A trama rururbana. proxecto específico: barrio ao redor da fábrica de álvarez

Nos camiños

english version below

O proxecto Nos camiños terá lugar no barrio de Cabral, Vigo, e consiste nunha intervención específica no espazo físico da antiga fábrica de Álvarez e un taller a cargo de María Lois* (xeógrafa política) e Carme Nogueira* (artista) no que se incide dende un punto de vista artístico e teórico nas descripcións dos camiños que unen o centro da cidade co barrio da fábrica, facendo fincapé no eixo do río Lagares como elemento configurador.
O centro identitario, físico e económico do barrio foi durante moito tempo a fábrica de porcelanas Álvarez, ata o punto de poder dicir que se creou ó redor dela. Os equipamentos comunitarios (igresia, supermercado, bloques de vivendas) estiveron dentro do recinto da fábrica, ou apareceron vencellados a ela. Así como os tempos da vida económica estaban marcados pola súa sirea. Unha historia que pode trazarse nos camiños que foron durante moito tempo a unión de concellos e barrios colindantes coa fábrica. A intervención artística pretende recuperar temporalmente o uso comunitario da fábrica, moi presente na súa historia a pesar de ser unha propiedade privada.

Esta descripción centrada nos camiños fala das formas de vida, os tránsitos, os usos e, ao mesmo tempo, expresan unha xerarquía: entre o centro e as periferias, categorizando tamén as actividades a eles asociadas. Os camiños que articulan o barrio, aqueles que sustentaban a vida colectiva tenden a desaparecer, xunto coas actividades que os facían crecer ó tempo que se van consolidando as redes que levan ó centro. Unha cuestión que afecta tamén a paixase. No contexto físico de Álvarez, o rural que conviviu tanto tempo coa fábrica estase a transformar nun típico ‘rururbano’ vigués.

A intervención ‘artística’ consiste na instalación dunha maqueta do entorno inmediato da fábrica nun espazo que fora de uso público en tempos de actividade da fábrica. Esta maqueta visibiliza ás relacións rural/urbano e as transformacións actuais da paisaxe  ao poñer en primeiro término a traseira da rúa principal (rúa Ramón Nieto), é dicir, a orixe rural do barrio.
A maqueta ten como centro a fábrica reconstruida (neste momento está arrasada) facendo unha metáfora moi literal, xa que a fábrica foi o motor do barrio e a súa desaparición permite ese crecemento radial. Pero trátase dunha maqueta non rematada. Ésta vaise rematar coas aportacións dos veciños da imaxe que teñen do río, dos seus usos, das súas queixas e propostas.

* O taller estará dirixido tanto a profesionais de diferentes ámbitos como (fundamentalmente) aos habitantes dos arredores da fábrica de Álvarez. Compre suliñar que a intervención non terá carácter invasivo e que se trata máis ben de analizar/provocar dinámicas de uso máis que “adornar” ou “solucionar” conflictos.

An intervention in a waiting for construction solar of a neighbourhood created around a factory. Nowadays this factory (before a porcelain factory) is closed and the solar is being built on: The intervention consists on
a. -An occupation of an advertisement board in front the factory showing an after and before image of the public life in the neighborhood.
b. -A working model of the floor where the factory is, situated in a solar in front of it, to finish with the suggestions of the people from the neighborhood.

"Nos camiños" ("on the road") took place in Cabral, a neighbourhood of Vigo (Galicia). The project has two parts: a site-specific installation occupying an abandoned solar of the old Álvarez factory and a workshop held by María Lois (politic geographer) and Carme Nogueira (artist).
The workshop was focus on the roads (paths) that communicate this neighbourhood with the centre of the city. Nowadays the main street of this neighbourhood is the old path to Madrid. But there are more paths. One of them is the river that goes from this place to the centre. This path is now no used. The river is related to the agricultural past of the place, a recent past. The workers of the factory were also farmers. But there is another important fact: the rural claim was used in others villages and cities in Galicia to rebuilt them. Allariz is the most well known example. Vigo is considered to be the contra model of this idea. It is an urban city with a chaotic urban development. But, as we can see in this area, the rural is also present. And it has a big importance in the day
a day life.
The site-specific installation tried to reclaim, just for a period of time, the communitarian use of the factory. It was the centre (economic, spatial and as an identity locus) of the neighbourhood. We can also say that it was created by the factory: the church, flats, shops were built by or because the factory. The time in this area depended on the timetables of the factory. This story can also be seen through the paths that communicate the factory with another quarters in the city and other villages nearby.
In the relation of abandoned/consolidated paths we can see abandoned/consolidated ways of life. Some activities (economic, social) were priorizated instead of others. In this case, the communitarian life is disappearing and a centralistic development is taking place. The street that goes from the centre of the city to the highway is built just in the borders without taking into account the area and the communitarian necessities. This urban growth makes local relations more complicate. In the model these questions are visible. The centre of the model is the solar of the factory. The solar has in one side the river and in the other side the centralistic urban development I depict before. People who see the model will see the back view of the typical view of the area. Instead of the buildings, will see the rural structure behind the buildings: instead the abandoned factory, the river. The river as a mythic place, in someway, is not finished in the model. I asked the people to complete this model with the places that where social places. Nowadays there are not social uses of the river, but it used to be. As a bath place, to fish, to clean the clothes and, of course, to agriculture means. The model was installed in a former parking for workers and trucks of the factory.