Arte y Ciudad. Revista de Investigación publishes articles and bibliographic reviews on art history and theory, visual arts, architecture, urban planning, communication,cultural studies, with special attention to contemporary art in all its manifestations and from any methodological approach, but also open to studies of different historical periods in which the city, the cities, and their artistic manifestations, have also played determining roles.
Imaginaries and itineraries of consumption in heritage architecture
It is through the promotion of itineraries of consumption that physical and spatial structure of the architectural heritage in the historic centre of Aguascalientes is transformed. Although the new architectural restorations are questionable, interest in historic preservation is gradually increasing in academic scopes. However, Francisco I. Madero and Venustiano Carranza Avenues now offer new communication routes, especially designed for young people. It is noteworthy that, contrary to popular belief, the historic centre remains of great importance to younger generations, and they also enjoy heritage preservation. This can serve to develop intervention plans tailored to users. It is necessary to regulate intervention works in these spaces and incorporate new preservation alternatives related to the sustainable cities and circular economy. The culture of consumption is important today, as well as it is the preservation of the cultural capital of the city centre.
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From Psicódromo to Pont Aeri. An urban history of mákina music in Barcelona
During the years before and after the Barcelona ‘92 Olympic Games, known as the years of Olympic Barcelona, there was a cultural manifestation that had a great impact on the forms of leisure of a stratum of Catalan society: mákina music. This research aims to study the relationship that existed between mákina music and the social and urban context in which it was produced and evolved. This relationship helps to understand from a new perspective the details of the emergence and evolution of this musical style and the spaces that contained it. Based on a review of the history of the mákina genre and the urban and political processes of Barcelona, a vector of analysis of its party spaces is traced, pointing out how the relationship between music-society-city has a direct translation in the typological evolution of the spaces of electronic dance music.
Everyday heritage: Representation and landscape in the region of Madrid
This article proposes a critical review of the role of representation in the affective bonding of communities with their landscapes in the region of Madrid: intangible cultural values linked to the creation, transformation and post-occupation of places, realities that defy the aesthetic or the geographical, or presences of the intangible, among others. To do so, it uses the idea of everyday heritage as a lens to reflect critically on the potential of representation —especially visual— in the consolidation of emotional, aesthetic and sensitive ties that transcend the community and that can elevate certain landscapes to the category of cultural property. Are there exceptional everyday experiences (perhaps, an oxymoron)? Is it possible to point out shared features or elements that generate similar affections? Or, following the approaches of the European Landscape Convention, can such everydayness remain so? Should it? Have they always been so?
Inclusive city: the representation of urban diversity in the film Elemental (2023)
The city, as a physical space, is a place of interaction and, as a social space, a territory characterized by the heterogeneity of its inhabitants. This condition gives rise to an interest in researching the concepts of diversity and inclusion so characteristic of the contemporary big city. The approach to this urban reality is carried out from a cinematographic perspective due to the importance of cinema as a socializing agent. Film analysis serves as a methodological tool to understand how the film Elemental (Peter Sohn, 2023), by Disney-Pixar, deals with urban social issues. This study investigates the sociocultural challenges facing the contemporary city based on the representation of urban diversity made by the animated film Elemental. The results point towards the configuration of a space for collaboration that promotes the common good, the governing principle of all community creation and the basic principle of the birth of cities. In addition, the general guidelines that lead to the conception of an inclusive narrative are discovered.
Malaga's Soho and the North-Eastern Quadrant of Se-ville's historic centre: two paradigmatic examples of cre-ative districts
This study analyzes the creative districts of Soho Málaga and the Northeast Quadrant of the Historic Center of Seville, aiming to understand the experiences and concerns of their creators. It explores the reasons for settling in these areas, perceptions of their future, and differences between the two districts. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, based on 23 semi-structured interviews with key informants. Additionally, questionnaires were conducted to gather quantitative indicators, and two documentary short films were produced. The findings reveal that while creators value the creative diversity and collaboration in these neighborhoods, gentrification, touristification, and rising living costs are major concerns. Soho Málaga is perceived as a top-down district, while Seville is seen as bottom-up. Despite the challenges, there is general optimism about the revitalization of these neighborhoods, though tempered by the mentioned threats.
