We would like to share a small throwback to some events that we organised together with TuTela Learning Network earlier this year.
On January 24th Not-an-Atlas travelled to Granada as part of the program Haciendo barrio: calles, plazas, viviendas, organized by Ajuntamiento Albaicín. The collective has been working for several years in the neighbourhood of Albaicín raising awareness on questions like gentrification and touristification and implementing strategies of resistance.
The event started with the screening of our Documentary on Counter-Cartographies and was followed by the book presentation and a workshop. The screening attracted curious citizens and dedicated activists likewise. Some of the participant contributed with their own counter-mapping experience. The book presentation and the following short mapping workshop on mobility and housing in Granada involved activists from several collectives, among them Ajuntamiento Albaicín, Ajuntamiento Centro-Sagrario, Levadura Crítica and Granada en Transición. The collective Levadura Crítica had also written a short book review about the Not an Atlas in Spanish earlier this year which you can read on TuTela’s blog.
On February 28th we held another event in Pécs, in Szabadkikötő, a bar and multifunctional cultural space operated by the Kulturális LABOR Szociális Szövetkezet, a cooperative that works on a variety of cultural initiatives in the city and beyond. Among the participants of the event, there were researchers from the Communication and Media Studies Department of the University of Pécs: Tibor Mester and Attila Doboviczki who worked with mental mapping in past research projects, as well as Aradi Fanni (A Város Mindenkié Pécs), Angéla Thiesz (Retextil) and Sára Serdült (SocLab), among others.
Both events were organised in the spirit of opening spaces of discussion among citizens, activists, researchers, artists who are interested in applying a critical view on their local contexts and on how counter-mapping can contribute to that. The events, therefore, went beyond being simple screenings or presentations. To brake up the “traditional” format of book presentations we invited the audience to form groups, discover, read and discuss different chapters of the book and, afterwards, share their observations. Also at both locations, we had previously launched a call for counter-cartographic experiences and directly invited researchers or collectives to discuss their experiences. Thus, the events were designed around sharing and connecting personal and activist experiences.
The events in Granada and Pécs were facilitated by Kitti Baracsi (TuTela) and special thanks go to Rafael Fuentes and Marina García Moreno (Ajuntamiento Albaicín) for their support of the organisation in Granada, as well as to Márton Szuhay (Szabadkikötő) for welcoming and organising the event in Pécs and to Darinka Pilári (Rhytmos Noir) for her support during the preparations.
When you are in Pécs, please remember that you can find the Atlas in Szabadkikötő which is one of the coolest bars and cultural spaces of the city. Our Documentary on Counter-Cartographies is now available with hungarian subtitles, thanks to the translation of Márton Czirfusz (Periféria Központ). In Granada, you can find copies in the Library of Albaicín, the Bakakai Bookshop, in the Biblioteca Social hnos. Quero, as well as at the Anaquerando Gitana Association.
Below, we share two of those experiences that we have learnt about during the two events:
Retextil map of Pécs (ongoing project)
Why do we crochet a city map? Creating a map brings knowledge, determines our place in a network of connections, it strengthens the value of communities. The form and structure of the map show what is important to the participants, indicate the emotional attitude of participants towards space. We bring our knowledge about recycling textiles, how to make threads and basic textile techniques (looping, crochet, knotting, weaving etc). This connects tradition with the concept of recycling/upcycling.
Touristification Board Game, Granada
In August 2019, based on the need to call attention on the impact that mass tourism was having in our neighbourhoods and our ways of living, we came out with the idea to experiment with other formats, namely a board game. With this, we would like to reflect on the challenges that societies should tackle in a collective and participatory way, understanding that the affected community is that has the largest knowledge on these impacts – be they positive or negative.
