Mike Kay

hablemos de algo ms de los mingitorios

pero antes, unos mingitorios, ok
Articultores can make the difference be-
tween an inhospitable city and a humane
one. Though seed bombs are not a new
concept, the seed bombs and plantings of
Articultores are unique in that they em-
phasize plants that grow vegetables and
herbs. In addition to creating awareness
in making a city more livable, Articultores
encourages individuals to grow and har-
vest their own food.
In the founding year of Articultores,
although in a limited space, we managed
to perform regular activities at the gal-
lery and around the city. And the word
spread. Now there are spin-off groups in
the cities or Bahia Blanca and Crdoba
and in California, and local and interna-
tional press have taken notice.
Personally, I see the success in Articul-
tores up to this point, more in publicity
than in directly sustaining successful
urban gardens. (One articultores garden
I cared for myself, was eventually quashed
by someone dumping a pile of garbage.)
The emphasis on the ritual is effective,
as with any activity integrated with art
the spectacle can sometimes be more
impactful than the product. Because of
Articultores, a community and network of
urban farmers has grown giving support
to individual gardens at home, and more
ambitious projects in public areas.
From San Telmo to Once: The birth of
OnceLibre
In September 2010, after a winter pause,
and the closing of the hosting gallery,
Appetite, Judith had acquired the use of a
new space in the neighborhood of Once.
On my frst visit I was awestruck, by both
the grand size and character of the place.
And also was impressed at how neglected
it had been, making it a challenge to work
in. Here was an entire foor of the former
Hotel Marconi, where supposedly Carlos
Gardel (Argentinas most famous singer
of tango) had performed on occasion.
Now it was full of wine bottles, rubble,
broken windows, pigeons and rats, and
its share of water damage. I saw poten-
tial under it all and ths possiblities for
OnceLibre
(originally published May
30, 2011 http://peep.org/
words/?p=785)
As an artist transplanted
from New York, I came
to Buenos Aires trying
to connect with a com-
munity of other artists.
To collaborate, com-
miserate, to evolve and
hopefully to show work.
From my involvement
with two related groups,
OnceLibre and Articul-
tores, I had begun to
achieve this. However,
on May 17, 2011 this
was interrupted abruptly and violently.
It all began with Articultores
I moved to Argentina in late 2004, and
frst met Judith Villamayor, the organizer
of both OnceLibre and Articultores, par-
ticipating in a public art event Estudio
Abierto Buenos Aires in December 2005.
Judith is a person who, while an artist
in her own right, puts more energy into
organizing other artists, primarily young
and talented unestablished artists. And
to her credit, she does this in a very open
and non-exclusive way, where she is open
to including anyone with incentive.
In 2009, I became reacquainted with
Judith when I visited the gallery Appetite
in the neighborhood of San Telmo, near
where I live. Judith was working there, ar-
ranging sprouting plants in the inside of
a gallery that had no natural light.
Plants in a gallery? Well other artists have
used living plants in art installations, but
this resembled more a nursery than a gal-
lery installation, aside from the surround-
ing artwork and signature mylar-covered
walls. I was drawn to the idea because
of the fusion of seemingly disparate
interests of mine, gardening and creat-
ing art. Judith immediately asked me to
give a hand and I soon became a regular
participant with Articultores. One of the
primary activities of Articultores has been
the creating of golf-ball-sized seed bombs.
These bombs are thrown in functional
and ceremonial ways at various aban-
doned and abused pieces of open land
in Buenos Aires, principally empty lots
and barren planters. As important in this
is the ritual of making the bombs ahead
of time, where various people at once
participate in the process, chatting and
getting to know each other and sharing
knowledge of gardening.
In any city this would be a vital activity,
but Buenos Aires is a place where there
is little regard for the environment,
with garbage and cement winning out
over nature. Here activities like those of
un poco de historia
to improve and maintain Once Libre,
each month we have chipped in a modest
sum of money to pay for materials and
compensate our neighbors for the access
to electricity and water.
Successes at OnceLibre
In addition to fxing up and working in
my studio, I have built and maintained
the website of the group, OnceLibre.com.
ar. Over the months we have cleaned and
improved the space, and artists came and
went, some from other countries includ-
ing Columbia, Brazil, Chile, and Para-
guay. Plus a an artist from New York, Ivy
Haldeman, worked there for a few weeks
creating interventions with bricks, as seen
in the photo. I am now close friends with
Ivy along with a few other artists I met in
OnceLibre.
Artists submit proposals for how long
they wish to work at OnceLibre, and what
they hope to accomplish. Judith consid-
ers all of them and has done her best to
accommodate as many artists as possible,
using every last corner of the space. For
several artists this was their only chance
of having a dedicated space to get work
done. OnceLibre had provided a working
environment to dozens of artists over the
course of just 8 months, and things were
only getting better. How the space was
transformed from a forgotten dumping
ground into a vital and growing commu-
nity was amazing, a refection of the work
of Articultores on forgotten land.
