SIT IN

WHAT IF: PROJECT LTD

What If develops proposals in urban environments and tries them through small scale temporary interventions .

Their projects take specific towns as a location and activating participation tactics and using local resources explore the possibilities to occupy empty spaces. The purpose of the projects is to benefit the neighborhood and the whole city with the development of sustainable urban processes with a long term projection.

SIT IN was developed in Liverpool in August of 2005. Located in the area of Toxteth Sit In proposed, looking at some social issues and to the current urban transformation, a participative strategy pursuing the reconversion of its empty spaces. In this way, the team looks at allotments and spaces which are inaccessible or unused, to study the way to retrieve them and make them useful for the expression of the local community.

www.what-if.info

1.60 INSURGENT SPACE

Stefano Romano

1.60 Insurgent Space is a programme of artistic work carried out in the city of Tirana, Albania, between January 2005 and September 2006.

It brought together over sixty artists and curators and was set up with the goal of using art as a space for creating and promoting collaborative work in constant interaction with the social space where it is carried out. Insurgent spaces move within the city, questioning it and offering an alternative to official institutions. They act as research/action that vanishes as it fades away, thus creating fresh research/action, new insurgent spaces.The result is a series of temporary civic spaces.

Stefano Romano set up a workshop CROSSING THE SYSTEM in Can Xalant in March 2008 to adapt this explorative, active methodology to the insurgent spaces in Mataró.

www.1-60insurgentspace.org

DISAPPEARED IN AMERICA

Naheem Mohaiemen, Visible Collective

«Dissapeared in America» is a project that collects a series of art space interventions, developed in the United Status of America, between 2004 and 2007. Through a series of films, installations and lectures, the project looked at hyphenated identities, concepts of “loyalty” and post-9/11 security panic.

Two works part of the project were shown: But Really Are We One? it consists of a printing of the names of 400 missing after the 11th September. The last person of the list, Jesal Kapadia, contacted Visible Collective manifesting that there was an error in his case, since he had not been in detention. This propitiated an exchange of electronic mail that generated a new piece, Take Me Off Your Database, and that consists of fragments of the work Nahum Wahaard and a dialog established between Visible Collective and Jesal Kapadia,published later in Rethinking Marxism. The second project that is shown consists of the projection of a series of 41 images of the project When An Interpreter Could Not Be Found, carried out in  2006.

www.disappearedinamerica.org

BOUNDARIES PRIORAT

Dara McGrath

A photographic project based on the documentation done by Dara McGrath between 1999 and 2002 in the different countries that were part of the European Union. These photos represented spaces on borders and different national boundaries, such as the ones that were created in 1994 following the Schengen Agreement. They suggested at the same time the idea of territory and place.

The project was initially presented in Cork City (Ireland), through a distribution of the photos in different strategic spots of the city: the photos were displayed on advertisement panels, marking the unity and segregation spots in the different areas. Within the IDENSITAT framework, a new reading of the project was put forward: the collaboration with the Priorat Centre d`Art allowed that the photos were distributed in the different boundary spots that delineate the different guarantees of origin of DOQ Priorat and DO Monsant. This interregional border is the product of historical, political, and more recently economical aspects. Boundaries is a reflection about the shaping of local identity in relation to a broader geographic sphere.

www.daramcgrath.com

PETANQUE ELECTRONIQUE

Roc Pares, Kenneth Russo

Pétanque Électronique is a prototype based on the traditional game of pétanque, but with a new twist. It offers players the chance to play virtual games through the wonders of online technology. The combination of robotics and the internet plays with ideas of real-time presence and virtual interaction.

The project is based on the idea of blurring the distinction between locals and visitors by mixing physical distance and virtual presence, since it enables simultaneous play between participants located in different local areas. On this occasion, one of the prototypes was installed in Can Palauet exhibition space and the other, in Can Xalant creative centre, both in Mataró.

