quadrennial of 2011, and it is formed by student and former student groups from the departments of communication, industrial design, plastic arts, architecture, sciences and Technologies, that gathered the students of performing arts to meet the multiple needs of the projects.
Curatorship of the Student Exhibition PQ15
For the first time ever, the exhibition to select the projects from Brazilian students to be presented at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space was hosted in Brasilia, at the Casa da Cultura da América Latina (CAL), and converted in to a national event through the work of the curator, Sônia Paiva, Professora at the University of Brasilia, and the members of the Transdisciplinary Laboratory of Scenography.
Workshop on Damu PQ19
Drawing Narratives Experience proposes an immersion in two fundamental concepts of interactivity play Narrative Drawings: from Sand to Light: studies of drawings in the sand (Sona of Angola tradition) and the fundamentals of Wassily Kandinsky’s theory (“Point, Line and Plane”), culminating into a collective experience of light painting.
LTC Immersion in the Parque de Produções
Studies on performance, ethnomathematics and light painting
Every four years, LTC renews itself and prepares for a new transdisciplinary work, aiming for the next Prague Quadrennial in the Parque de Produções grounds.
Sound immersion with Julio Cezar Pereira
Group formation to perform live in the Terra e Luz spectacle, at Parque de Produções, in 2007.
Immersion for the creation of the Grand Desenhador (Great Drawer)
Makeup and costume development for the character Grand Desenhador in the Drawing Narratives spectacle.
Immersion in the city of Goiás
LTC immersion in Goiás - 2010
LTC immersion in Goiás - 2016
LTC immersion in Goiás - 2018
Immersed in a century-old house in the countryside, we generate harmonies in our creations and strengthen the collaborative process of the group. In these meetings, we usually work on repertoire creation, aiming for participation in the Prague Quadrennial (2011, 2015, and 2019).
Formation and Diffusion
LTC and the pedagogy of shadows
The shadow theater nucleus was born out of the interest of two members of the group: Julia Gonzalez and Marcela Siqueira. Its pedagogy was formed through the conjunction of developing a researcher’s perspective on the elements of visual composition and the performativity of manipulable objects.
Anima LTC 2017
Inspired by the text “From Epistemological Cages to Transdisciplinarity as an Open System of Knowledge” by Ubiratan D’Ambrósio. A collective creation where each participant developed a character inspired by Olho (Eye) by Sônia Paiva, relating it to their own visions of a discipline.
The Reverberation of "The Reinvention of Presence in Theatre Production"
Work presented at the Symposium “HOW WAS IT FOR YOU? – Teaching Theatre and Performance Design in a Pandemic”, organized by the Theatre and Performance Design Education Network (TAPDEN), Performance Design Educators Collective (PDEC), and Wimbledon College of Arts, University of the Arts London (UAL), in remote format, 2021.
Cultural Exchange
The project Terra e Luz: Poéticas da Matéria (Earth and Light: Poetics of Matter) – a collaboration between Brazil-Brasília and France-Grenoble, promoted by the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory at UnB and Coletivo Terron. Over the course of 7 days, from November 11th to 18th, 2016, workshops, artistic residencies, debates, performative experiences and artistic creations were held in Brasília. Brazilian and French professionals, academics and researchers from various fields of knowledge were involved in an exchange of experiences and knowledge directly linked and opened to the local community.
LTC Programs
Cultural Exchange
Our Exchange Program is aimed at the exchange, production and execution of projects between individuals and institutions, both national and international, in a decentralized, collaborative and transdisciplinary manner.
LTC Immersion in the Parque de Produções
The LTC immersions at Parque de Produções are carried out whenever, in the development of projects, a deepening in themes, techniques or group methods becomes necessary.
Immersion in the city of Goiás
Our immersion program in the city of Goiás is aimed at the interaction between LTC participants, for experiments of various natures, where we reaffirm the desire to make art and education together.
Formation and Diffusion of actions
The formations and diffusions of LTC are diverse and manifold, reflecting the transdisciplinary nature of Sônia Paiva. In this way, the group is constantly exploring different fields, based on the principle that each person teaches what they know to others and learns from others what they don’t.
Testimonials
Carol Guida
13/06/2019
“The Drawing Narratives Experience – Workshop presented at the Prague Quadrennial, #pq19. A magical experience of rescue, freedom and resonance – of the soul! I will never be able to put into words what it has been and what it was like to arrive here. Despite so many obstacles, something survives, is reborn and breathes. It floods. So much gratitude for this incredibly emotional journey alongside all of you.”
