Doom City. Barcelona and Sant Martí de Provençals.
2014
Publication
45 copies 

A book containing the material created over the course of the project.

http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/joanaustria/?p=251
 

On the day of the presentation of the publication, two elements that completed the creative process were also presented:

- A selection of twenty photographs by the pupils in large format.

http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/joanaustria/?tag=fotografies-alumnes

- A flag made by the whole group and hung from the pole on the school front.

http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/joanaustria/?tag=bandera

- Parallel to the entire process, the pupils worked on a specific subject in their personal notebooks, some pages from which were included in the final publication.

http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/joanaustria/?tag=llibreta-personal

Presentation by the pupils

This is the full text written by all the participating pupils together, and which two pupils read out at the exhibition presentation:

“Good evening,

Our names are Desi and Jero, and we represent Class 4B at the Institut Joan d'Àustria secondary school. On behalf of ourselves and our classmates we want to tell you what it meant to us to take part in the In Residence project.

We have learnt many things this academic year. We have come face to face with contemporary art and while at first we found it strange and disconcerting, we now find it different, reach, without rules, a bit mad, open to everyone, something that represents today's world and above all, is very inspiring.

We also know Sant Martí de Provençals better. Sant Martí is a neighbourhood where the people have always fought for their rights, and we have realised that cities are more complex than we thought.

With Montserrat Soto we followed a different creative process than we were used to. Each of us chose a theme. At first we had to do research, using a range of different tools and sources: our own photographs, the talks we were given by experts in town planning and the history of the neighbourhood, our interviews of elderly people at the community centre and our visits to MACBA, La Virreina and the Sant Martí Archive. We also read and study old newspaper articles that talked about the transformation of Barcelona and its neighbourhoods, and we watched and discussed two films, Blade Runner and OnTime, which made us think about models for cities different from our own.

Parallel to this research process, we also kept personal notebooks, where we wrote down everything we were working on, what we learned and experienced during our creative process. We also designed an onomatopoeic flag and we want our work to fly on it, visible and sonic.

What we most appreciated about the project was the chance to work with an artist, which enabled us to learn more about how she works, her dynamic. Montserrat Soto taught us to make more in-depth interpretations of images and texts and, above all, to find the aesthetic, historic and cultural significance of the simplest elements in our everyday environment. We learned how initial ideas become enriched and transformed until they produce unexpected and interesting final results. We think group work is more important now that we have seen how our individual contributions were respected and helped to make the final result that you can see here.

For all this, and on behalf of Class 4 B, many thanks to everyone who helped to make this experience possible”.

Public presentation at the school

Besides all those involved, mentioned above, the joint presentation with Institut Infanta Isabel d'Aragó brought together many people who had assisted with the research process. We should mention particularly the presence of people from the Sant Martí senior citizens' social centre, with which the group worked very closely.

Representatives from both schools noted how important it was for them to make the presentation together and in a shared space.