The project aims to circulate through different places and promote meetings in physical space through virtual games, which calls for a certain degree of organisation within the site itself or between different sites. The idea is that in the future the equipment can be made available to different associations and groups in the area interested in installing it in their spaces.

PROPERA.

Katalin Soos, Monika Balint

Project of video work carried out with a group of youngs students of the IES Pla d'en Boet in Mataró. The project developed a fictional story, an episode of a soap according to the interests of the students, afterwords developed a project about the identity and how each one of the participants described it in relation to future professions.

Through a casting that took place in Can Xalant, young students were invited to participate in the production of a soap opera, which was written in relation to a different locations in Mataró.

Although fictional, the video aims to show aspects of teenagers’ everyday life and is ultimately intended to form part of a campaign to champion their needs and hopes. A second part of the project, based on interviews with these young people, takes a deeper look at their life by connecting their imagination and future prospects with the possibilities offered by the town.

Participants in the project: Adonis Gómez, Ainoa Casanovas, Cristina Prats, Daniel Fernandez, Demba Darbo, Estheisis Sanchez, Mária López, Quim Arias, Rosa Maria Torrent, Sandra Varona, Sara Pérez.

E-IDENSITAT. MEDIA LABORATORY

Daniel Garcia Andujar

This project was invited to take part in IDENSITAT 07, as an educational activity. The project consisted of different workshops in Manresa and Mataró, in order to generate a platform for dialogue and experiment with new communication media via Internet.

Under the title “Blogs for Projects”, the project developed a series of workshops about digital tools of communication of projects that existed in physical spaces. Different collectives and people were invited to provide the contents of a project, in order to discuss technology and communication processes. The first part of the workshop concentrated on the knowledge and use of digital tools and audiovisual media through free software, whereas the second part focused on working with contents. In the framework of the Leonardo project, the Ayuntamiento de Manresa, in collaboration with the Zukunftsbau GmbH, invited a group from Berlin to participate in the workshops. This resulted in the City at Glance-Signs of the City project.

CITY AT A GLANCE – Signs of the City

 Images from: Keynan Dietrich, Elena Bergmann, Mercedes Peinemann, Madlen Nuthmann, Maurizio Lupo, Adrian Knabe, Tina Leonhardt  Zukunftsbau GmbH y el Berlin Job Centres collaborated with the Manresa Municipality in order to develop a project within IDENSITAT`s framework. This allowed seven young people to travel to Manresa in May 2007, in order to carry out a photographic study of the urban space and take part in the E-IDENSITAT project. Media Laboratory. This intended to experiment with digital technologies, as well as to get in contact with experts of the local context. The elevated number of photos that the youngsters took in Berlin and Manresa put forward the differences and similarities in both cities. This exercise related to the IDENSITAT 07 theme, Home | Away.

Links to the projects:

http://berlin-manresa.blogspot.com/

http://elliinmanresa.blogspot.com/

http://berlin-barcelona.blogspot.com/

http://milkmeetscoffee.blogspot.com/

RESSONANCIA MANRESA

Sinapsis (Cristian Añó, Lidia Dalmau )

«Resonancia Manresa» propone un acercamiento a la ciudad y su tejido social a partir del análisis del sistema sanitario, entendido desde una perspectiva expandida. El centro de interés es la red de relaciones que se genera entre equipamientos, servicios sanitarios, profesionales de la salud y las diferentes percepciones que los ciudadanos tienen.

El proyecto se desarrolló mediante entrevistas, visitas y dinámicas de trabajo con profesionales y usuarios de los diferentes equipamientos, así como los responsables de diferentes organizaciones. La investigación se fundamentó en escuchar otros puntos de vista, con el objetivo de provocar un conjunto de miradas alternativas sobre la realidad, que indagan en la vertiente más humana del sistema social y sanitario. El resultado formal es una audioguía que se distribuye en formato de CD en diferentes lugares de la ciudad, con la cual se pone en relación las vivencias y opiniones de las ochenta personas que participaron en el proyecto con diferentes espacios urbanos. Se articulan de esta manera diferentes itinerarios por la ciudad.