Raquel Rosillete
24/04/2022
“When I arrived at the Parque (2010), I was a student of architecture. Today, I am a dance lighting designer in Berlin. At the Parque, I understood arts, performativity of things and backstage power and visual language. The Parque was my theater school. It’s where I learned a profound and respectful way of creating art. It was in the Parque’s library that I met the great theorists who have always guided me until today. The Parque was the place where I understood that everything I thought I believed didn’t have a place, actually does have a place in science and knowledge. It was at the Parque that I learned to respect art as something professional and as a life choice.”
Ana Carolina
06/03/2020
“Beloved mentor, a shimmering light of new ideas and new practices. Sônia Paiva is not only a multidisciplinary artist but also an entrepreneur, a unifier and a generous one. She loves to take care of and rescue a bird with broken wings.”
Lucas Sertifa
From 2014 to 2018, he was part of the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory. He was part of the Brazilian curatorial team for the Exhibition of Scenography Schools at the Prague Quadrennial 2015. He was awarded in the 5th edition of the Eixo do Fora project in 2017.
Since 2019, he has been working as an educator at cultural centers such as CCBB Brasília and the Centro Cultural TCU. Currently, he is studying Fashion Design Technology at IFB and works as a technical instructor in the clothing field at SENAI DF.
Eric Costa
Associated with the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory – LTC and Parque de Produções since 2010. Worked on the conception, development, production, and assembly of the Brazilian students’ space at the Prague Quadrennial 2015. Master’s degree in Contemporary Artistic Creation (University of Aveiro – Portugal / 2022) Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism (Centro Universitário de Brasília – Brazil / 2005), Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts (University of Brasília – Brazil / 2013).
Serves as a front-of-house coordinator and producer at Teatro Aveirense – Portugal. And continues to work as an architect, performer, scenographer, visual and plastic artist, researcher and educator.
Julia Gonzales
Graduated from the University of Brasília, she participated in the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory from 2008 to 2011.
She won the award for best scenography student at the Exhibition of Brazilian Students held at ECA-USP, a selection for the Prague Quadrennial 2011.
Currently, her research, studies, and artworks revolve around embroidery, sculpture, and drawing.
Raquel Rosildete
Raquel Rosildete works with light design for the stage and architecture. She worked at LTC from 2010 to 2015, participating in all stages of the creative and production processes, from experimentation to fundraising for exhibitions, performances, and participation in Prague. She participated in the 2011 Quadrennial as a student, with her project being selected for the Exhibition of Schools. In 2015, she worked on the curatorial process for the Brazilian representation in the Exhibition of Scenography Schools.
Caio Sato
Caio Sato is a Master’s student in Visual Arts at the University of Brasília – PPGAV/UnB and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts (2019). He has been a member of the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory and Parque de Produções since 2014, working in the area of Photography and Documentation. He continuously researches and studies various areas of knowledge, believing in the importance of interdisciplinary exchanges for personal growth. He is fluent in Portuguese and English and has basic comprehension/communication skills in Spanish, French and Libras (Brazilian Sign Language).
Patrícia Meschick
Master (2022) and Bachelor (2008) in Design from the University of Brasília and MBA in Project Management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (2018). Graphic Designer at TV Câmara since 2013 and Art Director since 2021. rofessor of Graphic Design at Centro Universitário IESB since 2019. Member of the Transdisciplinary Laboratory of Scenography (LTC) at the University of Brasília from 2011 to 2019. Winner of the Jorge Salim Graphic Excellence Award (2013). Finalist of the 29th MCB Design Award (2015) with the catalog of the project Brazil: Shared Labirintos, by LTC. 3rd place in the Brazilian Schools of Scenography and Costume Exhibition (2010). Producer and organizer of the Show of Brazilian Students of Scene Design in Brazil and at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial.
Ana Carolina Conceição
Participated in the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory (LTC), coordinated by Prof. Dr. Sônia Paiva, as a production assistant for the Exhibition of Brazilian Students in Brazil and at the Prague Quadrennial – PQ15, and as a producer, actress and workshop facilitator for the Desenhos Narrativos (Narrative Drawings) workshop at PQ19. The transdisciplinary experience of LTC applied to the context of high school in public schools was the object of her master’s research.
Marcela Siqueira
She is a researcher in the extension program of Prof. Dr. Sônia Paiva, the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory at the University of Brasília. acting in the LTC and in theatrical staging classes at the University of Brasília, she was enchanted by Teatro de Sombras (Shadow Theater), which was the subject of her thesis, culminating in a trip to Prague, Czech Republic, to participate in the Exhibition of Schools at the Prague Quadrennial 2011.
