CHANGING PLACES / ESPACIOS REVELADOS
Artistic interventions in urban spaces
How does a city address the tension and conflict created by rapid economic, environmental, and societal shifts? How do residents create a sense of belonging to an urban space? And what role do a city’s “blind spots” play in addressing these questions? The CHANGING PLACES / ESPACIOS REVELADOS program revives and reimagines abandoned buildings and public spaces in South American cities. Artistic interventions create new perspectives on a city’s neighborhoods and what it means to coexist in a city in the age of globalization.
Working Area
Arts & Culture
Region/Country:
Latin America
CHANGING PLACES / ESPACIOS REVELADOS is a series of cultural projects held in changing locations. The projects are developed out of the local context of each city and bring together artists from South America and other parts of the world. Each project is created and implemented through a network of public and private organizations in the respective city.
Artists actively involve local residents
From the 2014 edition in Buenos Aires, to 2016’s program in Santiago de Chile, or Guadalajara in 2020: the key to developing each project is the active involvement of local residents in the respective cities. Following extensive research of buildings, public places, and the social environment, local and international artists address each city’s challenges, cultural memory, and the imaginations of the inhabitants. Artists and neighbors come together in a series of city labs. These projects usually span about one year. Ideally, each project inspires further local activities that continue into the future.
Why did Siemens Stiftung launch CHANGING PLACES / ESPACIOS REVELADOS?
Vacancies in a city are a symptom of shifts in a society. The project series reacts to them with new artistic spaces of thought and experience. Conflicts, rifts, collective fear, and longing can be voiced and renegotiated in new ways. Spaces for opportunity only emerge when they are perceived as such.
How does each specific project take shape in a given city?
In each city, we begin a dialog with local stakeholders about the necessity and possibility of the project. We work with artists, curators, cultural organizations, city planners, public authorities, academics, social organizations, and community organizations to identify relevant subjects, districts in the city, and buildings. It is a joint project based on the circumstances of each city, but it also addresses issues that resonate beyond the local level. In a specially assembled project team, we work with local curators, academics, production managers, and technical managers so local and regional perspective intersect with the international view. Financing for the project is shared among the main partners.
What do you hope to achieve with CHANGING PLACES / ESPACIOS REVELADOS?
Our idea is based on art’s ability to trigger unique experiences that can help shape the future. They can serve as a driving force for coexistence. Aesthetic perception can release new energies, which is why we want to encourage institutions to provide artists with space for their work in the cities. If we can achieve that, it’s worth more than all the visitor statistics and positive reviews.
Partners
CHANGING PLACES / ESPACIOS REVELADOS is an initiative of Siemens Stiftung with:
In cooperation with:
Instituto Municipal de Cultura y Turismo Bucaramanga, ecoemprender, Escuela Municipal de Artes Bucaramanga, Fundación Mapa Teatro – Laboratorio de Artistas, Municipalidad de Santiago, Municipalidad de Providencia, escenalborde, Nave, Junta de Vecions Barrio Yungay, Escuella Taller Fermín Vivaceta, DUOC, Universidad Diego Portales, Universidad de Chile, Goethe-Institut Chile, Fundación M.I.R.A., Acumar, Edificio Tornquist, Palacio Reconquista, Galería Güemes, Edificio Bencich, Edificio Lanusse, Banco Hipotecario, Secretaría Legal y Técnica de la Nación, Estacionamiento Cuadras, Cine Teatro Dante, Museo de la Ciudad, Casa del Sur, Barraca Peña, IUNA, Centro Rural de Arte and other regional and international partners.
Joachim Gerstmeier
+49 89 540487 316