Decolonizing Architecture
Decolonizing Architecture is a collaboration between the haudenschildGarage and London-based architect and theorist Eyal Weizman and Bethlehem-based architects Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti. Giorgio Agamben is among the consultants for this project. The project takes the settlement of Psagot, overlooking Ramallah, and redesigns it for a post-evacuation time and context. A scale model, architectural plans and a public event will be produced around plans for turning the fabric of this settlement/suburb into a Palestinian public institution. Decolonizing Architecture was originally conceptualized and produced with the support of the haudenschildGarage, Spare Parts.

In 2008, the project was selected for the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale and will be exhibited in Brussels at the BOZAR Center for Fine Arts. The exhibition opens on Oct 31st and a seminar will be held that day with Steve Fagin, Sandi Hilal, Eyal Weizman and Alessandro Petti on the panel moderated by Lieven de Cauter.

The haudenschildGarage is a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space, the goal of which is to be a home away from home for cultural experimentation, play and conversation. It routinely presents symposia, lectures and film screenings to the public. Whether international projects, dialogs or commissions, the haudenschildGarage collaborates with international institutions, alternative spaces and emerging artists in a permissive context for opinion and production. In 2006, the haudenschildGarage launched SPARE PARTS, a renewable 3-year cycle of projects commissioned and produced by Director Eloisa Haudenschild and Commissioning Editor Steve Fagin that encourages the juxtaposition of the crucial, the trivial, and the arcane. Projects include A Crime Has Many Stories in Argentina, Decolonizing Architecture in Palestine/Israel and The Last Book in the US.

For more information about this event, please visit the Bozar site here.

A Crime Has Many Stories
The shortest distance between two points is never a straight line

November 29th 2008, Buenos Aires, Argentina

A Crime Has Many Stories, is an exquisite corpse project commissioned and produced by Eloisa Haudenschild and Steve Fagin of the haudenschildGarage, based on Argentine writer Ricardo Piglia’s short story, La Loca y el Relato del Crimen (Madwoman and the Story of a Crime, 1975) set in Buenos Aires plotted with co-conspirators Judi Werthein, Sonia Becce and Alejandro Ruiz.  Piglia’s text will generate two site-specific pieces and a commissioned story by Argentine writer Washington Cucurto.

In May of 2008, the haudenschildGarage traveled to Buenos Aires to meet with Argentine curator Sonia Becce and Argentine artist Judi Werthein who selected a short list of artists for the project, working in installation, photo and video.  From this short list, the haudenschildGarage and Alejandro Ruiz selected artists Roberto Jacoby, Fernanda Laguna and Rosalba Mirabella.

On November 29, 2008 a multidisciplinary, one-day extravaganza organized by Argentine producer Alejandro Ruiz will begin with a video of Ricardo Piglia’s elegant interpretation of his own text performed especially for our event and premiered at Malba - Fundación Costantini (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires).

We will travel from the opening reception at Malba - Fundación Costantini to the closing party, in La Boca by way of the projects by Jacoby, Laguna and Mirabella in a movable feast of culture and repast.  The climax of our extravaganza will be the inaugural performance of Washington Cucurto’s savagely brilliant short story, commissioned by the haudenschildGarage, in response to Piglia’s La Loca y el Relato del Crimen.  Cucurto and the literary collective Eloisa Cartonera will do an ensemble reading of the story at their space in La Boca. A catalog of the entire project and a limited edition Survival Kit that will be provided to the audience at Malba to facilitate their journey will be produced in collaboration with Eloisa Cartonera.

The goal of this project is to generate a dynamic event that works across literature, art and the city. Our hope, by joining artists from the 60s with young artists of the present and crossing the boundary of literature and fine art, is to “perform” the continuity and range of Argentine cultures at its strongest.  We feel that the role of South America and Argentina in general has been greatly underestimated on the world stage and we hope this event, in its modest way, will support the growing awareness of the quality and specificity of Argentina’s historical and current contributions to world culture.

This project is dedicated to the wisdom, energy and spirit of generous debate that Olivier Debroise (1952-2008) provided us in regard to Latin American Culture. With our project, we wish to continue that path.

The haudenschildGarage, Spare Parts Projects, conceptualized, commissioned and produced by Director Eloisa Haudenschild and Commissioning Editor Steve Fagin, are a renewable 3-year cycle that encourages the juxtaposition of the crucial, the trivial, and the arcane. Our current cycle of projects includes: Decolonizing Architecture in Palestine/Israel, The Last Book in the US, and A Crime Has Many Stories in Argentina.

The haudenschildGarage is a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space, the goal of which is to be a home away from home for cultural experimentation, play and conversation. It routinely presents symposia, lectures and film screenings to the public. Whether international projects, dialogs or commissions, the haudenschildGarage collaborates with international institutions, alternative spaces and emerging artists in a permissive context for opinion and production.

SCHEDULE

4pm – 5:30pm, Malba - Fundación Costantini
Video of author Ricardo Piglia reading his story La Loca y el Relato del Crimen (1975) in the auditorium. Click here to visit Malba’s website.

