︎︎︎Presentation of the book ‘ARCHIVO PRÁCTICAS COLABORATIVAS’ (ARCHIVE OF COLLABORATIVE PRACTICES)* Diego Peris (Todo por la Praxis) and *Pablo España (Colectivo Democracia)

This publication is a research and archival work on collaborative practices at the intersection of art, architecture, and activism, which had not been presented due to the circumstances of the pandemic. Its structure begins with an introduction by Luis Navarro, who addresses the theoretical framework of collaborative practices from the perspective of a pragmatic shift in representation. As he points out, "new social movements are aware that the battlefield is not only in the political arena, but above all in the cultural sphere and in customs, and they have incorporated practices [...] reserved for artists, appropriating them for social use. This is not an academic framework, in the sense that it is less oriented towards a didactic objective than towards proposing an interpretative bias, which, like any other, can be questioned from different perspectives and even be a subject of debate." From a more experience-based approach, the publication features research from various projects linked to art, education and territory (Ramón Parramón): ‘art needs to hybridise to address new issues if it wants to stay alive’; the use of architecture and social urbanism from positions of institutionalisation, resistance to its arrival with municipalism (Gloria Durán and Todo por la Praxis); the memory of two decades of activism and social art through the work of Las Agencias to the En medio collective, including Yomango (Leónidas Martín); and collaborative practices in Madrid between 2000 and 2019 and their relationship with the political and cultural context (Daniel Villegas and Laura de la Colina).

Another part of the publication corresponds to the selection of specific historical and ongoing projects that fall within the field of study of the archive, such as the work of the No Azwar collective in the protests against the war under the Aznar government (Noaz), the projects developed by the Platform of Anti-Fascist Artists (Pablo España), the movement to occupy and/or reactivate vacant lots in Spain (Carmen Lozano), the communication and design work of the Madrid Street Vendors' Union (Byron Maher), and the convergence of flamenco and activism by Flo 6x8 (Francisco Aix García). Finally, the book includes various materials incorporated into the collaborative practices archive, which have been partly funded by the former Instituto Do It Yourself (now Espacio de Todo), the collectives En Contingencia, Sitesize, El Gato con Moscas and Straddle 3.

Technical details
Collaborative Practices Archive 01
Ediciones Todo por la Praxis
Editorial coordination: Pablo España
Authors: Luis Navarro, Ramon Parramon, En Contingencia, Gloria G. Durán and Diego Peris, Leónidas Martín, Daniel Villegas and Laura de la Colina, Sitesize, Noaz, Carmen Lozano, Byron Maher, El gato con moscas, Pablo España, Francisco Aix Gracia, Straddle 3.
Softcover 21x15cm
236 pages
RRP €12

*Available at Traficantes de Sueños bookshop in Madrid and La Caníbal bookshop in Barcelona.