DRUWE, Anna; SEROUSSI, Benjamin (eds.)
Casa do Povo - An Institution in the Making

The book reflects on the kinds of art institutions we need today. Rather than fixed models, museums, cultural centers, and autonomous spaces can be what Yona Friedman calls “feasible utopias”: exercises in imagination, laboratories of life, and full-scale rehearsals of other worlds. Since its reopening in 2012—after three decades nearly closed—Casa do Povo has sought original responses to these challenges, finding its future in its ancestry.

Organized by Ana Druwe and Benjamin Seroussi, "An Institution in the Making" recounts how the cultural center Casa do Povo has reactivated its original 1946 mission through innovative management, balancing programming, hosting diverse collectives, and engaging urgent issues from neighborhood to global scales. It also shares practical tools developed along the way—from fundraising to communication strategies, hybrid programming to governance models—that sustain a space in constant collective reinvention. Ultimately, the publication opens the “source codes” of Casa do Povo’s practices, proposing culture itself as fertile ground for experimentation. 

Texts by: Ana Druwe, Mariana Lorenzi, Peter Pál Pelbart, Dri Sumi, Iara Rolnik, Laura Daviña, Lilian Starobinas, Sérgio Sampaio, Rafael Oliveira, Renata Lucas, Marília Loureiro, O grupo inteiro, Jonas Van, Valentina D’Avenia, Mayara Vivian, Martha Kiss Perrone, Caio Lescher, Benjamin Seroussi, Anai Vera, Jerá Guarani, Werá Alcides, Jaxuva Clarice, Werá Elias (Lideranças Guarani Mbya), Hugueta Sendacz (Coral Tradição), Laura Viana (Passe Livre), Cristian Duarte (LOTE e Z0NA), Lilith Cristina (coletivA Ocupação), Gabriela Cherubini (Ateliê Vivo), João Turchi, Tatiane Arcanjo, Alê Tradução (MEXA), Ricardo Cavalcanti (Clínica Aberta de Psicanálise), Dri Sumi (Coletivo de Diálogo e Diversidade de Táticas), Raphael Piva (Boxe Autônomo), Lucas Gaspar, Tião Oliveira Neto, Nathê Miranda (Parquinho Gráfico), Eugênio Lima (Legítima Defesa), Renato Cymbalista (FICA), Ionara Lourenço (Casa Sueli Carneiro), Elisa Band and Erika Infosato (Cia Teatral Ueinzz), farid rakun, Binna Choi, Nerina Visacovsky, and Galit Eilat.

Visual essay: Repertoire of Occupation, 2025, by Frederico Ravioli.

Published by Casa do Povo, 2025
Art Spaces