Residencia São João

Vimeo Residencia São João

The São João Residency is an independent initiative created by the artist Antonio Sobral in 2012 and located in a beautiful 19th-century plantation in the countryside of Rio de Janeiro.

The farm was built during the historic « Brazilian coffee period » and still produces the precious brown seeds even if the estate is now covered at 60% by rainforest after long reforestation and food-forest projects. 

The program focuses on intensive development of work, processes, and experiences in any discipline but with highlights on poetry, visual arts, and sound art, being music, electronic music, or even radio sets. Artists are invited to be as experimental as possible in order to try out new creative processes that could end up in collaborative works amongst the residents.

The São João Residency has one Sound Program called Somos Cosmos, and one Multidisciplinary Program called Verãozão, that each takes place once a year and brings around 20 artists at the same time for an average period of two weeks. Individual artists and collectives can apply to the residency of their choice, during which they will live on-site and have access to shared and private studios depending on the needs of the projects, a recording studio and musical instruments, a carpentry workshop and toolkit, a library, exhibition spaces, and to the numerous common areas and outdoor spaces.

The residency is punctuated by many internal events such as readings, debates, DJ sets, workshops, yoga, meditation, live performances, and ends with an open-studio where the local communities are invited to participate and appreciate the works realized during the artists’ stay.