The San Marcos Mill (Aguascalientes, Mexico), Living Heritage
At the beginning of the 20th century, Aguascalientes, Mexico, especially the capital of the state, had a great economic strength: with the arrival of the railroad and the establishment of the General Workshops of the Mexican Central Railway Company, commercial activity grew considerably, mainly around the railway facilities. Julio Díaz Torre, an Asturian merchant, arrived to the city in 1927 and after selling chiles and cereals, founded a flour mill that eventually had the name of the city’s patron saint, San Marcos (Saint Mark). San Marcos Mill, together with “La Perla” (“The Pearl”), “El Hércules” (“The Hercules”) and “La Harinera de Aguascalientes” (“The flour mill of Aguascalientes”) mills, were an important part of the industrial zone that settled next to the former railway workshops of which, only San Marcos Mill is still in operation. This paper focuses on the development of this milling company in the city and its evolution to this day, as well as the relevant role of its owner in the industry and commerce of Aguascalientes. The purpose is to expose the relevance of this industry and the historical-technological importance of the machinery with which it worked; its urban, economic and architectural role in the city, as a transforming and patrimonial element of it.
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Z??-BÍOS project for a biography of the ancient city
In this essay I try a hermeneutic approach to the hypothesis of a biography of historical spaces: historical, not only because they housed and were the scene of great feats - in the strictest herodotian sense - but also because the part of life that in them it has spilled, writing them, visiting them, studying them ... dreaming them ... from other spaces - some very distant - has, metaphorically, the character that in the subjects takes the name of "biography". In addition, taken in its general, holistic dimension, there would also be a consideration of Life, which involves all individual life. For this purpose I start from the etymology of two Greek words: ??? (Z??) that connotes life in general. That Z?? (cosmic-natural) manifested itself to the senses of the poet, the philosopher and the politician as ???? (bios) - individual life - imprint of that whole of the Z?? that is reflected in the mikro as in a mirror. At this point, I propose a biography of Istanbul - passing through Sumer- as a Greek city read by Christianity and Islam. In this writing styles and genres intersect: travel notes, historical-hermeneutical essay and poetic prose.
Heritage and Innovation in University Architecture in the City of Alcalá
The architectural heritage of the University of Alcalá is a unique case of study. Its conception, development, and implementation, as well as the academic concepts and policies that determined its architectural model are the result of a complex balance between conservation-restoration, contemporary intervention, and new architecture. The works undergone by the University of Alcalá are not easy to catalog and although many of them weren´t successful either, they make up a unique architectural corpus, embedded both within the historical fabric of the city (city campus), and beyond (scientific and technological campus). The combination of both operations and their volume and scale have produced a series of university architectural interventions unparalleled in the recent Spanish educational scene. This article develops a critical review of them, in the context of a change of paradigm due to continuous economic and social crises.
Urban regeneration through creative and cultural industries. The case of Digbeth (United Kingdom), a space to live, work and enjoy
The object of study of this research is cultural and creative districts, conceiving them as places of a high cultural and artistic level in which "a set of economic, non-economic and institutional actors [linked to the cultural and creative industries present in the districts] use some of the shared resources in order to develop a common project, which is simultaneously an economic project and a life project” (Lazzeretti, 2008, p. 328). In a global context where challenges related to inequality, transport, health and environment are increasingly appearing, creative and cultural industries have progressively attracted more and more interest, both at a political and an academic level (Gross, 2020). Especially during the last twenty years, great confidence has been placed in these industries to ensure the future of digital economy, for it is understood that they stimulate urban regeneration, are part of the solution for disparities in local and regional development (García Carrizo & Granger, 2019), suppose a way to address income inequality and a are catalysts to address exclusion and marginalization (Chapain & Comunian, 2010; García Carrizo, 2019, 2021a, 2021c). All this being said, this research analyses the case study of Digbeth, a cultural and creative district located in Birmingham, United Kingdom, which is considered the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. The history and evolution of this space. Special attention is focused on the fact that it is currently being positioned as an environment to live in, work and enjoy through its cultural and creative industries. In addition, this research analyses Digbeth’s conservation areas and its public art as a catalyst for urban regeneration.
Crisis and tourist opportunities in Palma cloistered convents
Cloister convents in Palma are the main remains of the historic convent city and the future is discussed in this paper. More than twenty were identified in the 17th century, being the first one founded in the 13th century. A long period of decadence and losses began during the 19th century with the crucial moment of the disen tailment of Church, coming up to present days. Despite all this, evidence of that old conventual activity can still be found thanks to female closures remaining within the old walled city. The current crisis of these convents has initiated a debate in sear ch of solutions within the framework of tourism, cultural and religious sectors. The need to overcome this crisis and to create tourist and cultural products in the historical center of Palma can be the starting point to remedy the situation of the convent s.
