qué facer coas nosas prazas?
- Qué facer coas nosas prazas?
The interpreted city_ Santiago de Compostela
curated by Pablo Fanego; artists Jorge Barbi, Germaine Kruip, Nathan Coley, Apolonija Sustersic, Hans Schabus, Roman Ondák and André Guedes.
September 06_november 06
I chose two squares from the Barrio de San Pedro neighbourhood in Santiago de Compostela for my site-specific work. Santiago de Compostela is a city where you can still see the old structure of the city, especially in this neighbourhood. I found that this square is a controversial place, because it used to be a social point for the inhabitants but nowadays it is not like that. The meeting point use to be the Shopping centers. Even so, I had chosen this area because I think that they still have a sort of public life and so I could have an exchange and reflection with the people living there.
I made some seats_sculptures and I put them in the square “el cruceiro de San Pedro”. These seats tried to take away illegal parking space (there is a signal that bans parking). This area is in the centre of the neighbourhood, but it is used as meeting point, not as a place to stay.
My pieces were made with photographs of the floor, so they functioned as elevations of it. They were almost invisible, especially for someone looking for a monument. But not for the people living there. They felt uncomfortable because this small piece of street could not be used for parking. One of the seats was displaced and finally disappeared in one month.
I made some images with the seats used. The pictures showed the plaza in an unusual manner: as a place for social encounter. Some boys were playing and having fun there. I made another pieces to install in the other square in the neighbourhood: Parque da Trisca using these pictures. I made four wooden benches with these pictures in the back. When someone entered the Parque da Trisca he could only see these pictures of the plaza de San Pedro, showing some boys playing. I placed these pictures where the boys are supposed to play. As you go round the pieces you discover the benches.
I had used these benches as a place to make a reflection with the people of the neighbourhood. There was a public calling to participate in the decision of setting the benches (as the first collocation was provisional). Some people came and decided to move two of the four benches.
I had recorded this process which has helped me not only to know what the people were saying about the use of the public space, but the requirements they had about it.