Direito à Sombra examines the impact of extreme sun exposure on urban life and public health in Fortaleza. Who gets access to shade? Can shade be a form of climate justice? The project claims shade as essential infrastructure for climate resilience. Using data, AI, and community knowledge it addresses these enquiries through two outcomes:

– Data Mapping: a visual, interactive “geography of shade” combining satellite data, heat maps, mobility routes, green areas, and historical weather data to identify critical zones lacking public shade.
– Cooling Center Prototype: a modular, replicable structure built from local materials and designed with passive or solar-powered cooling systems to provide public shade while embodying sustainable urban strategies. The project proposes shade as essential infrastructure and explores how technology, art, design, and tradition can work together to build cities that are cooler, equitable, and more adaptive to climate realities.

«My artistic research explores the connection between nature and technology, with the sun as one of the main axes, examining the transformative yet destructive power of heat. With an interdisciplinary approach and in collaboration with coders, scientists, and architects, I investigate the artificiality of landscapes, the climate crisis, and data’s subjectivity. During the residency, I will combine Fortaleza’s environmental data and local knowledge, proposing tangible low-tech intervention that respond to shade-related challenges in urban spaces».

Mari Nagem is a Brazilian-born interdisciplinary artist exploring digital culture’s relationship with nature. Navigating different media, using luminous colors and sharpened edges, Nagem creates works that enlighten our perception of critical aspects of the information age, such as the artificiality of landscapes and the climate crisis. Her work has been exhibited in a solo exhibition at Galeria Lume (São Paulo), at institutions such as SESC, MIS-SP, Oi Futuro, the Sea Foundation (Netherlands), as well as in Southern American biennials like Bienal Sur (Argentina) and the Digital Art Biennial (São Paulo), and festivals including Die Digitale Düsseldorf, FILE and the Athens Art Festival. Holds an MFA from HEAD-Genève, and lives between New York and Brazil.