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In 1968 The Art Museum (MASP), of Lina Bo Bardi and the Faculty of Architecture (FAU -USP), of Joao Vilanova Artigas with Carlos Cascaldi were finshed in Sao Paulo. This yea r is very complex in the political situation of the country. Lina designed an architectural block from a collective conscience and defined a place for any activity of the citizens. This project altered its next space and the ideas about how should be publi c areas in the city. The building with form of prism of the Faculty of Architecture articulated the new plan of Architecture degree. This educational program defined a cooperative system of vertical and horizontal learning. The interior space of the buildi ng is the meeting point and maximum social activity. This place is key in the structure of the whole educational center and in the construction of this engine of social change. Both projects of hard geometries propose an integral construction of the public space that they lead to a social transformation. The first building presents an expansive proposal and the second one is more concentrated. Two objects that created new urban events where the union between the building and its immediate and common context is key to understand it.
Nomos and Ius as foundation of the Greek Polis and the Roman Civitas
Polis and civitas tend to translate is by city, as if both are questioned to the inmaterial structure. However, polis and civitas are not actual physical realities but immaterial order. This text aims to annotate the conceptual difference between both terms. A question is urban, material and geometric realit y of the city, and another is their religious, political, philosophical and sociological reality which depends. While the polis is determined by the nomos as principle, the civitas is articulated in the lathe to the ius. This is how it is understood that p olis and civitas may explain how different ways of understanding the coexistence and social relations .
Sustainable Outdoor Advertising: an implementation proposal in the city
Visual pollution plays an important role in determining the quality of the urban landscape and the image and reputation of cities. In this context, it is noteworthy that one of the greatest sources of visual pollution in the city is outdoor advertising. Therefore, in pursuit of a sustainable city model, it is necessary to implement advertising communication in urban spaces that achieves positive synergies and reduces said pollution.
Good Christians, good citizens. Civic Monuments dedicated to priests in Costa Rica
The present paper analyzes, both in statistical and compositional form, the sculptural monuments dedicated to priests in the territory of Costa Rica. In this way, it will be possibl e to verify to what extent the anticlerical liberal discourse that determined and determines the civic rights of the priests in Costa Rica, really affected in the creation of civic monuments in the country .
Artistically Intervened Neighbourhoods during Late Francoism
A mediados de la década de los ’70 tiene lugar una protesta de carácter artístico en el Barrio de Portugalete como consecuencia del Plan de Ordenación de la Ciudad Lineal. En tres días se realizaron más de cincuenta murales reivindicativos de artistas tan conocidos como Juan Genovés, Lucio Muñoz, Arcadio Blasco, José Duarte, José Vento, Aragonés, Alcaín, Ángel Orcajo, Zamorano, etc. Para algunos fue una manera de llamar la atención sobre sus problemas, para otros, un modelo de arte comunitario, de arte popular, de arte mural pictórico-poético, de arte vivo, arte en la calle, de museo al aire libre y tantos otros calificativos que recibió en su momento. Artistically transformed neighbourhoods in the late 1970s
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Intervention Criteria in the Historic Centre of Ferrara: From Post-World War Reconstruction Policies to the Integral Rehabilitation Plan
Despite the surprising scarcity and relative lack of interest that until recently has been evidenced in the Spanish-language bibliography, the historical importance of the city of Ferrara and its urban development leave no room for doubt. Jacob Burckhardt defined it in the 19th century as the first modern city in Europe, a definition that would be taken up a hundred years later by Bruno Zevi.
The Russian and Soviet Poster from 1914 to 1939
The Russian and soviet poster was one of the most influential propaganda media to accomplish the transformations that took place in this country since the beginning of the 20th century to the Russian Revolution and the establishment of soviet power. This article is the outcome of an research of the Russian-Sovier poster from the points of view of communication and aesthetics, with special emphasis on political communication. Contains a brief introduction to propaganda and commercial poster prior to Wold War I; an analysis of the propaganda poster in this war detailing authors, iconography and aesthetics; a study of the Russian Revolution and the Leninist period posters, including its role in political communication and its fit within the Russian avant-garde movements, as well as the drift that took it with the rise of Stalin until the beginning of the Second World War.
Las murallas de Segovia. Proceso histórico constructivo
Reseña del libro: Las murallas de Segovia. Proceso histórico constructivo. Miguel Ángel Martín Blanco Ed. Cervantes, Segovia, 2021
The bust of Pablo Iglesias in Puente Genil
The purpose of this work is to study the bust dedicated to Pablo Iglesias, founder of the PSOE, made by the sculptor Enrique Moreno, located in the town of Puente Genil in Cordoba. In addition, an analysis of the political and social motivations that led to his commission will be presented. In relation to this, this process will be explained in detail through the presentation of the existing collected documents. Furthermore, the entry of the socialist ideology in the municipality and its presence in the Town Hall during the II Republic will be shown. Finally, with the aim of getting to know the sculptor's work, a formal and stylistic analysis will be made of it.
