Artefacting Public Art + Research Practice

Artefacting participated as part of an international cohort of community practitioners were assembled and convened by the Micro Macro Collective convened in Gran Canarias from the 14th to 19th of July. Working as part of a team composed of neighbors, locals and invitees, the group reclaimed a dead space in El Risco de San Nicolas, turning it into a garden and public spaces for the neighborhood. The landscape was cleaned and reorganized, leveling the floor to various planes, and reordering rocks into retaining walls. Fresh soil was shuttled in as were a range of plants. A structure to give shading was designed and built as was a hanging swing-set and punching bag set for neighbors to enjoy. And neighbors were drawn into the garden to have their silhouettes painted onto the walls; an effort to visualize that this is indeed their neighborhood and to appropriate the space to them.

As of October 2017, word is that some neighbors seem to be claiming the space, having installed a water tank and taking turns watering the park daily.

For more information on participants, the other interventions and the Arquitecturas Colectivas project visit https://arquitecturascolectivas.net/canarias2017/programacion