6pm - 7pm, Space on Avenida Colon
Artist Rosalba Mirabella will be thinking, writing and drawing a crime during her two month voluntary incarceration in a room in Buenos Aires.

7:30pm - 8:30pm, Museo de Calcos
Copies end up having real results with Fernanda Laguna and Roberto Jacoby’s project. Through the dexterity of a series of objets d’art being bequeathed, the passage of the seeming same leads to a world of difference.

9:00pm -12:00am, Eloisa Cartonera, La Boca
Newly commissioned crime story, El Hijo, by author Washington Cucurto, written in response to Ricardo Piglia’s short story, will be performed by the collective at Eloisa Cartonera’s La Boca workshop followed by the closing party. Click here to visit Eloisa Cartonera’s website.

Please come enjoy this journey.  Food and libations will be provided at all stops

For the Spanish version of this text, click here

Map concept and design by Judi Werthein with Rita Haudenschild and Monica Jovanovich

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Biographies of Participants

Ricardo Piglia, 1941 Adrogué, Argentina
Ricardo Piglia is one of the most innovative contemporary writers in Latin America.  He has published three seminal novels Respiración Artificial (1981; Artificial Respiration, 1994), La Ciudad Ausente (1992; The Absent City, 2000), and Plata Quemada (1997; Money to Burn, 2003) and three collections of short fiction, among them Nombre Falso (1975; Assumed Name, 1995).  He is also the author of three volumes of essays, including his most recent publication El Último Lector (2005).  His works have been translated to English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese and Greek.  Piglia has received a number of awards, including the Premio Casa de las Américas, 1967; Premio Planeta, 1997; Premio Iberoamericano de las Letras, 2005; Premio Internacional de Literatura José Donoso in Chile 2005; and the Prix Roger Caillois in France 2008.  He is currently Walter S. Carpenter Professor of Literature at Princeton University, where he teaches Latin American literature. As a critic, Piglia has been a historian of popular culture writing about such authors as Jorge Luis Borges, Arlt, Julio Cortázar, and Manuel Puig.

Washington Cucurto, born Santiago Vega, 1973, Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Santiago Vega, better known as Washington Cucurto, is an Argentine writer, poet, narrator and editor.  He is one of the founders and directors of Eloisa Cartonera, a publishing house that disseminates contemporary Latin American literature. With the publication of his first book of poetry, Zelarayán (1998), he burst forth on to the South American cultural scene creating, along with other poets, the style today known as Realismo atolondrado. Both in poerty and novels, the Cucurto experience is an explosion of music and impudence with invented words, insults to politicians and reflections on literary masters. Other books of poetry include La Máquina de hacer paraguayitos (2000), 20 pungas contra un pasajero (2003) and Hatuchay (2005). Some of his novels include Fer (Eloísa Cartonera, 2003), Panambí (Eloisa Cartonera, 2004) and Las aventuras del Sr. Maiz (Interona, 2005).  His poems have appeared in anthologies published in Mexico, Chile and Germany.  His 2003 novel, Cosa de Negros (Nigga Shit), made him a cult author especially among young readers.  These novels and poems describe the Dominican, Peruvian and Paraguayan immigration of the mid-1990s to Buenos Aires.    In 2005, 2006 and 2007 he received a scholarship from Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, a public entity funded by the German government.

Eloisa Haudenschild, Buenos Aires, Argentina, resides in California
Eloisa Haudenschild, Director and founder of the haudenschildGarage, is a collector and active supporter of contemporary art.  In the late 1990s Eloisa began traveling to China and forging friendships with young Chinese contemporary artists and curators.  From 2002 -2005, she organized selections from her collection to form the exhibition Zooming into Focus which traveled to five cities in the US, Mexico, China (Shanghai and Beijing) and Singapore. Other holdings in her collection include pieces from the Americas, Europe, and Asia.  The Latin American collection, in particular, began in the early 1990s due in part to Eloisa’s involvement with inSite, a network of contemporary art programs and commissioned projects within the border region of San Diego and Tijuana.  As inSite’s President of the Board of Directors, she has worked with significant Latin American curators such as Osvaldo Sanchez, Olivier Debroise, Cuauhtémoc Medina and has formed close friendships with many Latin American artists including Guillermo Kuitca, Judi Werthein and Ruben Ortiz-Torres.  In 2003, she founded the haudenschildGarage, a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space.

Steve Fagin, Chicago, Illinois
Steve Fagin (www.stevefagin.net) is Professor of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego. He has produced a series of feature length videos including The Amazing Voyage of Gustave Flaubert and Raymond Roussel, The Machine That Killed Bad People and TropiCola. These films have been featured prominently at museums and international festivals and have been screened on Bravo International in Latin America, Canal + in Europe and PBS in the United States. His work has been featured at a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and is the subject of a book from Duke University Press, Talkin’ With Your Mouth Full: Conversations with the Videos of Steve Fagin. His work has been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York as part of The Art of the 20th Century.  Currently he is working as Creative Consultant for the haudenschildGarage and is the Commissioning Editor for the Spare Parts Projects. The current cycle that he is co-producing with haudenschildGarage Director, Eloisa Haudenschild, includes Decolonizing Architecture, selected for the current Architectural Venice Biennale, A Crime has Many Stories to be premiered at Malba in Buenos Aires in November and The Last Book to launch in January in conjunction with the MAK Center, Los Angeles.

