Antònia Del Río IN RESiDENCE at the School Infanta Isabel d’Aragó

DEFINING THE INITIAL FRAMEWORK OF REFLECTION

Antònia del Río's proposal focuses on the structures of knowledge and on archives, sites and objects that contain memory. The project began with initial research into sites that can contain memory, in order to study them and see how they can be organised. The pupils brought photographs of screens, posters, books, family albums, etc. - different elements around them that they consider to be containers of memory and knowledge.

CONTAINERS OF MEMORY: EXPLORING THE SCHOOL AND OTHER NEARBY PLACES

A first visit to the school library is organised in order to study how it works and how the resources are organised. At the same time, a photograph archive is begun on the nearby spaces where it is detected that knowledge is either generated or stored.

VISIT TO MACBA

The visit to MACBA was designed based on works related to the idea of the archive. For example, a detailed study is made of Oriol Vilanova's work Còpies [Copies], a huge inventory of postcards of triumphal arches.
The visit to the MACBA Collection was prepared jointly by Antònia del Río and the museum educational service.
http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/infantaarago/?p=163

Cooperation with the Antoni Tàpies Foundation

Two sessions were organised in cooperation with the Antoni Tàpies Foundation Archive. At the first, the pupils visited the Foundation to see the archive and the works storage department, thinking about what an archive is, the work that goes on in them, etc. The pupils took materials linked to the process, which they had prepared over the days prior to the visit, drawings reflecting what they imagined the archive would be like (“We Imagine the Antoni Tàpies Foundation Archive”). At the second session, the archive manager visited the school and gave the pupils advice on how to decide organisation and prioritisation criteria for the photographs they were compiling.

The archive of photographs can be viewed online at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/117005895@N06/

The residency blog also provides an account of the two sessions organised in cooperation with the Antoni Tàpies Foundation:
http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/infantaarago/?p=125
http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/infantaarago/?p=198

THE SCHOOL ARCHIVE: GENERATING A NEW ARCHIVE OF MARKS

To continue with the investigation, the school secretariat and management was asked what archives are kept there. What records are kept of pupils? What is recorded and what not? This exploration led to a discovery that would become central to the work: we could compile and archive the traces left by pupils in different materials and elements, some of which are generally not considered important.

ORGANISING THE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVE

The first search for photographs generated a disorganised series of images that it was decided to turn into an archive. Núria Solé, manager of the Tàpies Foundation Archive, was asked to help, and she suggested ideas and gave guidance with regard to establishing a taxonomy and labels in order to establish order. The process ended with the creation of an online archive.

WITHDRAWN BOOKS AT THE SANT MARTÍ AND SCHOOL LIBRARIES

Research began into books that had been withdrawn from the school and Sant Martí libraries with a view to generating an intervention. 
Both libraries provided lists of withdrawn books and engaged in the initiative by making books selected by the pupils available to their users. 
Finally, a sound installation was created to invite interaction: the idea is to take out on loan some of the books threatened with withdrawal by the library in order to prevent this.Moreover, the sound installation was installed at both libraries to, regularly entering into operation.
The sound archive installed is available on the blog:
http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/infantaarago/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/edició-cat.mp3

LINKS WITH OTHER GROUPS AND/OR TEACHERS AT THE SCHOOL

Midway through the second term, the residency was presented to all the fourth-year teaching team. The result of this meeting was the cooperation with the school library.
Presentation of Esporgats#2 as part of the programme of events for Sant Jordi organised at the school. At this presentation, which the artist Antònia del Río also attended, the entire school community is invited to visit the two libraries and take part in the installation.
The baccalaureate pupils produced a bookmark to promote this sound intervention. The bookmark, which was cut out by pupils who also volunteered to take part in the process, was printed in two versions and distributed to all the pupils at the school.
http://blocsenresidencia.bcn.cat/infantaarago/?p=266

Catalan language teachers helped to produce the blog, proofreading the texts and helping to draft the final text (and performance) for Esporgats2#.

CHEWING GUM AND SCRAPING

The group decided to make an archive from very specific marks left by pupils over the years: chewing gum stuck under tables, and graffiti on desks and doors.

MAKING THE ARTIST'S BOOK

To organise and display this new record, the group decided to create an artist's book to contain the graffiti. To organise these graffiti, they were classified into different volumes according to where they came from and placed in a wooden file designed to reproduce the form of an archive.

PRESENTATION

The process culminated in the public presentation of the project at the school, jointly with the residency at Institut Joan d'Àustria. The exhibition featured all the work that had been created throughout the process:

ARXIU_RASTRES I CICATRIUS [ARCHIVE_MARKS AND SCARS]
ARXIU_SUBTERFUGIS [ARCHIVE_SUBTERFUGIS]
ARXIU_ARXIUS [ESTRUCTURES DEL CONEIXEMENT] [ARCHIVE_ARCHIVES [STRUCTURES OF KNOWLEDGE]]
IMAGINEM L'ARXIU DE LA FUNDACIÓ ANTONI TÀPIES [WE IMAGINE THE ARCHIVE AT THE ANTONI TÀPIES FOUNDATION]

With the artist, the pupils presented their work and explained the process behind it.