Memoria Tejida

AADK Project / Art Residency / Murcia , Spain 2022

There is a mutual dependence between spaces and people, which largely highlights the importance of human beings as transforming agents of geographic space; leaving a mark on him loaded with symbolism and actively incorporating the environment into his cognitive and affective processes.

The cultural heritage of esparto grass is a complex heritage in which industrial elements, natural and landscape values converge and, above all, intangible values linked to know-how and a working-class identity and memory.

The climatic and geographical conditions in which esparto grass grows brings us closer to another of the fundamental values linked to this plant: being an element that configures a landscape. But the idea of an esparto landscape is not limited to rural space, but also moves to urban space. The installation of warehouses and factories in the arc of the periphery notably altered the urban configuration, establishing dynamic poles of activity around the main communication routes.

The state of the remains of this industry is currently very poor, most of them being simple ruins. The scarce entity of this architecture and the poverty of the materials have undoubtedly contributed to its accelerated disappearance.

It is interesting, on the other hand, the express reference to the landscape as an element in which this heritage occurs. Esparto workers recognize in the exercise of this activity a basic element of their identity. It is a reality that refers to biography and memory, individual and collective; that conditions the development of their forms of life

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The “Memoria de Tejido” project highlights the relationships and links that are established between people and spaces; delving into the intangible, industrial and landscape values associated

"Re-construct" then those senses and meanings necessarily shared around a material and a space, remembering the identity of the place and its functionality linked to the social practices that were developed in it. Recover collective memory to reconcile with the past.

The abandoned places / spaces in which the activity took place long ago, take on a life of their own (despite not having had a human presence for several years, they maintain the memory and symbolism), which has caused them to integrate into nature as a species. of modern ruins; nature is claiming them and in this case, this natural fiber is asking for it again, weaving a fiber network in the form of memory of an activity that surely has not said its last word. It claims it burning in the form of memory of a material economic sustenance of several generations and adopts the form of a totem as a symbolic and cult element, as an emblem of a group of people.