Monica Jovanovich, Los Angeles, California
Monica Jovanovich is the Managing Director and website/blog moderator of the haudenschildGarage.  She is a PhD candidate in Art History, Theory and Criticism at the University of California, San Diego. Her research in early 20th century art and architecture focuses on urbanism, gender, and the corporate sponsorship of public space in American and Latin American Art Deco.  Monica teaches History of Modern Art, Contemporary Art and American Art at San Diego State University, Point Loma Nazarene University and the Design Institute of San Diego.  She has also worked with the San Diego Museum of Art speaking on American landscape painter, Asher B. Durand (2008). She was involved with the San Diego Museum of Art exhibition Paper Traces: Latin American Prints and Drawings from the SDMA Collection (2006) and has lectured for the Latin American Arts Committee of San Diego, California. In 2007, she presented her essay, Latin American Art Deco, at the annual Art Deco Conference in Los Angeles and it was subsequently published in the annual journal, The Sophisticate. In 2009 she will lecture on early 19th century American Art at the Timken Museum, San Diego.

Alejandro Ruiz, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Alejandro Ruiz is a Licenciado of International Trade from Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE, Buenos Aires) with a specialization in Global Marketing & Entertainment from ICSC (Nevada, USA).  Ruiz is a professor at the University of Palermo, Buenos Aires in the Department of Textile and Clothing Design within the School of Design and Communication and has published The Way of Entertainment: A Creative Challenge (2004) and Creativity (2006). He is President and founder of Global Fashion Group and Ruiz Productions. Global Fashion Group specializes in the design, development and organization of international, multimedia fashion events. Ruiz Productions represents Elite Model in Argentina and organizes events and offers strategic support services, development and implementation of action-oriented design for marketing companies in the major cities of Argentina.  Ruiz consults with companies for the development of product branding and the marketing of mega shows. Ruiz is responsible for the creation of spaces for the dissemination of Argentine culture and design in Latin America, the United States and Europe.

Judi Werthein, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Judi Werthein was born in Buenos Aires and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated with a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Buenos Aires.  Her work has been exhibited in various institutions including: The Vera List Center for Art and Politics, New York; Tate Modern, London; Centrum Beldende Kunst, Rotterdam; Americas Society, New York; De Appel, Amsterdam; CAC Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania; Studio Gallery, Budapest; Musee de Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxemburg; Bard Mseum, The Center for Curatorial Studies Annandale on Hudson, New York.  She has participated in many biennales and similar events such as: Manifesta 7, Bolzano, Italy; 41 Salon Nacional de Artistas, Cali, Colombia; Bienal de Pontevedra, Galicia, Spani; inSite_05, San Diego/Tijuana, USA/Mexico; S-Files, Museo del Barrio, New York, and la 7ma Bienal de la Habana, Cuba.  Her solo exhibitions include: Corporate Logo, Art in General, New York; The Doc Art Center, Ireland; Manicurated, Bronx Museum, New York; Jessica Murrary Gallery, New York; Galeria Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires.  Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Village Voice, Artforum, Art in American, Art Nexus, Frieze, Another Publication, and Flash Art.

Roberto Jacoby, 1944, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Roberto Jacoby, an artist and a sociologist, is considered to be one of the first conceptual artists. In 1966 he co-published the Manifesto of Media Art that proposed a dematerialized art genre that made use of social material, the mass media and various communication structures. Almost all of his work has been collaborative and it has produced various actions, events and happenings.  Jacoby showed at the Instituto Di Tella and in 1969, after the Tucumán Arde communications campaign and the publication of the clandestine magazine Sobre, he gave up working in the visual arts and instead investigated social conflict and political epistemology. In the 1980s, he joined the pop group Virus as a songwriter and staged shows and multimedia parties, among others, the Club Social Deportivo y Cultural Eros. Virtually his entire output since the 1960s has been designed to intervene in the circuit of communication and actions through the use of technology as a tool for collaborative creation. He co-founded Ramona, a magazine of the visual art and grounded Proyecto Venus, a virtual and offline community that issued its own currency and several artists’ networks. He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002.

Fernanda Laguna, 1972 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Fernanda Laguna graduated from the Prilidiano Pueyrredón School of Fine Art, her work combines literature, installation, performance and painting.  Since 1992, Laguna has been active in the local and international art world with multiple solo and collective exhibitions and in 1994 she was selected to be part of Guillermo Kuitca’s program for young artists.  From 1999 to 2008 she and Cecilia Pavón (1999-2001) ran the art space and publishing house Belleza y Felicidad where she curated exhibitions and published books of poetry and fiction including El Loco, La ama de casa, Salvador Bahia, Ella y Yo, Los celos no ayudan-la culpa tampoco, Samanta and amigas. In 2003 she opened a branch of Belleza y Felicidad in Villa Fiorito and in 2008 her workshop for teenagers was included in the public school, Number 44, in Villa Fiorito. Laguna’s work has been featured in many publications such as The Nineties from Fondo Nacional de las Artes, the catalog of Donations and Acquisitions of Malba in 2007, and in 2005, the British magazine ID selected Laguna as one of the two hundred and fifty upcoming artists.  Inés Katzenstein, Argentine curator and art historian, writes “Fernanda Laguna epitomizes what you expect from a present day artist, not only because of her work but also for her activity in the art circuit as a gallery owner and curator. Laguna is a poet and fiction writer as well. She is a creator within a wide range of activities and this makes her a model whose influence will grow with time.”

