Rasgo
Rasgo
Rasgo was an Artistic Residency-Exhibition designed for emerging artists from the Federal University of Bahia. Conceived and developed by the Metemão Art and Design Collective, the project had a strong educational and integrative focus. Its service design aimed to impact as many students as possible while fostering dialogue with the broader community. This was achieved through public educational cycles featuring nationally renowned professors, researchers, artists, gallery owners, and curators.
Client
Metemão Collective
Year
2023
Category
Service Design
Chapter 1 - Tear, Fissure, Stroke, Achievement, Drive
The name Rasgo (tear, fissure, stroke, achievement, drive) stems from the idea of breaking through a protective bubble. The concept ambiguously represents both separation and access, symbolizing creative power and the act of art emerging, tearing through barriers to create new pathways. Rasgo is, above all, a reflection on building or dismantling bridges and walls—opening spaces for interaction or closing them for self-protection. It explores social, political, ethnic, and professional relationships.
The Opportunity: A Free Slot in the Gallery
While walking to a bakery near the School of Fine Arts, the professor in charge of the Cañizares Gallery mentioned an available one-month slot. As active members of an art and design collective, we were offered the chance to design, in his words, “a small exhibition project among friends” in just two weeks. We accepted.
Cañizares Gallery’s Exhibition Standards
Typically, collective exhibitions at Cañizares feature around 12 artists, with a small vernissage and limited visitation throughout the month.
The name Rasgo (tear, fissure, stroke, achievement, drive) stems from the idea of breaking through a protective bubble. The concept ambiguously represents both separation and access, symbolizing creative power and the act of art emerging, tearing through barriers to create new pathways. Rasgo is, above all, a reflection on building or dismantling bridges and walls—opening spaces for interaction or closing them for self-protection. It explores social, political, ethnic, and professional relationships.
The Opportunity: A Free Slot in the Gallery
While walking to a bakery near the School of Fine Arts, the professor in charge of the Cañizares Gallery mentioned an available one-month slot. As active members of an art and design collective, we were offered the chance to design, in his words, “a small exhibition project among friends” in just two weeks. We accepted.
Cañizares Gallery’s Exhibition Standards
Typically, collective exhibitions at Cañizares feature around 12 artists, with a small vernissage and limited visitation throughout the month.
The name Rasgo (tear, fissure, stroke, achievement, drive) stems from the idea of breaking through a protective bubble. The concept ambiguously represents both separation and access, symbolizing creative power and the act of art emerging, tearing through barriers to create new pathways. Rasgo is, above all, a reflection on building or dismantling bridges and walls—opening spaces for interaction or closing them for self-protection. It explores social, political, ethnic, and professional relationships.
The Opportunity: A Free Slot in the Gallery
While walking to a bakery near the School of Fine Arts, the professor in charge of the Cañizares Gallery mentioned an available one-month slot. As active members of an art and design collective, we were offered the chance to design, in his words, “a small exhibition project among friends” in just two weeks. We accepted.
Cañizares Gallery’s Exhibition Standards
Typically, collective exhibitions at Cañizares feature around 12 artists, with a small vernissage and limited visitation throughout the month.
Chapter 2 - Bridges and Walls
Bridges and Walls
“My goal has always been to find connections between ideas and tear down walls. And the walls torn down become bridges.” – Angela Davis
Walls: Challenges for Emerging Artists
Even within a free federal art school, producing art presents significant hurdles. Students often lack training in presenting their work spatially and verbally, conceptualizing and selling their art, and building professional networks. Additionally, many graduate without enough exhibition experience, as exhibition spaces are scarce, competitive, and often dominated by established artists, even within the university.
Bridges: Making Rasgo Inclusive
We decided to include more students than usual, requiring collective planning to accommodate everyone. With limited time, we selected 24 resident artists: the first 12 presented their works at the opening, while the others participated in a learning process culminating in a one-day closing exhibition. This approach optimized time and space, building more bridges.
The Team: Selecting and Organizing
As two project proposers, we needed a reliable team. With only two weeks to prepare, we chose collaborators based on past positive experiences and recommendations. These collaborators joined the exhibition while handling production roles, such as setup, communication tasks, seminars, and discussions.