“El Barrio de las Letras. Historia. Comercio. Ocio”. Mariano Domínguez Alcocer.
El Barrio de las Letras. Historia. Comercio. Ocio es fundamentalmente un compendio de fotografías. Un pequeño libro no de tesis sino de “gestos”, plasmados y recopilados por Mariano Domínguez Alcocer. En 128 páginas, 117 fotografías y un mapa, su autor recoge desde monumentos antiguos a establecimientos comerciales y de ocio; edificios históricos y modernos reunidos en una complicada tarea de selección. “Un barrio no cabe en un libro”, como así afirma su autor, que ha tenido que elegir entre las numerosas tomas realizadas en su periplo por este distrito; imágenes en las que prima ante todo el punto de vista humano.
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When the walls talk. An approach to mural painting in the public space during the Transition
Dentro del proceso de transición española hacia un régimen democrático, la pintura mural en el espacio urbano adquirió un papel de primera importancia al convertirse en un instrumento de expresión con el que partidos políticos y ciudadanos manifestaron sus deseos de cambio, así como un medio con el que acercar la creación artística al conjunto de la sociedad. Este artículo pretende exponer una visión general del desarrollo que vivió la pintura mural en el espacio urbano en España desde los años finales de la dictadura hasta el periodo de la Transición. The spanish transition to democracy was connected with the appearance of mural painting in the urban space, that played a main role in the freedom of expression for political parties and citizens, as well as a means of bring closer artistic creation to whole society. This article try to expose a general approach to the development of mural painting in Spanish public space from the very last years of dictatorship to the Transition.
Normas para la presentación de originales
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The city is a very recurrent topic in literary history. However, for more than a century, this microcosm has become the symbol of modernity, responding with very different ideological-spatial categories compared to tradition. The city has become such a hegemonic space that it has annulled the old country/city opposition in which the first element represented the aspiration towards a place of solitude or calm.
La Ciudad y sus docentes. Miradas desde el Arte y la Educación
El texto que plantea el profesor Ricard Huerta en este libro, se presenta como una aportación esencial y que cubre un vacío importante en el análisis y reflexión sobre las ciudades, los entornos urbanos y especialmente sobre la forma en la cual las personas nos relacionamos y nos vinculamos con la ciudad, y como la ciudad se integra en nuestra vida cotidiana desde múltiples perspectivas.
Conservando el pasado, proyectando el futuro. Tendencias en la restauración monumental en el siglo XXI.
La consideración de la restauración arquitectónica como una actividad esencialmente cultural posibilita que su ejercicio y su conocimiento teórico sea susceptible de someterse a una constante reactualización, contextualización y revisión crítica. El debate abierto sobre este campo del patrimonio arquitectónico, ampliamente sacudido en las últimas décadas por los cambios de las denominadas sociedades post-industriales y la manera de usar, valorar e intervenir en el patrimonio, resulta clave para entender la aportación de la publicación que se presenta, Conservando el pasado, proyectando el futuro. Tendencias en la restauración monumental en el siglo XXI. Coordinado por la historiadora del arte y profesora de la Universidad de Zaragoza, Ascensión Hernández Martínez, el volumen constituye una obra clave de referencia que actualiza y reflexiona sobre el complejo y problemático campo de la restauración monumental en la actualidad a través de diez magníficas aportaciones de especialistas de reconocido prestigio y de densa trayectoria investigadora en este campo, procedentes en su mayoría del ámbito universitario español e italiano.
Modifications of urban art and its impact on the City. Trans-formations in the case of Paseo Bandera (Santiago de Chile)
Visual Art as an intervention strategy in deteriorated areas has the capacity to generate reflection and dialogue as a strategy in urban rehabilitation. Artistic interventions in the city can provoke emotions and awaken people's curiosity, encouraging them to question or understand their environment as a mediator between the inhabitant's perception, architecture and social activity. This type of intervention, especially where color is the protagonist, requires constant improvement to avoid deterioration and reduce the level of perceptual impact, which can ultimately generate a loss in appropriation and identity. This is the case of Paseo Bandera that through Tactical Urbanism intervention methods generated, with the use of color and an artistic architectural intervention, an appropriation and identity and that allowed these strategies to remain over time and even change the use of definitively transforming a vehicular road into a pedestrian one in the historic center of the City of Santiago de Chile. The positive impact and its permanence over time subsequently motivated its surface to be increased and other new artistic interventions incorporated, within the same road, transforming it into a relevant space within the city. However, some of the new interventions have not managed to generate the same initial impact and have even been modified or intervened by third parties, which could mean a loss or a negative impact on this urban space. Through a review and morphological analysis of the interventions on Paseo Bandera it is possible to determine the impact they have generated in the space, the degree of appropriation and question their permanence over time.