Eloísa Cartonera, La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Eloísa Cartonera (www.eloisacartonera.com.ar) is a social and community-related artistic project in Buenos Aries, Argentina. The central office is a cardboard store – a place where cardboard and paper is sold – named “No hay cuchillo sin Rosas” (“There’s no knife without Roses”). There, cardboard collectors, cartoneros, exchange ideas with artists and writers. The cardboard collector is a South American phenomenon and many times there are entire families working as cartoneros.   Eloísa Cartonera invents its own aesthetic; open minded and unbiased, wishing to produce reciprocal learning, fueled by creativity. Books with cardboard covers are edited on the street; these covers, painted by hand with temperas and paintbrush, are made of the cardboard that was collected in the streets.  Eloisa Cartonera publishes unknown, border and vanguard texts of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Brazil and Peru. They have a roster of world-renowned authors including Ricardo Piglia, Cesar Aira, Gonzalo Milan (Chile), and Luis Chavez (Costa Rica).

Sonia Becce, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sonia Becce is an independent curator who lives and works in Buenos Aires.
She has recently curated Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Somewhere/Nowhere, the first major exhibition of Gonzalez-Torres’ work in Argentina for Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA). She has also curated shows of Guillermo Kuitca at Museo Reina Sofia de Madrid (2003) and at Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogota, Colombia (2006). In the same capacity, she has been responsible for, among others, the following group exhibitions: Civilizacion y Barbarie (2004 to 2005), a traveling exhibition to some of the leading museums of Latin America; and Tempranos intereses personales (2005).  She is currently a member of the Advisory Committee of CiFo (Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, Florida). She has been a coordinator for the four series of the Guillermo Kuitca Awards Program in Buenos Aires.

Rosalba Mirabella, 1975 Tucuman, Argentina

Rosalba Mirabella received a Bachelor of Arts from the National University of Tucuman with a focus in painting (1999) and printmaking (2004). In 2001, she obtained a grant from the Fundacion Antorchas for young Argentine artists living in the interior of the country.  She was selected to participate in workshops for young artists of the NOA (Tucuman, 2001/2002) and the Clínicas de Artes Visuales of the Centro Cultural Rojas (Buenos Aires, 2005).  In 2006, she participated in a residency programme at Gasworks (London, UK) and in 2007, she was part of the International Artist Residency RIAA (Ostende, Argentina).  In 2002, she received the Philips Art Expression prize (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and in 2004, the 90th Anniversary Award from the National University of Tucuman.   In 2005, she received the Regional Prize Drawing Osde Foundation (Buenos Aires) and in 2008, the first prize from INCAA / Expotrastiendas de video, and the Fundación Luz Austral award from ¿Cuál Realidad? de Fotografía (Buenos Aires).  She participated in the group exhibitions Viajes Mínimos (CCEBA, Buenos Aires, 2008), South Limit (Buenos Aires, 2008), Puntas del Hilo (Salta, Argentina, 2008), Resplandores (2007, CC Recoleta), Festival Mini Mini Max (2007), Videos con Tuco (Barcelona, Spain, 2007), Interfaces (Buenos Aires, 2006) and her solo show Cuaderno para dejar olvidado en un taxi (Museum of Fine Arts in Tucuman, 2004).

29 de noviembre 2008, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Un crimen tiene varias historias es un proyecto de cadáver exquisito comisionado y producido por Eloisa Haudenschild y Steve Fagin del haudenschildGarage, basado en el cuento de Ricardo Piglia, La loca y el relato del crimen (1975), que acontece en Buenos Aires y que fue tramado junto con los co-conspiradores Judi Werthein, Sonia Becce y Alejandro Ruiz.  El texto de Piglia generará dos obras de sitio específico y un cuento comisionado al escritor argentino Washington Cucurto.

En mayo de 2008, el haudenschildGarage viajó a Buenos Aires para reunirse con la curadora argentina Sonia Becce y la artista argentina Judi Werthein, quienes seleccionaron a un grupo de artistas para el proyecto trabajando en instalación, fotografía y video. De este grupo, el haudenschildGarage y Alejandro Ruiz seleccionaron a los artistas Roberto Jacoby, Fernanda Laguna y Rosalba Mirabella.

El 29 de noviembre de 2008, un espectáculo multidisciplinario de un solo día, organizado por el productor argentino Alejandro Ruiz, comenzará con un video de la elegante interpretación hecha por Ricardo Piglia de su propio texto realizado especialmente para nuestro evento y estrenado en Malba – Fundación Costantini (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires).