Expanding the team allowed us to manage selection processes for artists, gallery staff, lab technicians, and event photographers, ensuring accessibility for more students. All participants received volunteer certificates and extracurricular hours from the School of Fine Arts.
Bridges and Walls
“My goal has always been to find connections between ideas and tear down walls. And the walls torn down become bridges.” – Angela Davis
Walls: Challenges for Emerging Artists
Even within a free federal art school, producing art presents significant hurdles. Students often lack training in presenting their work spatially and verbally, conceptualizing and selling their art, and building professional networks. Additionally, many graduate without enough exhibition experience, as exhibition spaces are scarce, competitive, and often dominated by established artists, even within the university.
Bridges: Making Rasgo Inclusive
We decided to include more students than usual, requiring collective planning to accommodate everyone. With limited time, we selected 24 resident artists: the first 12 presented their works at the opening, while the others participated in a learning process culminating in a one-day closing exhibition. This approach optimized time and space, building more bridges.
The Team: Selecting and Organizing
As two project proposers, we needed a reliable team. With only two weeks to prepare, we chose collaborators based on past positive experiences and recommendations. These collaborators joined the exhibition while handling production roles, such as setup, communication tasks, seminars, and discussions.
Expanding the team allowed us to manage selection processes for artists, gallery staff, lab technicians, and event photographers, ensuring accessibility for more students. All participants received volunteer certificates and extracurricular hours from the School of Fine Arts.
Bridges and Walls
“My goal has always been to find connections between ideas and tear down walls. And the walls torn down become bridges.” – Angela Davis
Walls: Challenges for Emerging Artists
Even within a free federal art school, producing art presents significant hurdles. Students often lack training in presenting their work spatially and verbally, conceptualizing and selling their art, and building professional networks. Additionally, many graduate without enough exhibition experience, as exhibition spaces are scarce, competitive, and often dominated by established artists, even within the university.
Bridges: Making Rasgo Inclusive
We decided to include more students than usual, requiring collective planning to accommodate everyone. With limited time, we selected 24 resident artists: the first 12 presented their works at the opening, while the others participated in a learning process culminating in a one-day closing exhibition. This approach optimized time and space, building more bridges.
The Team: Selecting and Organizing
As two project proposers, we needed a reliable team. With only two weeks to prepare, we chose collaborators based on past positive experiences and recommendations. These collaborators joined the exhibition while handling production roles, such as setup, communication tasks, seminars, and discussions.
Expanding the team allowed us to manage selection processes for artists, gallery staff, lab technicians, and event photographers, ensuring accessibility for more students. All participants received volunteer certificates and extracurricular hours from the School of Fine Arts.
Bridges and Walls
“My goal has always been to find connections between ideas and tear down walls. And the walls torn down become bridges.” – Angela Davis
Walls: Challenges for Emerging Artists
Even within a free federal art school, producing art presents significant hurdles. Students often lack training in presenting their work spatially and verbally, conceptualizing and selling their art, and building professional networks. Additionally, many graduate without enough exhibition experience, as exhibition spaces are scarce, competitive, and often dominated by established artists, even within the university.
Bridges: Making Rasgo Inclusive
We decided to include more students than usual, requiring collective planning to accommodate everyone. With limited time, we selected 24 resident artists: the first 12 presented their works at the opening, while the others participated in a learning process culminating in a one-day closing exhibition. This approach optimized time and space, building more bridges.
The Team: Selecting and Organizing
As two project proposers, we needed a reliable team. With only two weeks to prepare, we chose collaborators based on past positive experiences and recommendations. These collaborators joined the exhibition while handling production roles, such as setup, communication tasks, seminars, and discussions.
Expanding the team allowed us to manage selection processes for artists, gallery staff, lab technicians, and event photographers, ensuring accessibility for more students. All participants received volunteer certificates and extracurricular hours from the School of Fine Arts.
Chapter 3 - The Service Designed
Gallery as School
Rasgo aimed to transform Cañizares into a Gallery School, filled with students. Beyond exhibitions, it became a learning space, hosting a month-long artistic residency that utilized the gallery and school labs. This enabled students to explore less accessible mediums like analog photography, printmaking, and ceramics. Weekly educational cycles with prominent guests fostered discussions, allowing residents to share their processes and results.
