Imaginary Atlas, Amazônia

Imaginary Atlas, Amazônia is an immersive installation and long-term research initiative exploring how Amazonian cities may evolve in response to climate change. Set in Belém do Pará in 2125, the project imagines a city reshaped by rising waters, seasonal rhythms, and alternative urban ecologies.

Overview

The installation combines interactive projections, kinetic sculptures, and handcrafted interfaces with digital media to challenge conventional urban models and reframe Amazonia as a dynamic, hybrid territory where cities, forests, rivers, and cultures continuously adapt and coexist.

The Story

A post-climate narrative where rising tides transform Belém into an archipelago, guided by the Barqueira—a mythologically-inspired river navigator character who leads visitors through the imagined future.

Ancestral Robots

A key component of the installation is a series of kinetic sculptures that merge traditional craftsmanship with electromechanical systems. These works combine miriti wood sculpture with mechanisms that recreate the movement of the pirarucu, a large Amazonian fish symbolizing strength and grace.

The project proposes an alternative genealogy of robotics in which local material knowledge shapes emerging technologies. Rather than imposing predetermined motion, the electromechanical system responds to the miriti body’s inherent properties, using small motors and elastic tendons to create undulating movement that echoes natural rhythms.

Materials & Craft

Miriti is a lightweight porous wood from Amazonian riverbanks that functions structurally—not symbolically. Its construction logic and traditional craft techniques directly determine the sculpture’s form, balance, and movement patterns.

Narrative Context

Within the Imaginary Atlas framework, these sculptures represent “Swarm Cities” envisioned for 2125—floating urban communities adapted to flooded Amazonian territories, embodying mobility as freedom rather than precarity.

Film Scenes

The installation includes immersive film sequences depicting life in future Amazonian cities.

Research Themes

• Robotics and kinetic sculpture
• Design and art
• Ecology and climate change
• Urban futures
• Interactive interfaces

Major Components

Open-Source 3D Library

An archive of digitized local assets—plant species, architectural elements, archaeological artifacts—available for free download under Creative Commons licensing.

Research Groups

• City Science, MIT Media Lab

Collaborators

• MIT Media Lab
• Quanta Novas Fronteiras
• DIMIRITI

License

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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