Carol Guida
Carolina Guida graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Brasília (2022) – her Final Paper “Da Amnésia à Anamnesis: altares da memória no Rio São Francisco” (From Amnesia to Anamnesis: altars of memory in the São Francisco River) turned into an artist book and a future audiovisual project. She was a member of the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory from 2018 to 2020 and participated in the interactive workshop Desenhos Narrativos (Narrative Drawings) at the Quadrennial of Prague. From 2020 to 2021, she carried out independent visual arts projects (@carolguidart). In 2023, she worked as a set design assistant for a theater play at the 25th Festival Amazonas de Ópera. Also in 2023, she started her Master’s degree in the Postgraduate Program at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Brasília.
Bruna Camurça
An architect from the University of Brasília, she specialized her studies in the field of scenography. She coordinated the Biombo Scenography Laboratory (2017 to 2019). She joined the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory (LTC) in 2018 after having a project approved for PQ19 at the Brazilian Student Exhibition. She also participated in PQ19 with the workshop Desenhos Narrativos (Narrative Drawings) alongside LTC. She developed her final projects in the area: a theoretical essay analyzing the narrative strategies of the scenery in the animation series Steven Universe; and the conception of a set design for a storytelling space based on a children’s book.
Matheus MacGinity
Master’s student in the Postgraduate Program in Design at the University of Brasília. Member of Parque de Produções since 2014, working in the areas of graphic design and audiovisual production.
Participant in two PQ editions (15 and 19); in 2015 as part of the assembly team for the exhibition Brasil: LABirintos Compartilhados (Brazil: Shared LAByrinths) and in 2019 as a workshop instructor for Desenhos Narrativos: Da Areia à Luz (Narrative Drawings: From Sand to Light) in collaboration with Parque de Produções and the Laboratório Transdisciplinar de Cenografia As an audiovisual producer and editor, I find in Parque de Produções an inspiring space where different fields of knowledge intersect. It is through the intertwining of different practices that we understand the value of individuals within the collective, and the prominence of the collective within individuality.
Rafael Botelho
As an undergraduate student, he had the opportunity to participate in LTC throughout most of his education, contributing to the laboratory’s projects not only as a designer but also learning and constructing, through the group’s transdisciplinary approach, proposals for the conception of scenic spaces that encompass architecture, performance, lighting and projection mapping
The LTC Brains Bank
Our Brains Bank is inspired by the one created by Ed Catmull – President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation – to address the issue of new teams that were not involved in the early days of Pixar. Similarly, LTC members who have participated in key projects and processes, and have embraced the group’s transdisciplinary methodology, are always invited to join new work groups and contribute to the development of LTC projects with their insights.
Eric Costa
architect, actor, scenographer, visual and plastic artist, producer, researcher, and educator – Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism (2005 – Centro Universitário de Brasília / Brazil) and in Performing Arts (2013 – University of Brasília / Brazil); Master’s degree in Contemporary Artistic Creation (2022 – University of Aveiro / Portugal).
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Lucas Sertifa
Bachelor of Visual Arts from the University of Brasília; Licensed in Arts by the Rede Claretiano de Ensino; Integrated the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory from 2014 to 2018.
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Marcela Siqueira
Works as an Arts Teacher at the Secretaria de Educação do Distrito Federal.
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Julia Gonzales
is a visual artist, teacher, cultural producer and founder of the Par de Ideias studio, where she works as a sculpture and ceramics teacher.
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Raquel Rosildete
works with light design for the stage and architecture, creating visual stories, bringing rhythm and movement to spatial narratives.
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Caio Sato
Is a Master’s student in Visual Arts at the University of Brasília – PPGAV/UnB. He has been a member of the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory and Parque de Produções since 2014, working in the area of Photography and Documentation.
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Patrícia Meschick
Patricia Meschick. Bachelor, Master and Professor of Design, Art Director at TV Câmara.
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Matheus Macginity
Master’s student in the Postgraduate Program in Design at the University of Brasília. Member of Parque de Produções since 2014, working in the areas of graphic design and audiovisual production.
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Ana Carolina Conceição
Master’s degree in Arts Education, with a focus on theoretical-methodological approaches to teaching practices at UnB. Works as a coordinator at Centro Educacional 06 in Ceilândia.
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Carol Guida
Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Brasília (2022) and has recently started her Master’s degree in the Postgraduate Program at FAU-Unb. She was also a member of the Stage Design Transdisciplinary Laboratory from 2018 to 2020.
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Bruna Camurça
She graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Brasília (UnB), where she focused her studies on the field of scenography.
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Rafael Botelho
director and scenographer, holding a bachelor’s degree in design and currently pursuing a master’s degree in the Design, Spaces and Mediations program at the University of Brasília.
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