Edgar Ricardo von Buettner

Edgar Ricardo von Buettner was born at the 21st of december 1941 in Brusque, a small town of approximate 30.000 inhabitants at that time, in the southern state of Santa Catarina in Brazil. Studied economy and business administration in Switzerland, Sankt Gallen, from 1967 till 1973. At that time he started to focus photography as a medium to express different cultures in Latin America, mainly in Brazil. In the eighties von Buettner was elected president of the Swiss Society of Cultural Anthropology. He returned to Brazil in 1985 as consultant of GTZ, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit. In 2004 he founded the Instituto Edgar von Buettner, specialized in developping methods for community-building in Brazil. The institute is a partner of the Instituto Holcim in São Paulo, and signs for the concept of two main projects: Ortópolis Barroso in Minas Gerais and Projeto Integrado Heliópolis in São Paulo, capital.