> Espacio Afro Cultural Centre
Madrid
, Spain
2022
Espacio Afro is an
artistic, cultural and political proposal focused on claiming back Afro
realities inside and outside Spain. The spatial design is a collective project
carried out between different agents: the cultural association Conciencia Afro
and its expanded community, UZ, and Husos arquitecturas. The spatial design can
be summarised through three main premises.
First, our goal was to create a flexible space that can be easily
adapted to accommodate the different activities taking place in the Cultural
Centre. Second, we have built an exemplary,
environmentally sound space. In order to achieve this goal, we revisited
popular recycling practices, including those with deep roots in the African
continent, its diaspora and other regions of the Global South.
Thirdly,
we have created a space with a malleable symbolic character and atmosphere,
which can be collectively reinvented time and again. This can be done through
interventions by different cultural agents linked to the Centre's programming.
Some of these interventions have already been carried out, while others are yet
to come. Espacio Afro has been conceived as an Other space, a place where Africanness
can be a catalyst for weaving together new relationships and dreaming of other
futures.
