UN BOTIQUIN PARA MI CIUDAD
Un botiquín para mi ciudad is a program promoted in complicity with Programme Afrique de SERCADE, with the support of the Foundation for Arts Initiatives and the collaboration of EducaThyssen (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza), Museo Situado (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía) and Medialab Prado Madrid.
Here you can find the first edition of this program, which was held in Madrid between May 6 and June 15, 2021.
Why a botiquín?
Apothecary Of gr. byzant. ἀποθήκη apothḗkē; cf. store. F. his. Housing or room assorted with the necessary elements to inhabit it
To have everything somewhere like in an apothecary: loc. verb. coloq. To have there a provision, collection, assortment, or very varied assortment of diverse things.
Confronted to the deprivation of the meaning of collectiveness, the constant cutbacks of community public services, and the generalized privatization of life, at a time in which we face a reality of climate and health emergency and the devaluation of our life in common, through this program we want to propose a space to collectively imagine and design tools capable of proposing remedies to make life more livable in the city of Madrid and, in doing so, to weave our common existence.
Un botiquín para mi ciudad, in this first edition, held in Madrid between May 6 and June 15, 2021, consisted of a program of six workshops, two visits, and a public meeting held in collaboration with Programme Afrique by Sercade in which we have collectively manufactured a box of powers, in the form of a first aid kit, to heal and reenchant our city in complicity with the knowledge and experiences of the people who inhabit it and especially with migrant knowledge – regardless of their legal status – in pursuit of a cross-border neighborhood that can lead to the construction of shared futures in the city.
How have we made the botiquín?
Through a series of meetings – in which we enabled the exchange of experiences between the people who joined as participants – we created a collaborative space from which, in the context of Madrid, we could address the inequalities and the situation of vulnerability that an increasing number of people suffer.
These meetings, planned as production workshops, were roaming SERCADE, Thyssen, Reina Sofia, and Medialab Prado. In addition, two visits to these two museums and a short final tour of presentations of the botiquin were planned. The first stop of this tour happened on June 12 in the framework of a conversation between the philosopher Marina Garcés and the theologian and activist Pepa Torres, an activity that was part of the program of the Picnic de Museo Situado, at the Museo Reina Sofía. The next day, June 13, the people of Casa Vedruna de Antonio Machado welcomed us to their beautiful patio, where we went with the entire group of people to share a snack, exchange, and evaluate the experience. Finally, on June 15, we concluded the tour by taking our botiquín back to SERCADE for a public presentation with the users of the center and to dance to the rhythm of the botiquín.
Fanzine Un botiquín para mi ciudad.
Beyond the ointments, medicines, and first aid utensils that a first aid kit contains – understood as a box with healing material – we wanted to expand the purely sanitary meanings of this care case and propose a welcome and shelter space that contains some objects essential to build a home in the city, to identify what is good for us, not for each one, but for each other, to open paths that allow us to live differently.
With the proposal of this first edition of Un botiquín para mi ciudad we have also sought to interweave links between the Thyssen Museum, Medialab Prado, and the Reina Sofía Museum – three cultural institutions neighboring to the SERCADE reception center, located on Lope Vega street – organizing visits and developing part of the work sessions in their spaces. An attempt to generate alliances and “pierce” these public cultural institutions, so that they may become more socially, politically, and affectively impregnated with the present context, and to foster continuous learning from their surrounding cultural and social ecosystem, also redefining the Paseo del Arte as a space of and for anyone.
Actions carried out within the program.
My Madrid
Workshop to form our five commissions to cure the city of Madrid. Thursday 6th May 2021 in SERCADE. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
Commissions to heal Madrid
Workshop in which we make the emblems of our commissions to heal Madrid. Jueves 13th 2021 May in SERCADE. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
Weaving a cross-border neighborhood.
Workshop in which we unravel the little stories that weave our common history. Thursday 20th May 2021 in SERCADE. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
We celebrate and sing our ways of naming.
Taller en el que nos contamos cómo es el Madrid que queremos hacer. Friday 28th May 2021 in Museo Reina Sofía. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
Totems: our wisdoms are the remedies to heal the city.
Workshop to hollow out walls and borders and fill them with our words of repair. Thursday 3th June 2021 in SERCADE. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
A box with powers.
Taller para dar forma y materia a nuestra caja con poderes para curar Madrid. Tuesday 8th June 2021 in Medialab Prado Fablab. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
Hospitality in cultural institutions.
Event on the role of museums as local cultural spaces. Friday, May 14 and Monday, May 24 2021 at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Reina Sofía Museum. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
Public presentations of the botiquín.
Botiquín presentation events. Saturday 12, Sunday 13 and Tuesday 15 June 2021 at the Reina Sofía Museum, at Antonio Machado’s Casa Vedruna and at SERCADE. #UnBotiquinParaMiCiudad
CREDITS
A program promoted by: GRIGRI
In complicity with: Programme Afrique de SERCADE
Funded by: Foundation for Arts Initiatives
Made in collaboration with: EducaThyssen. Área de educación del Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Museo Situado. Red de colaboración de colectivos y asociaciones vecinales del barrio de Lavapiés en la que participa el Museo Reina Sofía. Medialab Prado Madrid.
The conceptualization of the program and the design, production, and activation of the sessions was carried out by: Susana Moliner, David Pérez, Yannick Tresor Dzouko Komgan, Adam Hassane Saleh, Valeria Vinces Herrera and Paloma Etienne.
With the essential complicity of: Carmen Cabrillo, Carlota Saiz and Xabier Parra from Programme Afrique de SERCADE. Justi Sarmiento and Valérie Squire from Casa Vedruna de Antonio Machado.
With the support of: Alberto Gamoneda, Rufino Ferreras, Luz Helena Carvajal and Begoña de la Riva from EducaThyssen. Ana Longoni, Celina Poloni, Gala Crerar, Cristina Gutiérrez and Mabel Tapia from Museo Reina Sofía. Laura Fernández, Sonia Díez and Daniel Pietrosemoli from Medialab Prado.
With the participation of: Verónica, Eduardo, Justi, Cecilia, Mayte, Ivana, Raúl, Alessandra, Carmen, Pablo, Samuel, Mohamed, Ismaeil, Traore, Yannick, Iguázel, Milena, Ruth, Alpha, Choyaiboy, Nadège, Vertil, Jean Samuel, Giulia, Víctor, Mouhamed, Etienne, Bouba, Zacaria, Pierre, Oumar, Issiaka, Marcel, Ismael, Mahamad, Marie, Aboubacar, Ibrahima, Babacar, Fodie, Max and Samba.
Public presentation with the pressence of: Marina Garcés and Pepa Torres.
Images by: Óscar Parasiego, Ela Rabasco (Ela R que R), Ana Longoni and Susana Moliner.