Examples for Housing: The article «The Housing Problem» between democratic Europe and francoist Spain
The following contribution, which was presented at the 10th International Conference on Art and the City held in Madrid on 17, 18 and 19 April 2024, revolves around the article ‘The Housing Problem’, published in 1953 in Cuadernos de Arquitectura. This text, in the form of a monograph, presented the conclusions of the Competition for Solutions to the Problem of Affordable Housing in Barcelona, which had been organised in the city in 1949 by the Official Association of Architects of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. This competition arose in response to the housing crisis in Spain, especially in urban industrial areas. The text reintroduces, filtered through Catholic morality, previous architectural debates promoted by GATEPAC and CIAM, which had been silenced during the Franco regime. Accompanied by photographs of projects in democratic countries, a current reading of the article raises questions about how these images were accessed in a context of isolation due to autarky. This research seeks to trace the circulation of references to modern architecture before Spain's international reopening in the 1950s, highlighting the figure of Josep Maria Sostres, one of the winning architects in the competition. The methodology will include the analysis of national and international sources in accordance with the biographical journey of this architect of vast culture.
Housing and its patrimonial appreciation: A necessary reconfiguration
The housing has been classified as heritage, largely because it belongs to a specific period, the distinction is automatically granted to buildings erected prior to the 20th century. These are considered to have historical and cultural richness; the house is inserted in the set of properties that are protected by institutions such as INAH or UNESCO. Thus, heritage is inextricably related to history. The objective of the text is, on the one hand, to make evident how research on housing within heritage is generally consequence of the safeguard granted to a historical context. given for example, to a historical context. This research addresses the new architectural approaches of the twentieth century, as well as the housing projects and their formal reconfiguration that considered what was established by the circumstances of the time, both in the academic, professional, and in the political- economic sphere, without this meaning leaving aside the roots and social identification, as well as its historical- cultural richness.
Fashion of the street: when the public space becomes private
The streets are daily catwalks where fashion trends converge. This phenomenon, far from being a passing fad, has turned cities into veritable ephemeral stages where major brands can showcase their proposals in a wider environment than the traditional events. In the past, this practice was mainly reserved for small brands that did not have access to the events and platforms of the fashion weeks. However, post-pandemic restrictions have led to more open-air shows, turning squares and streets into ideal venues. Today, major fashion houses have adopted this format, sparking a debate about the privatisation of public space. This trend represents a redefinition of the relationship between the fashion industry and the urban environment, highlighting the tension between accessibility and exclusivity.
Curating Heritage. On the Future of the Past in the Every-day Landscape of the Metropolis of Madrid
The influx of landscapes into heritage studies has expanded the boundaries of both fields. Thus, the notion of heritage has been enlarged to include that which belongs to the networks of affection that communities form with the places they inhabit; that is, that which people value as it allow them to recognize themselves in their living environment. This paper offers a theoretical discussion on the identification and protection of values in the everyday landscapes of the metropolis of Madrid. To do so, it examines three recent exhibitions promoted by the CentroCentro cultural space: Madrid acuosa (2021), dedicated to water management in the city; La ciudad del Futuro: de la huerta a la mesa (2021-2022), about the agri-food gap between the city and the countryside; and Entre río y raíles (2022-2023), on the transformations since the nineteenth century of the railway corridor in the former river terraces of the Manzanares river. Although the exhibitions have been presented to the public as narratives on several current socio-environmental issues, both a detailed study of their contents and an analysis of their interpretive schemes allow us to identify consistent discourses of patrimonialisation. The study discusses the idea of curatorship as a critical practice of thinking about heritage from the past, in the present, for the future. This practice is based on collecting, selecting and attributing value to objects, places and practices from a transitory assemblage. In this way, curating is reformulated as a specific mode of reflexive knowledge production that infiltrates aesthetics in its method. At the same time, curatorship can leave the exhibition halls to explore the spatial dimension of heritage and contribute to imagining future landscapes for the metropolis.