Taller Nuevo Norte: Infraestructura para migrantes en Monterrey
An action research project which addresses the migratory phenomenon in Monterrey, Mexico
This project explores the agency of design in conditions of uncertainty, mobility, and communities excluded from formal structures. It seeks to understand and give value to “Informal Systems,” which embody fluid processes that constantly learn, evolve and adapt. In these social organizational structures, which are based primarily on mutual reliance, productive activities fall outside the formal economic systems and human rights are subject to relations of trust and power beyond the formal written norms.
The idea of the “American Dream” is less poetic when confronted in reality. This journey that usually starts in the Mexican southern border towards the United States consists of tangible flows of information, money and vulnerable individuals; thus, the initial hope and enthusiasm is soon dissolved in the urgency of survival.
In this context, we expand the scope of the architect to explore alternative modes of agency, including engagement with vulnerable communities, encouraging collaborative thinking and production, as well as initiating active research and activism. Furthermore, we want to promote more bottom-up approaches and collaborative design schemes within the architectural practice, in which the architect does not work alone, but is part of a multidisciplinary team in constant dialogue with the community.
“Taller Nuevo Norte: infraestructura para migrantes” is a social, intellectual and design experiment to disclose assumptions about migrants, push forward initiatives seeking for inclusion and discover projects and collectives which have one thing in common: to reduce the imminent vulnerability of migrants across Mexico. This project aims to overcome the frequent architecture discipline’s problem-solving approach, and opens up the opportunity of collaborative learning and designing by considering the knowledge and skills developed by migrants in their complex journey.
The workshop took place in Monterrey, from the 12th until the 23rd of June, 2017. It was one of a series of workshops initiated by Mexican Anthropologist, Pablo Landa. After two experiences in Tijuana and Mexicali, Landa continues the third version in Monterrey, in collaboration with a local architecture studio, Covachita, and a multidisciplinary group of 15 people, including architects, journalists, lawyers, photographers and social workers, exploring topics of migration, diversity, vulnerability and resilience.
With no pre-established program or design, the team gathered in Escuela Adolfo Prieto. The multidisciplinary group members’ expertise facilitated discussions from various points of views and interests. Together they broadened the scope of migration and expanded the possibilities of action. The workshop explores a collaborative learning methodology, in which mi- grants were engaged both in the research and in the projects’ development. Through story-telling sessions, individual interviews, and photography workshops, the team engaged with them in a reciprocal exchange of experiences, skills, intimacy and sensibilities.
An artistic exhibition and video, aimed at creating awareness among the general community of Monterrey and beyond about the migration phenomenon. The “travelers” who participated in the photography workshops had an opportunity to tell their story through images and audio, while remaining anonymous; the audience of the exhibition were invited to engage in an empathetic manner.
Collaborators: Manuela Uribe, Pablo Landa, Museo Mutante
