we can xalant: episodio 2

miércoles, 21 de enero de 2009

episodio 2

Tras el lamentable incendio de la emblemática instalación a mediados de 2008, Can Xalant convocó a a77 para construir una nueva estructura que recupere el rol de ese espacio, normalmente destinado a una numerosa cantidad de actividades además de ser el habitual escenario para el Festival de Puertas Abiertas –Efímer Club- que se realiza todos los años en el mes de julio como cierre del ciclo junto a diferentes espectáculos multimedia y musicales.

La respuesta de a77 a ese encargo no sólo toma como objetivo la reconfiguración de la estructura del patio de Can Xalant, sino también la construcción suplementaria de unidades móviles, relacionadas inicialmente con otros de sus anteriores trabajos referidos a la producción de instituciones nómades y efímeras, que puedan salir de la misma institución a realizar acciones en el espacio público llevando a los proyectos artísitcos del Centre y a iniciativas de orden sociocultural al alcance de la población menos cercana a estas manifestaciones.

La salida del Centre hacia el espacio público formulará entonces un nuevo complemento al concepto de Puertas Abiertas.

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para una política de constelaciones temporarias

We Can Xalant es una hipótesis acerca de las dimensiones de la visibilidad.

Consiste en la puesta en evidencia de una constelación de recursos y personas que forman parte de un mismo ambiente en la sospecha de que su proximidad esconde configuraciones relacionales, afinidades latentes y proyecciones objetivas.

El desarrollo del trabajo toma alcance a través de tres vías constructivas:

-La vía material basada en la recuperación de los materiales rescatados del incendio de la instalación construida por Tadeshi Kawamata, más la procura y rescate de insumos desechados en los centros de reciclaje desde el procedimiento más económico y cercano posible.

-La vía social basada en la identificación, valoración de esfuerzos y modos de proceder de actores inmediatos que deriva en la construcción de una red social que define los programas de acción y los pone en marcha.

-En medio de ambos existe la vía temporal: una apuesta a la construcción colectiva del tiempo. Una táctica de lo efímero o política del instante. La habitual concepción de la institución perfila, modela y establece identidades. El establecimiento, la habitación o generación de hábito supone un estatuto del tiempo. Pero cuánto tiempo podemos soportar lo efímero?

We Can Xalant/ Mobile constructions for ephemeral actions in public spaces

Can Xalant, Centre for the Creation of Visual Arts and Contemporary Thought in Mataró, is a residency for artistic experimentation and production in Catalonia, Spain. Three of the centre’s primary tasks include a critical observation of its territory, interdisciplinary cross ventures and creating networks with institutions in other parts of the world.
In 2006 Can Xalant invited the Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata to place in its courtyard one of his well known installation pieces Xiringuito Mataró. In no time the centre’s community identified deeply with the piece and it became an icon of the institution.After a fire destroyed the piece in mid 2008, Can Xalant contacted a77, an innovative architecture firm from Buenos Aires, Argentina, about building a new structure in its place. The centre’s courtyard is the stage for an important number of activities throughout the year, as well as the setting for the annual Ephemeral Club-Open Doors event held in July to commemorate the closing of each cycle with different musical and multimedia performances.Can Xalant chose a77 after learning about the firm’s work with creating nomad structures. The centre wanted to take its artistic projects and socio-cultural initiatives into public spaces to reach a greater public beyond the physical setting of the cultural centre. a77's response included, not only the proposed reconfiguration of the centrepiece of Can Xalant’s courtyard, but also the construction of additional, mobile units. a77’s mobile units would allow Can Xalant’s to move into a public space, formulating a new complimentary concept to its project Open Doors.
Team members of I+D+i, , part of Trànsit Projectes, suggested incorporating the program Activa Disonancias in Catalonia; and after an open selection process through an international call for applications, Pau Faus, a Catalan architect, was invited to participate in creating the new structure for Can Xalant’s courtyard.
And so a collaborative effort was born between A77’s team from Argentina and Pau Faus, a member of the collective movement Osservatorio Nomade Barcelona and recently published author of La ciudad Jubilada, about the informal gardens along the rivers of Barcelona.
The construction—understood in this project as an exercise in social visibility—can be defined as a multifaceted task. On one hand, there was the physical material manifestation of the project. On the other, a social network was defined for both the task of producing the structure and for carrying out future applications of the structure and mobile units. In this spirit, a series of programs for the community of Mataró was designed, specifically with themes relating to childhood with a focus on children in the local community. Salonnières, a group of local artists, led a three-week workshop with children from the Obert Center, located in the same neighborhood, to discover and imagine with the participants the potential uses of the objects a77 and Pau Faus were to build.

