[iDC] Re: sad news - Ricardo Rosas

[Trebor Scholz]

Many times have I wondered what we remember of those who passed away. Often it is a small detail. Ricardo's biography says-

Ricardo Rosas (BR) editor of the Rizoma e-magazine and a former member of the Midiatatica.org network. Rosas helped organize the Mídia Tática Brasil 2003 and the
Digitofagia 2004 festivals in São Paulo, both of them aimed at discussing the tactical media scene, free software, and the creation of collaborative projects in art and activism
involving new media. Rosas was the Net Art curator of the Prog: Me festival, in Rio de Janeiro (2005); and a lecturer at the fourth edition of the Next 5 Minutes festival, in
Amsterdam (2003), the first international event dedicated to the mapping of tactical media. He also participated in the Super Demo Digital festival in Rio de Janeiro (2004); in
the Networks, Arts, a Collaboration conference at the State University of New York, in Buffalo (2004); and in the 15th Videobrasil International Electronic Art Festival. Rizoma,
his edited website on arts and activism is currently taking part on the Documenta project of publications for the Documenta 2007.

For me, well, I just loved that guy. I admired him. He came to Buffalo for the Free Cooperation conference in 2004 where he talked about the AutoLabs. I experienced him as
earnest, curious, ambitious, and thoughtful.

We stayed with him (and his boyfriend) in his apartment in São Paolo. We went to FILE. During the day he worked as a customs official. This job, however, was just about the
office printer, which he used to get his hands on essays that he found online -- on Rhizome, the iDC, or Nettime. Anything. American or European books were too expensive. I
much admired his scholarly dedication and insatiable curiosity; he inhaled media theory.

I remember opening the massive wooden closet in his bare São Paolo apartment-- it was filled from top to bottom with piles of printed essays. He was fire and flames for
tactical media, Buddhism, and net art.  And he was constantly on a new diet (melon juice for lunch) and always pumping iron.

I really appreciated him deeply for his enthusiasm, his amazing work with the AutoLabs, his thoughtful writings, and valuable translations. In the metropolis of São Paolo we
would sit in a cafe and he'd point to an older man in a wool jacket sitting not too far from us." This person has translated a really important book from English into Portuguese."
I understood Ricardo as a cultural bridge builder.

He wrote me a passionate email from the fifth World Social Forum 2005 in Porto Alegre-- saying how much I would have liked it there-- all those spirited radio activists.

He taught me about Açaí. Late at night he pulled me into a corner bistro and I had to try it. It was also him who told me about Gilberto Gil, the telecentros, and open source in
his country. He did not hold back with horror stories about plastic surgery and all the military dictatorships that made Brazil suffer. His heart was beating for the dream of a new
media center smack in the middle of his Sao Paolo.
 
I met him again, just briefly, in Rio de Janeiro in 2005 at ProgMe. Now, I listen to his voice, his lecture for the Share Widely conference in 2005. I miss him. I loved that guy.
He was like a brother, a comrade, a kindred spirit to me. Thanks, Ricardo.

Trebor Scholz

http://tinyurl.com/2233fj
http://ia300105.us.archive.org/1/items/ssw_blog_ricardo_rosas/7ae369ac-73ff-a167-9711-e5bcd4909519-1.mp3
http://www.collectivate.net/lectures/2005/7/15/first-media-art-festival-in-rio-de-janeiro.html
http://www.tatiweb.org/peiropolis/?p=45
http://autolabs.midiatatica.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=108