Nos trasladaremos de la recepción de apertura en Malba – Fundación Costantini a la fiesta de cierre en La Boca pasando por los proyectos de Jacoby, Laguna y Mirabella en un banquete ambulante de cultura y comida.  El ultimo capítulo de nuestro espectáculo será la interpretación inaugural del brutal y brillante cuento de Washington Cucurto, comisionado por el haudenschildGarage como respuesta a La loca y el relato del crimen de Piglia. Cucurto y el colectivo literario Eloisa Cartonera realizarán una lectura del cuento en conjunto en su espacio en La Boca. Un catálogo del proyecto completo y una edición limitada de un survival kit, que será proporcionado al auditorio en Malba para facilitar su viaje, serán producidos en colaboración con Eloisa Cartonera.

El propósito de este proyecto es generar un evento dinámico que se desarrolle a través de la literatura, el arte y la ciudad. Nuestra esperanza, al juntar a artistas de los años sesenta con artistas jóvenes de hoy y rebasar la frontera entre la literatura y las artes plásticas, es “interpretar” la continuidad y el ámbito de la cultura argentina en su plenitud. Creemos que el papel de Latinoamérica y Argentina en general ha sido enormemente subestimado y esperamos que este evento, de forma modesta, apoyará la creciente conciencia de la calidad y especificidad de las contribuciones actuales e históricas de Argentina a la cultura mundial.

Este proyecto está dedicado a la sabiduría, la energía y el generoso espíritu de debate que Olivier Debroise (1952-2008) nos proporcionó con respecto a la Cultura Latinoamericana. Con nuestro proyecto deseamos continuar ese camino.

El haudenschildGarage, Spare Parts Projects, conceptualizado, comisionado y producido por Eloisa Haudenschild, Director, y Steve Fagin, Comissioning Editor Spare Parts, constituyen un ciclo de 3 años que fomentan la yuxtaposición de lo crucial, lo trivial y lo arcano. Nuestro ciclo actual de proyectos incluye: Decolonizing Architecture en Palestina/Israel, The Last Book en los EE. UU., y Un crimen tiene varias historias en Argentina.

El haudenschildGarage es una plataforma cultural entre un salón y un espacio artistico alternativo, cuyo objetivo es ofrecer un foro para la experimentación cultural, el juego y la conversación. En él se presentan simposios, conferencias y premieres al público. Ya sean proyectos internacionales, diálogos o comisiones, el haudenschildGarage colabora con instituciones internacionales, espacios alternativos y artistas emergentes en un contexto permisible para la opinión y producción.

PROGRAMA

4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Malba - Fundación Costantini
Video del autor Ricardo Piglia leyendo su cuento La loca y el relato del crimen (1975), en el auditorio.

6 p.m. – 7 p.m., Espacio en la Avenida Colón
La artista Rosalba Mirabella pasará dos meses de encarcelación voluntaria en un cuarto en Buenos Aires, ideando, escribiendo y dibujando un crimen.

7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Museo de Calcos
En el proyecto de Fernanda Laguna y Roberto Jacoby, las copias tienen consecuencias reales. A través de la destreza de una serie de objets d’art siendo legados, el pasaje de lo aparentemente igual conduce a un mundo de diferencia

9 p.m. – 12 a.m., Eloisa Cartonera, La Boca
El hijo, relato policial recién comisionado al autor Washington Cucurto, escrito en respuesta al cuento de Ricardo Piglia, será interpretado por el colectivo en el taller de Eloisa Cartonera seguido por una fiesta de broche final.

Por favor, vengan a disfrutar de este paseo. Comida y bebida en todas las paradas.

By ANDRÉS JAQUE El Pais.com 9/13/2008

Más de la mitad de los caboverdianos viven lejos del archipiélago atlántico. Forman una comunidad dispersa, conectada por una red internacional de locutorios telefónicos. Establecimientos que con su decoración evocan paisajes que muchos hijos de emigrantes, que se consideran caboverdianos, jamás visitaron. Y que, además de los servicios propios de un locutorio, ofrecen cortes de pelo e ingredientes para cocinar a la manera de Praia. A diferencia de otras arquitecturas, estos locales pasan desapercibidos en la mayoría de las ciudades y, sin embargo, son puntos de inmersión y acceso a formas urbanas que la explosión de las migraciones y de las tecnologías de telecomunicación han hecho habituales. Pero son además construcciones que ponen sobre la mesa nuevas posibilidades para la arquitectura contemporánea. Todo esto forma parte del estudio Dispersion, a Study of Global Mobility and the Dynamics of a Fictional Urbanism que el colombiano Diego Barajas presenta en como parte de la sección Arquitectura Experimental del Pabellón de Italia de la Bienal de Arquitectura de Venecia, que se inaugura hoy. Los comisarios Aaron Betsky y Emiliano Gandolfi incluyen también el Edificio Jardín Hospedero y Nectarífero en Cali (Colombia), que Barajas desarrolló con Camilo García -su socio en la oficina HUSOS, con sede en Madrid-. El edificio combina una vivienda compartida con un taller de diseño de estampados sobre tejidos. Sus fachadas son el soporte de una vegetación que hospeda y alimenta a la variedad de mariposas de las que la ciudad de Cali es una potencia mundial. Con las telas, las amigas que componen la modesta comunidad internacional que comercializa los diseños del taller, recibe folletos diseñados para convencerlas de cultivar plantas como las que cubren el edificio. Folletos que ellas a su vez regalan a sus clientes. El mismo canal por el que los estampados se distribuyen promueve la expansión del hábitat de las mariposas que sirven de modelo e imagen corporativa al taller. Un hábitat discontinuo, pero conectado por redes que, como las de los caboverdianos, son al mismo tiempo afectivas, comerciales y tecnológicas.

