The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) opened today (19) the exhibition Life and Health: Relationships (Invisible)at the campus institution’s headquarters, in Manguinhos, in the north of Rio de Janeiro. The exhibition is interactive and has inclusive resources. In the show, it is possible to observe microorganisms under a microscope and feel the texture of colonies of fungi and bacteria, in addition to playing games.
“It is an exhibition that talks about the multiple dimensions of life and health and this relationship. It ranges from the microscopic to the macroscopic universe, talking about the socio-environmental determination of health, about our relationship with the environment and the planet in general and the relationship of our body with health”, said the coordinator of the design team. of the exhibition, Alessandro Machado Franco Batista.
The importance of vaccines is also addressed in the exhibition. In an interactive game, visitors are challenged to vaccinate as many people as possible to prevent diseases from spreading. It is also possible to learn more about the difference between serums and vaccines and have access to old equipment in which Fiocruz produced serums.
“The exhibition, thought of pre-pandemic, is crossed by the pandemic. During the design process, we reaffirmed many important concepts,” said Batista. According to him, due to the history of the Fiocruz building, which had horses for the production of serums, 100 years ago, it was already important to talk about the production of vaccines. “During the pandemic, this became a key thing for people to raise awareness about the importance of vaccination,” he added.
The exhibition is at the Museum of Life, created in 1999 as part of the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC/Fiocruz). After two years of a pandemic, the museum is once again receiving in-person visits.
“Resuming face-to-face activities has been an emotion in all areas, but seeing the Museum of Life with activities open to the public, especially considering the great impact of the pandemic on education, especially in elementary and high school, is something of enormous value. The museum is for the whole of society, but one cannot fail to highlight the public from schools, which is and has always been a strong presence in the actions of the Museum of Life”, said Fiocruz president Nísia Trindade Lima.
park-campus
Nísia Trindade: intention is to turn the entire Fiocruz space into a park-campus open to the public – Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil
The museum works in the stables, a place built between 1904 and 1905 to house horses that were used to produce serums against the bubonic plague. The building is listed by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan).
This is the first delivery to society provided for in the Requalification Plan for the Historic Architectural Nucleus of Manguinhos (Nahm). The initiative envisages interventions and new uses for the institution’s first buildings, designed by the doctor and sanitarian Oswaldo Cruz himself and designed by the Portuguese engineer Luiz Moraes Jr, between 1904 and 1922. The first phase of the plan has the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) as the main partner.
The intention is that the entire space becomes, increasingly, a campus-park open to the public. “Our institution has a castle as a symbol, a castle as a monument of science, but from this castle we have to see the city, its challenges and immense problems”, highlighted the president of Fiocruz, Nísia Trindade Lima.
The Museum of Life is open from Tuesday to Friday, from 9 am to 4:30 pm and, on Saturdays, from 10 am to 4 pm. The exhibition is free, but it is necessary to schedule a visit at this address.
