Behind the scenes of a Brazilian hacker space

When I read that the Geeks on a Plane group, which I’m traveling with this week through Latin America, would be visiting a Brazilian hacker space, I didn’t envision a picturesque Italian villa, with a flowing fountain and a cobblestone-filled square. But that’s exactly where the folks of the Sao Paulo-based Casa da Cultura Digital (House of Digital Culture) are working out of.

The group is a frat-style collective of developers, artists, journalists, photographers and videographers that work (and party) out of the same house, collaborate on projects, and share bills, as well as a hacker sensibility. About a hundred people work out of the space, according to two members of the group, journalist Felipe Jannuzzi and photographer Gabriela Barreto, and the group have created projects like the wikileaks-style Publica, and the Arte Fora do Museu, which is a Google Street View-based site for street art in Sao Paulo.

The collective is a place for like-minded and creative entrepreneurs to inspire each other, make connections and share office space. Check out my photos from the house on our visit this week:

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