Desde mediados de los noventa buena parte de los arquitectos de referencia han concentrado su atención en los procesos por los que las ciudades pierden diferencias, como requisito necesario para conectarse a circuitos interurbanos homogéneos. La participación de Gandolfi junto a Betsky ha hecho posible incluir entre los seleccionados para el Pabellón de Italia a un pequeño número de arquitectos que, partiendo del análisis exhaustivo de realidades concretas, desvelan, bajo la aparente regularidad de la ciudad contemporánea, cómo operan las nuevas formas de singularidad deslocalizada. Son también trabajos que entienden los edificios no tanto como soportes neutrales, ajenos a los procesos políticos o sociales, sino como actores materiales que contribuyen a definir los límites de lo que en nuestro día a día puede llegar a ocurrir.

¿Qué debe hacerse con las infraestructuras abandonadas que fueron diseñadas y utilizadas en el pasado para vigilar y reprimir a una parte de la población? Ésta es la pregunta a la que pretende dar respuesta el Decolonizing Manual del equipo formado por Sandi Hilal y Alessandro Petti (activistas políticos y arquitectos instalados en Belén) y Eyal Weizman (con oficina en Londres). La demolición no suele ser recomendable, el coste de los trabajos y el poder contaminante de los escombros termina lastrando el desarrollo de la comunidad. El manual, que está siendo aplicado en los asentamientos de P’asago y en el antiguo campamento militar israelí en Oush Grab, pretende evitar que se repita la experiencia de los cincuenta. Cuando el ejército israelí reutilizó las infraestructuras militares construidas para vigilar y responder revueltas entre la población árabe de Palestina durante el mandato británico. La arquitectura era un agente central en el proyecto policial británico y fue en parte la arquitectura la que activó un proyecto similar en el nuevo contexto político. En Decolonizing Manual la transformación de los edificios forma parte de un empeño mayor, el de incrementar la representación de la población en la construcción de la vida pública. Cada paso conlleva necesariamente labores que a la arquitectura competen. Demoler tapias y retirar telas metálicas para permitir el acceso a parte de los espacios al aire libre. Restituir la titularidad del suelo a sus legítimos propietarios. Desmontar la visión estratégica de los edificios coloniales sobre los tejidos residenciales. Todo decidido en reuniones semanales de los representantes de los agentes sociales afectados, entre ellos los arquitectos. Para Gandolfi este trabajo ilustra la evolución del rol social del arquitecto. “El antiguo arquitecto que ofertaba servicios técnicos fue sustituido en la modernidad por el arquitecto idealista que, con un pensamiento utópico, creía saber qué quería producir y qué efectos tendría. Decolonizing Manual muestra cómo en la actualidad algunos arquitectos, conscientes del valor político de su trabajo, actúan como mediadores para poder contar con un espacio de acción. Pero hay algo más. Como puede verse en el proyecto Plus, de Anne Lacaton y Jean Philippe Vassal, muchas de estas intervenciones son tácticas y requieren que los arquitectos salgan del estudio. La acción es el mecanismo para recibir una respuesta. Y es la capacidad de observar la que permite descubrir potencialidades y dificultades que sin ella quedarían ocultas”. Potencialidades como las posibilidades de transparencia o la diversidad social que contienen los bloques de viviendas de los setenta en la periferia parisiense en que intervienen Lacaton y Vassal asociados a Frédéric Druot. Y debilidades como la escasa calidad espacial de sus interiores, el abandono de un gran número de viviendas y la falta de aprecio por el entorno que manifiestan muchos de los que viven en ellas. Un proyecto basado en una oportunidad: demoler y sustituir una vivienda social cuesta 167.000 euros. Con una octava parte puede no sólo ser renovada, sino incluso programar regalos arquitectónicos que aumenten la calidad de cada vivienda y del espacio público que comparten. Como sustituir muros de cerramiento por grandes ventanas allí donde existan vistas valiosas, prolongar las estancias de las casas en terrazas de nueva planta o eliminar tramos de escaleras en el acceso a los portales. Un trabajo que sólo puede hacerse casa por casa, deliberado con sus propietarios.

En definitiva. Parece que no sólo en Dubai se debate la arquitectura del presente. Puede que sea el momento de pensar que los locutorios, los procesos parlamentados para reconstruir sociedades en proceso de descolonización o las reformas de viviendas de bloques de la periferia contengan una parte de la arquitectura que quizás ya nos toca vivir.

