Mutirão da Gambiarra

Mutirão da Gambiarra is a collaborative editorial initiative articulated foremostly through the Internet, at the online ambient


 * mutirao.metareciclagem.org

The Mutirão aggregates different perspectives on the dialogue between informational and communication technologies and the society, as it applies concepts of technological de-construction and appropriation. The materials that originate these works are is the result of the initiatives of the Metareciclagem Network, formed by the cooperation of people and organizations all around Brazil.

The Mutirão Gambiarra as an editorial proposal alludes to two different very present practices of the Brazilian culture:

Gambiarra - A Brazilian Portuguese expression to any informal deviation on the use or application of technical knowledge. It's a cultural practice to find and employ all kinds of improvised solutions to everyday problems, with the use of any materials available. Gambiarra is a solution that is built over the boundaries among the "temporary" and the "permanent". Trial, observation, learning with the result and trying again in a new way are its main processes. Gambiarra is an unstable condition, that allows for great spontaneous innovation.

Mutirão - A tropicalized form of the multitude. The aggregation of people in order to achieve greater objectives and accomplish large endeavours, like building walls and houses, cleaning a public or private ambient, installing or replacing light bulbs on a street and things like that. Beyond any personal differences among its members, people tend to see the Mutirão as a collective effort for a greater good, featuring a temporary suspension of the interpersonal tensions. The Mutirão usually presents no hierarchy. Every one contributes in the way he or she wants or is able to, and most of the time the results are satisfactory. It can be seen as a very productive form for a community to achieve its common objectives.

The original proposal for the Mutirão da Gambiarra, as presented by Felipe Fonseca, can be found here.