Collective Studio
To blur the lines between art production and the final artwork, artist and audience, process and product, a collective studio was installed within the gallery. Visitors experienced the exhibition alongside the artists’ creative and reflective processes. This setup increased gallery visitation, as external guests and seminar attendees had to pass through the artworks to reach the discussions.
External Cycles and Theoretical Foundations
Weekly discussions featured pairs or trios of prominent artists, researchers, gallery owners, curators, and art professionals from Salvador. These free, public conversations covered essential topics in contemporary art, such as artistic processes, techniques, and the art system, providing a solid theoretical foundation for the students’ empirical work.
Internal Cycles
Focused on peer exchange, these cycles were crucial for applying lessons learned. Artists not only showcased their progress but also contributed to each other’s processes, collectively enhancing their outcomes
Gallery as School
Rasgo aimed to transform Cañizares into a Gallery School, filled with students. Beyond exhibitions, it became a learning space, hosting a month-long artistic residency that utilized the gallery and school labs. This enabled students to explore less accessible mediums like analog photography, printmaking, and ceramics. Weekly educational cycles with prominent guests fostered discussions, allowing residents to share their processes and results.
Collective Studio
To blur the lines between art production and the final artwork, artist and audience, process and product, a collective studio was installed within the gallery. Visitors experienced the exhibition alongside the artists’ creative and reflective processes. This setup increased gallery visitation, as external guests and seminar attendees had to pass through the artworks to reach the discussions.
External Cycles and Theoretical Foundations
Weekly discussions featured pairs or trios of prominent artists, researchers, gallery owners, curators, and art professionals from Salvador. These free, public conversations covered essential topics in contemporary art, such as artistic processes, techniques, and the art system, providing a solid theoretical foundation for the students’ empirical work.
Internal Cycles
Focused on peer exchange, these cycles were crucial for applying lessons learned. Artists not only showcased their progress but also contributed to each other’s processes, collectively enhancing their outcomes
Gallery as School
Rasgo aimed to transform Cañizares into a Gallery School, filled with students. Beyond exhibitions, it became a learning space, hosting a month-long artistic residency that utilized the gallery and school labs. This enabled students to explore less accessible mediums like analog photography, printmaking, and ceramics. Weekly educational cycles with prominent guests fostered discussions, allowing residents to share their processes and results.
Collective Studio
To blur the lines between art production and the final artwork, artist and audience, process and product, a collective studio was installed within the gallery. Visitors experienced the exhibition alongside the artists’ creative and reflective processes. This setup increased gallery visitation, as external guests and seminar attendees had to pass through the artworks to reach the discussions.
External Cycles and Theoretical Foundations
Weekly discussions featured pairs or trios of prominent artists, researchers, gallery owners, curators, and art professionals from Salvador. These free, public conversations covered essential topics in contemporary art, such as artistic processes, techniques, and the art system, providing a solid theoretical foundation for the students’ empirical work.
Internal Cycles
Focused on peer exchange, these cycles were crucial for applying lessons learned. Artists not only showcased their progress but also contributed to each other’s processes, collectively enhancing their outcomes
Gallery as School
Rasgo aimed to transform Cañizares into a Gallery School, filled with students. Beyond exhibitions, it became a learning space, hosting a month-long artistic residency that utilized the gallery and school labs. This enabled students to explore less accessible mediums like analog photography, printmaking, and ceramics. Weekly educational cycles with prominent guests fostered discussions, allowing residents to share their processes and results.
Collective Studio
To blur the lines between art production and the final artwork, artist and audience, process and product, a collective studio was installed within the gallery. Visitors experienced the exhibition alongside the artists’ creative and reflective processes. This setup increased gallery visitation, as external guests and seminar attendees had to pass through the artworks to reach the discussions.
External Cycles and Theoretical Foundations
Weekly discussions featured pairs or trios of prominent artists, researchers, gallery owners, curators, and art professionals from Salvador. These free, public conversations covered essential topics in contemporary art, such as artistic processes, techniques, and the art system, providing a solid theoretical foundation for the students’ empirical work.