SPATIAL INTERVENTION 04

12th June, 17.30 Sunday: RE-RE-PAINTING: paint over the settlers graffiti

Please bring paint, brushes and tins and any other materials/creative ideas to subvert the use of the space.

13th June, 18.30 Monday Night: CONCERT

Main Ingredients: Noise, DJ from the municipality, speakers at the far end of the picnic place facing the hill top, , CD’s with a loud crowd on it (live concert album), Spotlights to directed at the hilltop, Š

PLEASE JOIN US, WE NEED YOUR HELP AND IDEAS

More information www.decolonizing.ps

Background

Oush Grab is a new public park built on land owned by the Beit Sahour Municipality. The site is a former Israeli military camp, left by the occupation forces in April, 2006. Before 1967 it was used by the Jordanian army as a military base. The Jordanians bought the land from Palestinian owners; the land within this original border is now under the jurisdiction of the Beit Shaour municipality. When the Israeli army took over the camp, they expanded the borders to include some private land neighboring the camp. This private land has now been returned to the Palestinian landowners and is not reflected in the municipal master plan. The top of the hill, where the old military buildings are still located, is the only part of the area still under Israeli military order. This means the municipality is not allowed to build or develop the space, though it lies within the original Jordanian border and is public land. The Beit Sahour Municipality, the NGO Paidia and other local NGOS, were able to lift the military order on the remainder of the camp. The development as a public garden and recreation area is vital for the social, economic and physical wellbeing of the community: the Bethlehem area suffers from a lack of open spaces where children can safely play and picnic. Yesterday, the 11th of june 500 people participated in the Faqous Festival (faqous is a native variety of cucumber), that including debka performances, bird watching and nature hikes.

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Decolonizing Architecture
Decolonizing Architecture is a collaboration between the haudenschildGarage and London-based architect and theorist Eyal Weizman and Bethlehem-based architects Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti. Giorgio Agamben is among the consultants for this project. The project takes the settlement of Psagot, overlooking Ramallah, and redesigns it for a post-evacuation time and context. A scale model, architectural plans and a public event will be produced around plans for turning the fabric of this settlement/suburb into a Palestinian public institution. Decolonizing Architecture was originally conceptualized and produced with the support of the haudenschildGarage, Spare Parts.

In 2008, the project was selected for the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale and will be exhibited in Brussels at the BOZAR Center for Fine Arts.

The haudenschildGarage is a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space, the goal of which is to be a home away from home for cultural experimentation, play and conversation. It routinely presents symposia, lectures and film screenings to the public.

Whether international projects, dialogs or commissions, the haudenschildGarage collaborates with institutions, alternative spaces and emerging artists. The hope is that through providing a permissive context for opinion and production, new ideas and visions will have an opportunity to take shape.

In 2006, the haudenschildGarage launched SPARE PARTS, a renewable 3-year cycle of projects commissioned and produced by Director Eloisa Haudenschild and Commissioning Editor Steve Fagin that encourages the juxtaposition of the crucial, the trivial, and the arcane. Projects include A Crime Has Many Stories in Argentina, Decolonizing Architecture in Palestine/Israel and The Last Book in the US.

The Last Book
The Last Book, a haudenschildGarage - Spare Parts project directed by Steve Fagin, resurrects the medieval illuminated manuscript through the invocation of our current alchemy, new technologies. To conjure a future as the past in reverse, a one of a kind book, including handwritten text, moving images, and sound, will be produced. As in ancient cultures, the meaning of the book will only be fully available as a performative entity. In other circumstances it will be available to be looked at, but never to be touched, or read from by the community at large.  The text will be provided by Mary Gaitskill and the moving images by Leslie Thornton.

In October of 2008, the book will be performed in Los Angeles.

The haudenschildGarage is a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space, the goal of which is to be a home away from home for cultural experimentation, play and conversation. It routinely presents symposia, lectures and film screenings to the public. Whether international projects, dialogs or commissions, the haudenschildGarage collaborates with international institutions, alternative spaces and emerging artists in a permissive context for opinion and production.

In 2006, the haudenschildGarage launched SPARE PARTS, a renewable 3-year cycle of projects commissioned and produced by Director Eloisa Haudenschild and Commissioning Editor Steve Fagin that encourages the juxtaposition of the crucial, the trivial, and the arcane. Projects include A Crime Has Many Stories in Argentina, Decolonizing Architecture in Palestine/Israel and The Last Book in the US.

A series of informal meetings designed to open up a space for the exchange of thoughts and project developments.

6 August 2008, 08.00 pm location: Beit Sahour, Beit Hilal Petti

Habitance: Parasitic Colonies with Kegham Djeghalian

Kegham Djeghalian is a london based practicing visual artist, born and bred in Cairo. Ethnically, he originates from Armenia and Bethlehem. He is currently a graduate student at Goldsmiths College, University of London in the Visual Culture, Visual Art and Design Departments as well as a freelance lecturer in different insitutes. His art, research and practice revolves around discourcs of inhabitance and habitation, as well as the genealogy of identy and culture. He is th founder and general manager of the cultural insitute Habitance to be opened in London , Paris, Cairo and Bethlehem. The pesentation will be about the rizhomatic network of his practice and his dissertation “(un)inhabitance” that is about Lifta, the exPalestinian village in the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Decolonizing Architecture
Decolonizing Architecture is a collaboration between the haudenschildGarage and London-based architect and theorist Eyal Weizman and Bethlehem-based architects Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti. Giorgio Agamben is among the consultants for this project. The project takes the settlement of Psagot, overlooking Ramallah, and redesigns it for a post-evacuation time and context. A scale model, architectural plans and a public event will be produced around plans for turning the fabric of this settlement/suburb into a Palestinian public institution. Decolonizing Architecture was originally conceptualized and produced with the support of the haudenschildGarage, Spare Parts.

