Symbiophilia is an international artistic creation project that investigates the relationships between human beings, nature, and machine, proposing modes of integration among them and disseminating effective environmental conservation practices. Ideated and directed by Rodrigo Girafa, with executive production by GRF Produção Cultural LTDA. and coproduction by Bryan Holmes (CI/BR) and Camila Nebbia (AR/DE, resident in Berlin), it is structured in three interdependent phases, carried out in collaboration with the university outreach project Fábrica de Sons Eletrônicos (FSE-UNIRIO), the Ex Tempo series, and the ICR-International Creative Residences program. Carried out with the support of the Goethe-Institut, through the International Coproduction Fund (IKF), in partnership with UNIRIO.
The first phase (Rio de Janeiro, December 2024 to August 2025) developed, together with FSE-UNIRIO, a sound-expansion system for musical instruments built from recycled, discarded computer peripherals, with original software in Max/MSP. The process was shared publicly in the intensive workshop “Instrumentos Hackeados e Expandidos” (Hacked and Expanded Instruments), led by Bryan Holmes at UNIRIO.
The second phase (Berlin, May 2026) brought the Panthalassa Ensemble together in two creation labs, in the concert Ex Tempo – Symbiophilia, held on 28 May 2026 at Morphine Raum, gathering nine artists from six countries, recorded in audio by the Morphine Records team and documented on video, and in a recording session at BörneStudio. The equipment developed in the first phase was integrated into the group’s practice. The Panthalassa Ensemble debuted in December 2023, in Rio de Janeiro, within the framework of ICR #24, with the performance of “Panic Release” by Rodrigo Girafa; the Berlin performance continues a two-and-a-half-year trajectory of the ensemble.
The third phase is scheduled for November 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, with the premiere of four works commissioned from Camila Nebbia, Susana Santos Silva, Bryan Holmes, and Pasquale Calò.