Esdi Aberta: design e (r)existência na Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial

Abstract

This research is about Open Esdi, a movement articulated at Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (Superior School of Industrial Design - Esdi) in 2017 due to the crisis of Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State University - UERJ). Esdi, pioneer in higher education in Design in Brazil, is a unit of UERJ, public education institution financed by the State Government. In 2017 UERJ suffered, in an arduous and unprecedented way, with the lack of minimum conditions to maintain its regular activities due to the delay in the payment of scholarships and salaries of professors and technicians, as well as the subtraction of funds for maintenance and infrastructure. Facing the crisis of UERJ – and, therefore, of Esdi – students, former students, professors, technicians and volunteers dedicated to articulate ways to keep the school open and active. They experimented alternatives of management, teaching and knowledge exchange in the face of instability and challenges that were arising frequently. Beyond resistance, Open Esdi sought new forms of existence. This work aims not only at registering this moment of the school but also at provoking questions about what can be done to make possible in Brazil a future of which Esdi and free public higher education take part.