The project team would face the challenge of exploring new strategies in analysis and intervention; applying dynamics of collaborative efforts; develop new thoughts on mobile and flexible architectural structures for cultural uses.
We Can Xalant is a hypothesis about the dimensions of visibility.It consists of putting into evidence a constellation of resources and people belonging to the same environment on the suspicion that their proximity hides relational configurations, latent affinities and objective projections. The proposed objective of the project required an intensive task of communication to produce the interaction of the various players all in proximity and a blog was created as a tool for communication as well as a collective work platform in a transformation effort.

An ongoing effort, the project’s work continues to develop along three lines:

1.) In terms of materials, the first objective was the recovery of materials salvaged from the fire that destroyed Tadashi Kawamata’s installation as well as locating and recovering discarded supplies for two simple reasons: physical proximity to the site and inexpensive costs. A local waste management company gave its support to the project by giving the project team access to salvaged supplies and materials at its recycling centre. Nearby campsites were contacted about campers in disuse and three units were acquired.Then a laboratory of nomadic and self-built architecture was convened. Over a week period, the collective construction was undertaken. The underlying structure of Kawamata’s piece was recovered and conditioned; while two of the campers were remodelled, using parts from a third. One of the campers was integrated into the existing structure at its highest point, creating a multipurpose room, overlooking the Mediterranean. The second one was used to create a mobile module for artistic and social activities in public spaces. The ramp, built to raise one of the campers into the structure, was then transformed into a sloping garden after it served its initial purpose.

2.) In terms of the social element of the construction, it is based on the identification, assessment of efforts and definition of ways to proceed by the players most closely involved in the project. This process has resulted in the construction of a network of individuals and groups to define lines of action and put them into effect. Numerous meetings with a local association of neighbours also made it possible for members of the community to become involved in future activities involving the nomadic module—CX-R. The unit was inaugurated in a public space during an event during which the neighbors brought their cultural activities and merged them with the proposals of the resident artists of Can Xalant. The following day, the entire installation was inaugurated in the garden as the stage for Can Xalant’s annual concert organized by the Club Ephemeral with music bands from different countries.

3.) In the middle of these two lines exists a third; a temporary element. It is a wager on the collective construction of time: an attempt to capture the ephemeral or fleeting politics of the moment. The list of activities programmed for We Can Xalant’s fixed and mobile structures has begun to feed on different proposals presented by artists for future events. Different social and artistic projects are reserving the CX-R for upcoming events.The typical institutional constraints mark, shape and establish identities, however a physical place, room or the creation of a habitat is a statute of time. But how long can we withstand the ephemeral?
The question has been a driving force behind the project’s work. In the face of an uncertain response, it may be preferable to focus on the idea associated with the name from which the project originated. ‘We can’ has been a widespread political campaign slogan in recent times. Can means 'house' and Xalant 'fun' in Catalan. We Can Xalant fuses the project’s name and concept into an implicit response. Indeed, everyone enjoyed themselves and had fun, and that in itself is enough.

We Can Xalant: Laboratorio de arquitecturas nómadas y autoconstrucción

a77 (Buenos Aires) + Pau Faus (Barcelona)

El proyecto We Can Xalant: Laboratorio de arquitecturas nómadas y autoconstrucción planteó por un lado reinterpretar la antigua construcción de Tadeshi Kawamata en el patio de Can Xalant conocida como el "Xiringuito de Mataró", y por otro lado desarrollar una unidad móvil entendida aquí como una extensión de la propia institución hacia el espacio público. Se trató de un proyecto de construcción colectiva, constituido a partir de una red de instituciones y personas representativas del entorno más inmediato del Centro Can Xalant.
Asi fue como se desarrollaron nuevas estrategias de análisis e intervención sobre el territorio, se exploraron dinámicas colaborativas y se abrieron nuevas reflexiones sobre estructuras arquitectónicas móviles y flexibles para usos culturales. El Laboratorio se planteó pues como un proceso socio-constructivo basado tanto en la construcción física como en el delineado de los programas y la agenda de actividades que se activará para la continuidad en el tiempo de dichas arquitecturas.
Se convocó para ello a artistas, arquitectos, comisarios, gestores culturales, diseñadores, educadores, sociólogos, antropólogos y estudiantes de todas estas disciplinas para participar de esta experiencia de construcción colectiva.