Marcela Guerra

Biography

Marcela Guerra is a craftswoman with a focus on technological appropriation and object-making through workshops and immersive experiences. She holds a bachelor's degree in social sciences from UNESP in São Paulo, and is part of the collective Sítio do Astronauta, which investigates and develops non-disciplinary technologies that amplify learning skills and enable artistic expression.

She has experience in managing workshops throughout the state of São Paulo, including spaces such as hacklabs, permaculture centres and SESCs. In 2015 her project "Diversões eletrônicas na roça" led the public to create electronic crafted toys in rural areas of Minas Gerais. After this successful experience she was invited to participate in the Lemann Institute of Creative Learning where she had the opportunity to go through an intensive creative learning course with researchers from the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at MIT MediaLab.

Since 2016 she has lived in the Souzas neighbourhood in Monteiro Lobato, São Paulo, where she contributes to a number of local initiatives: the "Cassava Festival", an independent festival organised by the Souzas neighbourhood community; the "Espaço do Fazer", an open laboratory for research, creation and development of projects, located inside the Pandavas Institute, a rural school in the neighbourhood; and the "Associação Portal sem Porteiras", a non-profit association that seeks to develop alternative forms of accessing and producing information.

Currently, Marcela is the chair of the Portal sem Porteiras Association and a member of its communication council, where she explores experimental methodologies to help enable the community to develop a critical sense in the processing of information produced by new media.