Parry, B (2016) 'Beyond aesthetics: poetics of Autoconstruccion in Mexico City.' In: Kosmala, K and Imas, M, eds. Precarious spaces: the arts, social and organisational change. Intellect, Bristol, pp. 87-111. ISBN 9781783205936
Abstract
This chapter discusses the multidisciplinary project Autoconstrucción by Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas, which relates the story of his childhood through the self-build construction of his family home on the volcanic lands of the Pedregales de Coyoacan outside Mexico City. The first in a series of realizations for Autoconstrucción began far from the precarious spaces of Mexico City, when Abraham Cruzvillegas took up a 6-month residency at Cove Park and the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow in 2008. During that time, the artist created his customary sculptures of found-objects, produced a book documenting his experiences growing up on squatted lands of the Ajusco, and wrote the lyrics for 18 songs that were then offered to a diverse range of local Glaswegian bands. An in-depth analysis of this particular aspect of the project is explored, which extends into a broader discussion about the wider contribution of social art practice in the critical discourses around urban informality and user-generated urbanisms. It also explores how the personal experiences of self-build, self-organized communities have formed the methodology of Cruzvillegas’s social practice, artistic sensibility, aesthetics, poetics and politics that raise critical challenges to current debates around precariousness in art.
| Item Type: | Book Chapter or Section |
|---|---|
| Note: | Also published in the U.S. by the University of Chicago Press. |
| Keywords: | social practice, precariousness, art, informal city, Cruzvillegas, intervention, Autoconstruccion, Mexico City |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General) M Music and Books on Music > M Music N Fine Arts > NA Architecture N Fine Arts > NB Sculpture |
| Divisions: | Bath School of Art, Film and Media |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Dec 2018 22:06 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Aug 2021 09:51 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/11805 |
 |
Request a change to this item or report an issue |
 |
Update item (repository staff only) |
Tools
Tools
