A film by Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler

94 min. / 2010

“We have to decide for ourselves what we want. We are the ones who know about our needs and what is happening in our community”, Omayra Peréz explains confidently. She wants to convince her community, located on the hillside of the poor districts of Caracas, to found a Consejo Comunal (community council). In more than 30.000 Consejos Comunales the Venezuelan inhabitants decide on their concerns collectively via assemblies. Omayra is supported by the activists of the nearby shantytown “Emiliano Hernández”, which has had a Consejo Comunal for three years already. The inhabitants there managed to get a doctor from the governmental program “Barrio Adentro”, who treats everyone free of charge. They also got money to renovate their houses and replaced over a dozen of sheet iron huts by new houses. All of these activities and a lot more have been organized via the Consejo Comunal. By local self-organization from below several working groups have been established on self-decided topics and decisions are made in assemblies.

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Il Messaggero

ROMA (21 febbraio) – Una task force di mezzo migliaio di agenti tra vigili urbani, poliziotti in assetto antisommossa e carabinieri. Accordi già presi con sei residence. E le ruspe pronte a motori accesi. Inizierà da martedì mattina l’operazione di sgombero e di bonifica dell’Idroscalo di Ostia.

L’intervento, originariamente previsto per il mese di novembre scorso, è stato pianificato dall’amministrazione comunale insieme con la Questura di Roma e la Prefettura. Mercoledì scorso sarebbe stata firmata la relativa ordinanza: il condizionale è d’obbligo perché il sindaco Gianni Alemanno smentisce. «E’ una decisione assunta a Roma riferisce invece il presidente del XIII Municipio, Giacomo Vizzani Sarebbe dovuta restare un’operazione coperta dal massimo riserbo: la fuga di notizie non fa bene alla buona soluzione della vicenda.

Leggi l’articolo: Fiumicino Idroscalo

By Abraham Cruzvillegas, 2009

Through his interest in autoconstrucción („self-construction“), Abraham Cruzvillegas explores economies of the makeshift, the handmade and the recycled. His recent work gravitates toward an examination of his childhood home and the neighborhood of Ajusco, a district in the south of Mexico City founded by migrants who, like his parents, squatted and settled in what was deemed uninhabitable land in the 1960s. To this day, Ajusco’s landscape of volcanic rock remains a work in process. Structures are in a constant state of transformation, as additions are made when materials become available and necessity dictates.

In contrast to cities developed with central planning or strict building codes, the architecture of each building in Ajusco is heterogeneous and manifests the particular vision of those who built it, often referencing a hybrid of styles and sensibilities indicative of an individuals‘ ideals and often informed by other people, places and times. The sense of ingenuity and improvisation that characterizes the landscape here reflects the vibrant, self-reliant and politically active community (who fought for the rights to property ownership) and becomes the impetus for the artist’s own exploration of the roots of his practice. (mehr …)

DACHHÜTTEN IN HONGKONG

Von Karin Schulze

Winzig, ärmlich, windig: Wer in Hongkong kein Geld hat, steigt anderen aufs Hochhausdach und baut dort Slumhütten. Eine Hamburger Schau zeigt die spektakulären Bauten und überrascht mit der Einsicht: Das karge Leben in luftiger Höhe hat sogar Vorteile – solange kein Taifun droht.

More about the article: http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,626823,00.html
More about the exibition: http://www.kunsthaushamburg.de/