In addition to regular meetings of actions
of Articultores, several well-attended
Articultores to have just a small corner of
it to work in.
This site in Once also contained many
former hotel rooms and other spaces that
could make excellent artist studios. How
I understood it, Judith had been loaned
the entire space for an indefnite length
of time through the cultural ministry of
Argentina. (An arrangement, that at the
end had come under dispute.) What a
great country that can support its emerg-
ing artists in this form! I wanted to be a
part of this, to work on my own projects
in a creative environment with others.
Thus I took over a damp and musty old
room, full of decades of dust, a crum-
bling ceiling and peeling paint. After
cleaning it up and painting the room, it
served well as a studio for a few months.
After giving up that space to another
artist, I took over a former bathroom that
was in such disgusting condition that no
one had considered it usable space. With
the help of my boyfriend Guille we trans-
formed it into a charmed space where I
began to work with silkscreen again for
the frst time in 20 years.
In order to function, OnceLibre not only
required serious cleaning and paint-
ing, but lacked electricity and running
water. The building is unusual in that it
is likely not legally habitable by building
codes, but it is under the control of the
federal government and sympathetic
political groups. We got to know some of
the people of the CMP political group
on the foor below and they were very
welcoming and gave us access to water
and electricity. At frst this involved flling
individual buckets with water and hauling
them up a fight of stairs. Eventually, we
installed ourselves a network of electri-
cal connections, and with the help of the
hard-working Jorge, a few connections of
water. It is amazing how the presence of
these two basic things, water and elec-
tricity, can transform how one can use a
space. In addition to sharing in the work
events have been
held at OnceLibre.
We held two very suc-
cessful open studios
of the resident artists.
Classes and work-
shops in painting,
electronic music,
paper making, and
much more. Meetings
of a burgeoning artist
union, a weekend
conference for open
software, and now a
weekly radio pro-
gram, Activate!.
And recently we be-
gan offering an excellent series of classes
teaching how to grow an urban vegetable
garden in ones own balcony or terrace.
All this was open to all and for no cost.
As the participation has been increasing,
also so has the publicity. Numerous re-
porters from both domestic and interna-
tional news organizations have visited us
in OnceLibre. Participation in events and
workshops was enthusiastic.
Suddenly things werent right
A few weeks before I wrote this hints of
trouble began to emerge at OnceLibre.
Judith explained that there was a confict
with the people on the second foor (we
on the topmost third foor), that was sure
to blow over. The space we were in was
really the domain of the people who were
to eventually develop a museum to the
veterans of the Malvinas War. But there
was no plan for a museum in the near fu-
ture and they were happy to have us there
indefnitely. What I thought was a mere
bump in the road, evolved into our lights
and water being cut off. What I hadnt yet
realized was that the bosses of the union
on the second foor, wanted the space
for a reason that was never made clear,
and they were making a power play. Still
the space belonged to the families of the
Malvinas War veterans, and they were sup-
porting us.
How I understand it, something hap-
pened behind the scenes, and on Tues-
day, May 17, a group of beefy union guys,
led by the famous instigator Luis DElia,
forced their way into the space and began
breaking locked doors and setting up
the place for a big gathering the same
day. I was not there when it happened,
but how I understand it, there would be
no violence if we didnt get in their way.
We were invaded by force. At the same
time, the representative of the Malvinas
War veterans changed positions and
informed Judith that we had to accom-
modate the group on the second foor in
any way they wished. Since the people on
the second foor now wanted us out that
implied we had to leave. On learning this,
I rode my bike to Once to meet with my
companions and to learn more and see
how I could help. The talk was sombre,
about negotiating our time there, trying
to get three months more to fnd a space
to move to. But one month seemed more
attainable.
Though things didnt look good, they
also didnt look terribly urgent. Then,
at 8pm, back at home working, I saw on
Twitter that we had until 10pm
that same night to move things
out and after wed be locked out.
I ran to the space where so much
had been built over the past 8
months, and everyone was sud-
denly scrambling in the dark to
load their supplies and work into
taxis and moving trucks. A very
sad moment, but everyone was in
such shock and desperate to save
their stuff, that there was no time
to refect. It was how I imagined
it would be to escape a natural
disaster such as a fre or tsunami,
where everyone has to make sudden
choices on what they would grab and
what they would leave behind. Evidence
of other artists who still hadnt learned of
the recent developments was apparent in
their work and materials set up as if they
were coming back the next day to contin-
ue work. I wished I could help them out,
but it was enough to get my own things
out in such short notice. I called the
number of one friend who wasnt aware
of what was happening. I interrupted him
at his own art opening, from where he
came as fast as he could to rescue paints,
brushes and a lifetime of work.
