In its 2023 edition, the program combines the laboratories that each factory proposes to its closest communities with the Labdelabs, where the project’s core group is put into practice, with the mediation of Caro Novella, to delve into issues that intersect the project and the facilities regarding their community work. The Labdelabs are nomadic, and each factory will host them at some point during the year, facilitating the transit between different spaces and a deeper understanding of the reality of each factory by the teams of the others.
- Labdelabs #1 / April 14, 2023 – The Periphery: It took place at Graner on April 14. It was the first proposal of the new project mediator: Caro Novella, an expert in research in the fields of improvisation, live arts, health, and transfeminism. Through a sensory activation from the memory of a particular territory, the question was explored: how do we understand and how does the construction of the periphery affect us in the practice of the laboratories? The practice guideline, proposed by Caro (inspired by Marble Jumbo Radio), suggests a device that includes a somatic exploration of space and movement, mapping the experience on paper, a reinterpretation in movement, and finally the articulation of the experience guided by three questions: What has the practice done? What strategies have we followed to stay on the periphery? What surprised you?
- Labdelabs #2 / May 12, 2023 – Bodily Traces and Memory: It took place at Central del Circ on May 12 under the title Bodily Traces and Memory. With this evocative title, Caro designed a practice based on the English wordplay “bod(il)y traces,” where the bodily trace becomes a verb. Starting with objects, a first moment of sharing and listening was created to move towards a second moment close to sensitive ethnography, proposing a somatic exercise typical of research in the field of anthropology. Finally, an improvisation was carried out with objects linked to memory. The conversation was opened with these questions: how do we care for the people who activate them and what are the desires and curiosities that keep them alive? How do they extend and change beyond personalisms? How can we care for a grain of sand?
- Labdelabs #3 / July 8, 2023 – The Collage of the Verbena: The event included the presence of neighbors, technicians, artists, and institutional representatives who are part of the project and participated in various artistic proposals designed for social reflection. Still under the effects of the summer solstice, the event took the form of a verbena. The verbena becomes a collective ritual in sync with the changes of seasons and the life cycles of neighborhoods and towns. A space for the creation and renewal of intentions and bonds. A commitment to the territory and the community. A celebration.
- Labdelabs #4 / September 13, 2023 – Opening Dichotomies: With the guidance of researcher Caro Novella, the session explored from movement the models of biotensegrity as an embodied metaphor to explore the tensions and forces that sustain projects as a system. The exploration from movement allowed for a deeper understanding of the tensions crossing the laboratories being carried out in each creation factory and, at the same time, identifying those questions that the project raises towards the projection of new creation processes that place artistic practices, communities, and territories at the center.
- Labdelabs #5 / November 10, 2023 – And the Integrity of Artistic Practice: In this session, the question “How do we sustain the integrity and form of artistic practice?” was explored. Issues that intersect the creation processes driven from a community perspective. Through various dynamics proposed by Caro Novella, the notion of integrity was experimented with, and some elements at play were explored, such as attention, curiosity, trust, or the creation of meaning, among others. Dynamics such as inertia, resistance, contagion, influences, or tensions that occur in collective spaces between consensus and dissent were also detected.
- Labdelabs #6 / December 15 – And How Do We Network?: A very special session that, in addition to hosting the core research group (the mediators from Central, Graner, La Fabra and Coats, and the Ateneu Popular 9 Barris), was open to artists and neighbors, representatives of ICUB and Pla de Barris, and technicians and mediators from two other creation factories. At the same time, the session was recorded with the visual reporting of Clara Tanit. Take a look at the end of the news. With the intention of opening the cross-sectional research process to other factories in the Barcelona network of creation factories, this session became a sample ‘taste’ of the research methodology used throughout the year. The research structure proposes extending the architectural model of tensegrity to open reflections on the elements, tensions, and dynamics that give integrity to a network.
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