DE LA CALLE F.C.

Fernanda Arandia, Katleen Arthen, Pedro DIas, Verónica Mansilla, David Sandoval, Joana Sarmento, Rosanna Vitiello

«Fromthestreet F.C.» proposed a collective research about the informal practice of sports in Manresa. The process counted on the involvement of local associations, the development of a community research platform and carrying out workshops for youngsters, in order to design and develop an action in the plazas if the old city.

The proposed activities introduced a group of children and youngsters to the design and construction of different elements that would later be used in the game; mark different public spaces with signs and photos made by themselves and finally develop an Olympics in the street. The objective of the project was to restore and activate informal sport as an activity that energizes and humanizes the public space. All the activities were carried out in collaboration with the Asociación de Jóvenes del Núcleo Antiguo, which works in Manresa using sports as an integrating factor. La Kampana also collaborated with the project.

OBJECTES D'INTERPRETACIÓ ESPAIAL

Carme Nogueira

Carme Nogueira proposed two strategies for communicating with the people of Calaf: installing a piece of urban furniture in the Plaza Gran, and carrying out a collective itinerary through the Camino Real. The project sought to detect discontinuity points in the space and collective memory, as well as antagonisms and contradictions that are hidden in the public space.

The piece of urban furniture was a hybrid between a bench and the entrance of a parking. The idea was to suggest a rupture in the space, since the place that the object occupied reminded that usually there would be a car in that spot. The object triggered conversations with the people: one would remember that there used to be a balustrade, a fountain in the plaza and that it has not been long since that place was the commercial centre, filled with shops. This small and ephemeral interruption of the space usually filled with cars also allowed to talk about the future, and the people wished that one day it would be possible to reactivate the plaza. The hybrid object bench/parking entrance was the location of the starting point of the itinerary towards the old route, the Camino Real. The collective journey from the centre of the village towards this route implied other levels of conversation and acknowledgment of the space: transformation of the physical space, urban growth or discontinuity between the rural and urban areas. The project reflects about stories and history told by people, the understanding of the past and the speculation of the future, the connection between spatial and temporal dimensions. Narrations, maps and objects are basic elements that the residents use to reinterpret the space they live in. At the end of the process, a video presented the encounters and the experience lived during the project.

PLEASED TO MEET YOU

Nicolas Dumit Estévez stayed in Calaf for two months in order to meet all the residents of the village.

  With the purpose of develop Pleased to Meet You project, Nicolás Dumit Estévez stayed in Calaf for two months, in order to meet the maximum possible number of residents and to build a relationship with them. During this interaction process, the artist suggested different ways to establish a relationship between himself, the visitor, and the residents of Calaf. Thus, he was able to invert his status as a visitor and became one  citizen more.The project also included meetings with groups and collectives, in order to gain the necessary trust  to be able to collect around of 1.000 photos made by the artist or given to him by the residents themselves. At the end of the project, the Pleased To Meet You, a Calaf Photo Album was published and all participating residents were given a copy of the book during a public screening of the photos. Pleased to Meet You project triggered a social catalysis, thanks to the performative process that the artist proposed: full immersion in the context, for a determined period of time, with the objective to generate intimate meetings and  collective spaces to meet the residents and the village organisations.

MY FAMOUS PEOPLE

Atsuko Arai

My Famous People is an experimental project that combines pedagogy and art. The project intends to reveal personal stories, memories and experiences through the “heroes” or personalities that the participating boys and girls chose from their daily life.

  My Famous People carried out different creative activities about fame with students from the 5th and 6th grade in the Escuela Renacimiento. Therefore, through drawing, making models, photocomposition and video, they made a series of visual elements about a person in their family. This person would be the protagonist of a magazine cover, a monument in the urban space and an interview that each participant made on TV. The idea was to promote the virtues of a person close to us, working with visual signals that are present in our society and that are related to the representation of famous people. The TV program was broadcasted in chapters by the Televisión de Manresa.