Wednesday, September 18
Caracas, Venezuela
Organizers: Fundación Espacio and Stefan Gzyl, PhD candidate, Borders and Territories and TU Delft Global Fellow.
In Caracas and other Venezuelan cities, emigration has left behind an immense material legacy, from vacant and under-occupied homes to personal objects, books, artworks, cars, plants, and pets. This domestic world has not been abandoned on suspended in time, but represents a patrimony that is protected after emigration. To this end, practices of maintenance, repair, use, and transformation have emerged, imbuing daily actions with symbolic meaning, inserting objects and spaces in migratory trajectories, and allowing those who look after them a means to stay afloat amid the ongoing crisis. The caretaking of migrants’ patrimonies connects life stories inside and outside Venezuela and broadens the analytical frameworks used to study the impact of emigration on places of origin.
What are the specific characteristics of Venezuelan emigration, specifically Caracas’ middle class, and how do they manifest economically, socially, or spatially?
How do the various modes of action of the crisis (informality, opacity, temporariness, survival) influence the management of migrants’ patrimonies?
What can we learn about Caracas that is relevant elsewhere, and viceversa?
What tools do we have as designers (architects, planners, preservation experts) to act upon emigration’s material residues?
What do we preserve when we preserve something, “is it the thing itself, or the negotiated order that surrounds it, or some ‘larger’ entity?” (Graham and Thrift, 2007, 4)
The objective of the event is to exchange ideas and viewpoints about emigration’s impact on the city of Caracas, focusing concretely on the many practices that act upon migrants’ patrimonies. We aim to explore how a critical examination on the caretaking of migration’s vast material residues can expand our understanding, visual repertoire, and tools for acting upon the built environment in the midst of generalized collapse. Through an interdisciplinary approach, we aim to connect across dimensions and approaches to the problem that are often treated separately. We seek to open up a space for academic and professional exchange in which the complexity of the problem poses new questions rather than provide answers.
Event program
9:00. Welcome and opening words. Franco Micucci, architect, director Fundación Espacio.
9:10-9:25. Introductory talk. Stefan Gzyl. Architect, PhD candidate, TU Delft.
9:30-10:00. Panel 1: Journalism, architecture, and sociology. Laura Helena Castillo, journalist. María Isabel Peña, architect. Mireya Lozada, sociologist, UCV.
10:00-10:30. Panel discusión.
10:30-11:00. Panel 2. Real estate market, construction, and the economy. Martín Fernández, urban planner and real estate consultat. Francisco Pimentel, President of Venezuelan Construction Chamber. Richard Obuchi, economist, IESA.
11:00-11:30. Panel discussion.
11:30-11:45. Coffee break.
11:45-12:15 Panel 3. Visual arts, film, and literature. Marylee Coll, visual artist. Bernardo Rotundo, filmmaker. Jacqueline Goldberg, writer and editor.
12:15-12:45 Panel discussion.
12:45-13:00 Closing remarks and event closure.
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