Centro de Intercambio y Producciones Caseras
Installation view, “Tlatelolco and the localized negotiation of future imaginaries,” February 27-May 6, 2008, Museum as Hub, New Museum, NY. Photo: Alison Brady
Centro de Intercambio y Producciones Caseras
Artist: Paulina Lasa
Center for exchange and homemade productions, 2007
Social diagram; one month of weekend activities at the restaurant La Rosa Azul, Tlatelolco
Courtesy the artist
Paulina Lasa responds to the historical role of Tlatelolco as a site of economic, political, and cultural exchange. For her Center for exchange and homemade productions, Lasa rented La Rosa Azul, a small restaurant on the Plaza of the Three Cultures. For three weekends she organized activities around three themes: a.) food, b.) tools, and c.) art. These non-monetary exchanges involved swapping copies of food recipes, drawings, music, and ¨ideas for a better life.” These included ecological strategies, housekeeping tips, and proposals for negotiating urban life. The artist describes these deliberately naïve acts of sharing as proposals of resistance within a world where violent or ironic attitudes toward contemporary economic systems and social problems are common and no longer effective.
Artist Statement
The concept of ¨candor¨ has been a consistent element within my production, as I consider it as an effective form of resistance in a world where violent or ironic attitudes have become common and therefore no longer subversive. On the other hand, the “naive” act of sharing interests me as a creative process and as a system of communal and personal growth. Also it functions as an alternative to the exchange dynamics proposed by the markets of the capitalist economic system, where the intermediaries between the producer and the consumer obtain the major benefits.
The project, Center for exchange and homemade productions, responds to these interests, based on the specific context of the initiative Museum as a Hub, proposed by the New Museum of Contemporary Art of New York, and of the housing complex Tlatelolco, proposed by the curatorial team of Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo as a site-subject, in relation to the given theme of ¨neighborhood.¨
Tlatelolco has been, since pre-hispanic times, a key place of encounters. It was for the local indigenous population the most important market of the area, where later the Spaniards built one of their first catholic temples, utilizing the same stones that comprised the pyramid that was located on the same site. Previously in this century, the architect Mario Pani carried out a housing project that was designed with great ambitions regarding urban progress and the development of new forms of social exchanges. And in fact, up to today, Tlatelolco´s central plaza is a constant host site for concerts, political meetings and religious celebrations, even when many of the proposals that Tlatelolco offered as an apartment complex did not meet the expectations that were promised.
As a context, Tlatelolco offers many possibilities and at the same time generates many questions. For me, the social dynamics taking place in this site, which are connected with the foundational ideas of the Museum as Hub, and the idea of recycling spaces, giving them new functions, are the main motivations of the project that I am presenting here.
Center for exchange and homemade productions seeks to generate a space for exchanging ideas, information and objects related to three themes that are fundamental to everyday life for me: food, tools and art. The exchanges will be carried out mainly through photocopies and without the use of money. The idea is to start with a stock of donations, from which the public is invited to photocopy what is offered, in exchange for a contribution, also presented in a letter-size sheet of paper. Besides this initiating idea, there will be parallel events such as workshops, concerts, a round table discussion and an exchange of “real” (not paper) objects, with the intention of generating greater interaction between the audience and/or the collaborators.
The project will be carried out during 3 weekends of November in the restaurant La Rosa Azul, located in the ground floor of the building Chihuahua, in front of the Plaza de las Tres Culturas (Plaza of the Three Cultures). Each weekend will include exchanges and parallel events related to one of three principle subjects: a) food, b) objects, c) art.
a) FOOD
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 9th, 6 TO 9 PM
– CHEFFS´ COMPETITION: COME TASTE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF A SAME RECIPE!
– EXCHANGE OF RECEPIES.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 10th, 6 TO 9 PM
– WORKSHOP OF EXPERIMENTAL TORTILLAS, by Diego Pérez and friends.
– EXCHANGE OF RECEPIES.
b) TOOLS
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16th, 6 TO 9 PM
– ROUND TABLE: IDEAS FOR A BETTER LIFE. Participants: Carlos Bedoya and Wonne Ickx, PRODUCTORA, Architecture Workshop; Tania Rodriguez, T. O. A. (WORKSHOP OF ENVIRONMENTAL OPERATIONS), Architecture, Sustainable Landscape and Engineering of Systems; Iván Hernández, LUDENS, Tools for Everyday LIVING; Paulina Lasa, CENTER FOR EXCHANGE AND HOMEMADE PRODUCTIONS HOUSEKEEPERS, Self-sufficiency.
– EXCHANGE OF CLOTHES, FURNITURE, TOOLS AND IDEAS FOR A BETTER LIFE.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 17th, 6 TO 9 PM
– WORKSHOP OF URBAN FIELDS, given by Abraham Oropeza, ORGANI-K.
– EXCHANGE OF CLOTHES, FURNITURE, TOOLS AND IDEAS FOR A BETTER LIFE.
c) ART
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 23th, 6 TO 9 PM
– CONCERT: SONGS FOR ELEONOR, LOS WENDYS, SONIDO CHANGORAMA
– EXCHANGE OF DRAWINGS AND STORIES
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 24th, 6 TO 9 PM
– THEATER WORKSHOP: Collective dynamics, to Be here and now, by Paulina Lasa.
– EXCHANGE OF DRAWINGS AND STORIES
