“(*) asterisks in our memory”

GERARDO MOSQUERA: Advisor.
GRACIELA DE OLIVEIRA: Coordination and Proposals.
LUIS GONZÁLEZ PALMA: Collaboration and Suggestions.

The first encounter of “(*) asterisks in our memory” was realized in Cordoba city in a house that had to be demolished so that a new building could be constructed on that site. In this new structure we had planned to build a space for contemporary and interdisciplinary expressions, until the economic crisis caused the majority of our associates to decide not to continue with the project. Presently, this property is on the market for sale. Still our project continues…the scenery has changed with reality. The first invited guests were Regina Galindo, David Peréz and Soledad Goldar. Interestingly, none of them approached the concepts of demolition/construction from an architectural point of view but instead worked on social demolition themes directly related to Argentina and to our reality in Latin America.

REGINA GALINDO: “cabecita negra” She touched the topic of racism in a performance that brought to mind the situation of some families who live in planned government housing but later dismantle the house in order to use the parts for different ends. There are some people who say, despectively, that the “cabecitas negras” have multiplied due to the business of constructing more government housing on the city’s periphery (demolition/demolition). Regina put herself in the place of a “cabecita negra” (there is so much more to say about this scene!). Could it be that the dismantling of their houses is a collective performance on the part of the real “cabecitas negras”? We have yet to understand this phenomenon and we forget that this concept is racist and came from the same ones who are trying to protect them.		SOLEDAD SANCHEZ GOLDAR: “correspondence” This work involved the compilation of letters that Soledad’s mother sent from Argentina to her father exiled in Mexico in 1976. Together with the invited musician Andrés Asia who presented music live, Soledad played a recording of these same letters read by her mother, the author, 30 years later. At the same time, she bordered selected phrases from these same letters on a suit that belonged to her father, which also served as a registry of the performance.
DAVID PÉREZ: “decline” The scene consisted of nine people standing in dug-out holes in the ground on the lawn of the house. The first person was standing in a very shallowly dug hole and the eight that followed became progressively more and more deeply buried until the last person was almost completely covered. David works with words and concepts and in this project, when he mentioned for the first time that the work would be titled “decline”, no one imagined declining half-buried humans! The performance lasted one hour, and the objective was to take a direct photographic register called “decline”.		GRACIELA DE OLIVEIRA: The work of the hostess. “What can you say about a painted mosaic tile?” This work began with a personal action: We convoked students to work on the demolition site and it consisted in the lifting of antique mosaic tiles (made from cement and painted with pigments) from the floors of the rooms, as is usually done when one wants to recuperate everything possible before demolition takes place. I decided to number the mosaic tiles we saved and wrap them up very carefully in paper that was written on. They had the appearance of books. Later, I piled them on top of each other in the rooms they had pertained to as if they were written publications. Those who were interested in participating in the project were encouraged to take the wrapped-up mosaics, with the promise of responding to a question printed on the wrapping paper.

Synthesis:

This first meeting presents us with the dialogue that was generated between participants, and clarifies on a more personal level the concerns of each author. These dialogues can be read in interviews 1, 2, 3 and 4 of blog D/C. At the local level there is also the testimonies of students who participated in the work of the hostess: “dirty work”.