A REGENERATIVE MORNING:
Selvagem at the Brasil Futures Forum
1 September 2026
On 22 August, the Selvagem Association formed part of the programme for the Brasil Futures Forum during a morning dedicated to the theme Futuros Regenerativos [Regenerative Futures], held at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro [Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro] (PUC-Rio). Forming the panel ArteCompostagens & RegenerARTivismos, Anna Dantes, director of the Selvagem Associationdesigner Karine Freire and conductor and composer Rodrigo Reis Rodrigues gathered for a discussion moderated by asú marques on composting and the creation of other possible futures, at the invitation of Ecotopias Lab, a socio-environmental design laboratory at PUC-Rio. da PUC Rio.
Karine Freire, Anna Dantes, Rodrigo Reis Rodrigues, and asú marques on the panel ArteCompostagens & RegenerARTivismos. Photo: Ecotopias Lab.
The Brasil Futures Forum (BFF) brings together people, projects and different fields of knowledge to imagine and set in motion possible futures. In its first edition, held in Rio de Janeiro between 22 and 24 August, the forum was organised into five thematic tracks and launched the platform Sementes de Futuros[Seeds of the Future], a collective bank of ideas and initiatives with the potential to germinate other realities. In partnership with Ecotopias Labthe Selvagem Association formed part of this programme as a meeting place for different practices and forms of knowledge, centred on building common ground. On the panel ArteCompostagens & RegenerARTivismos, composting was taken as a method and metaphor to bring together perspectives, repertoires and experiences.
Alongside the artistic compostings presented by Rodrigo Reis at the Instituto de Artes da UNESP [UNESP Institute of Arts] and the dreams of bem-viver [good living] brought by Karine Freire, Anna Dantes reflected on the journey of the Selvagem Association, from its origins in a discussion circle at the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro [Rio de Janeiro Botanical Gardens] in 2018 to its current form, the result of a collaborative, affectionate and organic network.
Anna Dantes speaking on the ArteCompostagens & RegenerARTivismos panel. Photo: Ecotopias Lab.
The Selvagem Association began as discussion circles formed by people interested in orally transmitted knowledge and its confluences with other ways of knowing. Today, this collaborative network stretches across many territories through Study Cycles, Wild Arrows, Notebooks, Ways of Knowing, and Translations. It shares a reciprocal relationship with the Living Schools movement, a connection that began with the Huni Kuĩ people in Acre through the project Una Shubu Hiwea - Livro Escola Viva [Una Shubu Hiwea - Living School Book], which evolved into the Living Schools movement to support the strengthening and transmission of Indigenous knowledge.
Built on affection and trust, the partnership with the Living Schools involves a monthly grant of R$10,000 to each of the five Living Schools, alongside an ongoing collaboration across various initiatives, such as exhibitions, artistic residencies, study cycles and publications. The dissemination of Selvagem's work also seeks to broaden the reach of the knowledge shared by the Living Schools and invite new supporters to contribute to this movement, as everything Selvagem does remains in dialogue with them and their territories.
Anna Dantes also spoke about how Selvagem materials took root and expanded beyond Brazil, reaching new cities, communities and countries. This generated a network of translations between worlds and opened up new paths. One such initiative was the Selvagem Ways of Knowing Lab, coordinated by Veronica Pinheiro, engaging in dialogue with universities and mainstream schools across Brazil, while placing the creation of spaces to work, talk, listen, think and play alongside children at the very core of its practice.
Selvagem’s presence at the BFF and the opportunity to exchange ideas with Karine Freire, Rodrigo Reis Rodrigues and members of Ecotopias Lab such as asú marques and Nathalí Garcia belong to this ongoing history of encounters and collaborations aimed at reimagining our relationship with the Earth. Taking part in this inaugural edition was also particularly meaningful given Selvagem’s close connection with ecologist Fabio Scarano, a member of the BFF Advisory Board. A collaborator with Selvagem since 2018, Scarano took part in the early face-to-face Study Cycles and has since been fostering dialogues between ecology, regeneration and different ways of understanding relationships among living beings. He is the author of the book Regenerantes de Gaia [Regenerants of Gaia] (Dantes, 2019) and the Selvagem notebook The language of Gaia, as well as a participant in the study cycle Sun and Regenerantes de Gaia [Regenerants of Gaia].
On a regenerative morning, PUC-Rio proved to be fertile ground for sowing, composting and germinating new possibilities for the future.