Bayanihan Re-existence
An Installation by Husos arquitecturas
Free, until full capacity is reached
Bayanihan Re-existence is an installation conceived to welcome events and activities from the Notes for a Time Apart programme, inviting rest, reading and shared time to make the Palacio de Velázquez a more pleasant place for visitors.
In this instance, Husos arquitecturas gives a new lease of life to old set materials, largely from the Centro Dramático Nacional and reflects on colonial accounts hanging over the building, which hosted the main pavilions of the General Philippines Exhibition in 1887. Thus, there is an exploration of the concept of “re-existence” employed by the Colombian artist and thinker Adolfo Albán Achinte to promote thinking about the alternative forms of existing that the colonised communities construct beyond those imposed on them. Furthermore, the Tagalog term bayanihan refers, in a Philippine context, to the collective forms of making to achieve common goals.
The work of Husos arquitecturas — an architecture and urbanism office based between Spain and Colombia — explores the possibilities of the quotidian from an ecological approach and looks to manage resources in a way that is more responsible and circular, re-using seemingly disposable elements. The installation is carried out in collaboration with artist Nayare Soledad Otor and writer Karessa Malaya Ramos.
Participants
Husos arquitecturas is an office and platform of architecture, gardening and urbanism which explores the possibilities of these practices as tools for social transformation. It was founded in Madrid in 2003 by Diego Barajas (Bogotá) and Camilo García (Cali), and their work has been on display at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the Quito Biennale, the Rotterdam Biennale, the Oslo Architecture Triennale, Fundació Antoni Tàpies and Ecovisionarios from Matadero Madrid. They are the authors of the books Urbanismos de remesas, viviendas (Re)productivas de la dispersión (Caniche, 2017) and Dispersion: A Study of Global Mobility and the Dynamics of a Fictional Urbanism (Educational Studies Pr, 2003).
Nayare Soledad Otorongx is a multidisciplinary artist whose work experiments with photography, bodily exploration, manual art and poetry. Otorongx has also published the poetry collection Bendiciones Travestis (2021), in a collaboration with other artists, and has undertaken Tranny Tranny House, a project to find a home for trans people.
Karessa M. Ramos is a writer and the author of Cosechas del insomnio (Diversidad Literaria, 2021). She has participated in anthologies such as Matria poética (La Imprenta, 2023) and Masticando el deseo (Diversidad Literaria, 2021), as well as collaborating in putting together a Glossary of Concepts for the Eighth Culture and Citizen Encounter, held in Seville in 2022.