Internal Cycles
Focused on peer exchange, these cycles were crucial for applying lessons learned. Artists not only showcased their progress but also contributed to each other’s processes, collectively enhancing their outcomes
Chapter 4 - A Testament to the Power of Collective Effort
A Space for Non-Selected Artists
Open to the public, these cycles included artists not selected for the residency, fostering experience-sharing and technical exchange. This collective approach helped untangle individual artistic challenges.
The Packed Closing: A Collective Achievement
After three intense weeks, Rasgo concluded with a closing celebration where all 24 artists exhibited their works. This one-night event featured a new expography, showcasing both new pieces and developments of previously exhibited works, allowing visitors to witness not just the results but the artistic process itself.
Collective & Individual Outcomes
Beyond the collective results of the event itself—its reach within the academic and artistic community—Rasgo also connected these young artists to the commercial art system in Bahia (Brazil), fostering their professional careers. This bridge between academia and the art market provided invaluable opportunities for growth, visibility, and networking, helping to launch their paths as emerging professionals in the art world.
Rasgo was a testament to the power of collective effort, bridging gaps between artists, students, and the community, and creating a dynamic space for artistic growth and dialogue.
A Space for Non-Selected Artists
Open to the public, these cycles included artists not selected for the residency, fostering experience-sharing and technical exchange. This collective approach helped untangle individual artistic challenges.
The Packed Closing: A Collective Achievement
After three intense weeks, Rasgo concluded with a closing celebration where all 24 artists exhibited their works. This one-night event featured a new expography, showcasing both new pieces and developments of previously exhibited works, allowing visitors to witness not just the results but the artistic process itself.
Collective & Individual Outcomes
Beyond the collective results of the event itself—its reach within the academic and artistic community—Rasgo also connected these young artists to the commercial art system in Bahia (Brazil), fostering their professional careers. This bridge between academia and the art market provided invaluable opportunities for growth, visibility, and networking, helping to launch their paths as emerging professionals in the art world.
Rasgo was a testament to the power of collective effort, bridging gaps between artists, students, and the community, and creating a dynamic space for artistic growth and dialogue.
A Space for Non-Selected Artists
Open to the public, these cycles included artists not selected for the residency, fostering experience-sharing and technical exchange. This collective approach helped untangle individual artistic challenges.
The Packed Closing: A Collective Achievement
After three intense weeks, Rasgo concluded with a closing celebration where all 24 artists exhibited their works. This one-night event featured a new expography, showcasing both new pieces and developments of previously exhibited works, allowing visitors to witness not just the results but the artistic process itself.
Collective & Individual Outcomes
Beyond the collective results of the event itself—its reach within the academic and artistic community—Rasgo also connected these young artists to the commercial art system in Bahia (Brazil), fostering their professional careers. This bridge between academia and the art market provided invaluable opportunities for growth, visibility, and networking, helping to launch their paths as emerging professionals in the art world.
Rasgo was a testament to the power of collective effort, bridging gaps between artists, students, and the community, and creating a dynamic space for artistic growth and dialogue.
A Space for Non-Selected Artists
Open to the public, these cycles included artists not selected for the residency, fostering experience-sharing and technical exchange. This collective approach helped untangle individual artistic challenges.
The Packed Closing: A Collective Achievement
After three intense weeks, Rasgo concluded with a closing celebration where all 24 artists exhibited their works. This one-night event featured a new expography, showcasing both new pieces and developments of previously exhibited works, allowing visitors to witness not just the results but the artistic process itself.
Collective & Individual Outcomes
Beyond the collective results of the event itself—its reach within the academic and artistic community—Rasgo also connected these young artists to the commercial art system in Bahia (Brazil), fostering their professional careers. This bridge between academia and the art market provided invaluable opportunities for growth, visibility, and networking, helping to launch their paths as emerging professionals in the art world.
Rasgo was a testament to the power of collective effort, bridging gaps between artists, students, and the community, and creating a dynamic space for artistic growth and dialogue.
More Works More Works
More Works More Works
©2025 SAAL DESIGN
GO BACK TO TOP
©2025 SAAL DESIGN
GO BACK TO TOP