In 2008, the project was selected for the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale and will be exhibited in Brussels at the BOZAR Center for Fine Arts.

The haudenschildGarage is a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space, the goal of which is to be a home away from home for cultural experimentation, play and conversation. It routinely presents symposia, lectures and film screenings to the public.

Whether international projects, dialogs or commissions, the haudenschildGarage collaborates with institutions, alternative spaces and emerging artists. The hope is that through providing a permissive context for opinion and production, new ideas and visions will have an opportunity to take shape.

In 2006, the haudenschildGarage launched SPARE PARTS, a renewable 3-year cycle of projects commissioned and produced by Director Eloisa Haudenschild and Commissioning Editor Steve Fagin that encourages the juxtaposition of the crucial, the trivial, and the arcane. Projects include A Crime Has Many Stories in Argentina, Decolonizing Architecture in Palestine/Israel and The Last Book in the US.

NOVEMBER in BUENOS AIRES!

The haudenschildGarage, SPARE PARTS presents

A Crime Has Many Stories

Staring for the first time together:

Fernanda Laguna
Roberto Jacoby
Rosalba Mirabella
Ricardo Piglia
Washington Cucurto
Eloisa Cartonera

Steve Fagin
Eloisa Haudenschild
Alejandro Ruiz
Judi Werthein
Sonia Becce
Monica Jovanovich

Click here for more information on the project.

The haudenschildGarage is a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space, the goal of which is to be a home away from home for cultural experimentation, play and conversation. It routinely presents symposia, lectures and film screenings to the public. Whether international projects, dialogs or commissions, the haudenschildGarage collaborates with international institutions, alternative spaces and emerging artists in a permissive context for opinion and production. For more information visit www.haudenschildGarage.com (SPARE PARTS Projects)

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NOVIEMBRE EN BUENOS AIRES!

el haudenschildGarage, SPARE PARTS presenta

El Crimen Tiene Muchas Historias

POR PRIMERA VEZ JUNTOS:

Fernanda Laguna
Roberto Jacoby
Rosalba Mirabella
Ricardo Piglia
Washington Cucurto
Eloisa Cartonera

Steve Fagin
Eloisa Haudenschild
Alejandro Ruiz
Judi Werthein
Sonia Becce
Monica Jovanovich

Chasque aquí para más información sobre el proyecto.

El haudenschildGarage es una plataforma cultural entre salón y espacio artístico alternativo, cuyo objetivo es ofrecer un foro para la experimentación, el juego y la conversación. En él se presentan simposios, conferencias, premieres y colaboraciones con instituciones internacionales, espacios alternativos y artistas emergentes. Para más información, visite www.haudenschildGarage.com (SPARE PARTS Projects)

Congratulations to Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti, & Eyal Weizman for the selection of Decolonizing Architecture in the upcoming Architectual Biennale di Venezia, Sept 14 - Nov 23 2008.

The project is sponsered and produced by Eloisa Haudenschild & Steve Fagin, partners in SPARE PARTS a division of the haudenschildGarage.

Decolonizing Architecture
Decolonizing Architecture is a collaboration between the haudenschildGarage and London-based architect and theorist Eyal Weizman and Bethlehem-based architects Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti. Giorgio Agamben is among the consultants for this project. The project takes the settlement of Psagot, overlooking Ramallah, and redesigns it for a post-evacuation time and context. A scale model, architectural plans and a public event will be produced around plans for turning the fabric of this settlement/suburb into a Palestinian public institution. Decolonizing Architecture was originally conceptualized and produced with the support of the haudenschildGarage, Spare Parts.

In 2008, the project was selected for the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale and will be exhibited in Brussels at the BOZAR Center for Fine Arts.

The haudenschildGarage is a cultural platform that stands somewhere between a salon and an alternative space, the goal of which is to be a home away from home for cultural experimentation, play and conversation. It routinely presents symposia, lectures and film screenings to the public.

Whether international projects, dialogs or commissions, the haudenschildGarage collaborates with institutions, alternative spaces and emerging artists. The hope is that through providing a permissive context for opinion and production, new ideas and visions will have an opportunity to take shape.

In 2006, the haudenschildGarage launched SPARE PARTS, a renewable 3-year cycle of projects commissioned and produced by Director Eloisa Haudenschild and Commissioning Editor Steve Fagin that encourages the juxtaposition of the crucial, the trivial, and the arcane. Projects include A Crime Has Many Stories in Argentina, Decolonizing Architecture in Palestine/Israel and The Last Book in the US.