It turned out that over the next few
days we were able to return on limited
occasions to get stuff, and fortunately
most things were recovered. I have my
things comfortably at home, aside me
as I type things right now. But there are
others who are more in limbo, includ-
ing a young woman from Columbia who
came to Buenos Aires just to work on her
projects, and hasnt the means to secure a
hospitable space to work at all.
I was every to fnd out any concrete mo-
tives for us being kicked out, other than it
wasnt our space. In retrospect, a critical
mistake was made in that the agreement
for the space was not in writing. Judith
confrmed verbally many times that we
were more or less indefnitely. After the
confict on Tuesday, the new leader of
the Malvinas group, published a public
letter stating that the agreement was that
we were to have the space only through
February. According to Judith this was
not the agreement; and even if it were the
agreement, why did they wait so long to
do anything to get us out, and so sud-
denly? There never was an offcial letter
ordering us to go, just the presence of a
group of men mimicking a scene from a
Sopranos TV episode.
My mood and that of my companions has
varied between anger and sadness, and
disappointment with business as usual in
this banana republic under the rule of
thugs; but overriding it is the emphasis
on the future, fnding a new space, and
how to continue working. Its diffcult to
keep up momentum in ones work once
upended so abruptly, and a few wanted to
strike out at the aggressors (an under-
standable urge), but the majority would
rather put their energy into building
something for the future rather than
retribution for past deeds. Plus the bonds
everyone involved have become stronger
than ever. The seeds of OnceLibre have
only just sprouted.
Nacido en California de los Estados Unidos, soy residente de Argentina donde vivo
hace siete aos en el barrio de Barracas de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. Mi formacin
artstica comenz en escuela secundaria donde estudi fotografa tres aos en un
programa de nivel profesional. Despus
consegu la licenciatura con honores de
Bellas Artes en School of Visual Arts en la
ciudad de New York.
Fuera del arte, me haba dedicado en
trabajo como diseador grfco (www.
peep.org/mk). Antes trabaj con diarios
y revistas de imprenta hasta publicar mi
propia revista artstica, Peep. Despus
me convert en trabajar con desarrollo
y diseo de paginas web, primero con
unas empresas como Wired y Conde Nast, y ahora sigo independiente con varias
clientes. Un cliente principal de ac es San Martn de Porres (www.porres.edu.ar),
la fundacin Argentina que trabaja con nios con autismo. Prximamente estoy por
actualizar la pagina de Articultores. Mi perspectiva en el diseo es orientado por la
usabilidad de la tecnologa para ser mas humano y til para todos.
En el arte sigo trabajando con fotografa y serigrafa. Mis obras ahora son basados
en series de fotografas con mingitorios, cielos, arboles,
y ms. Empiezo con los objectos, transformandolos con
repeticin y abstraccin. Me interesa encontrar una belle-
za con objectos que no defnimos as como los mingito-
rios, adems con mi propia vista de la naturaleza.
En New York he mostrado en unas exhibiciones peque-
as y en 2010-11 cumpl una residencia en Once Li-
bre (http://oncelibre.com.ar/artistas/michael-kay/).
Adems construye la pagina web de Once Libre.
Yo haba sido un participante desde el principio
de Articultores en las acciones de guerrilla huerta.
En el programa de radio, Activate!, soy especialis-
ta de reportaje sobre las ciclovas de Buenos Aires.
Cuando no estoy trabajando con el arte o con
las paginas web, me encuentran nadando en ros
silvestres, cocinando cocina mexicana y asado ar-
gentino, o paseando con mi perro por los barrios
de San Telmo, Constitucin y Barracas.
adems, una receta
como llegu ac, yo
Tacos mexicanos, hechos en Argentina
Realmente los tacos pueden contener
cualquier cosa que te guste. Eleg tu
relleno principal.
Relleno para carnvoros
Fetas de carne, (30-40 gramos por taco).
Ped la carne cortada como si fuera para
milanesas gruesas (cuadrada, nalga,
peceto, etc.).
Tambin podras utilizar pollo, cerdo,
o pescado en lugar de carne vacuna.
Ms rico todava con chivo, us tu
imaginacin.
Cocin en sarten o plancha,
condimentado con un poco de sal y
pimienta.
Despus de cocinar, pic la carne.
Rellenos varios para vegetarianos
Queso Port Salut, rallado o cortado fno
Championes cortados y salteados
Zapallito o zucchini picado y salteado
Granos de choclo asado
Porotos negros
Algo de tu imaginacin
Antes de cocinar el relleno pic el
tomate, cebolla y cilantro para tener todo
preparado.
La tortilla para armar el taco
Pan tipo wrap (Rapiditos Bimbo u otro
tipo de wrap)
Dor cada una sobre una plancha o
sarten, dando vuelta la tortilla hasta
que se caliente bien. Pero evit sobre-
cocinarlas para que no queden duras.
Despus, agreg el relleno y termin con
lo siguiente:
Tomate picado fno
Cebolla (blanca o morada, pero comn
tambin sirve), picada muy fna
Cilantro, lavado y picado
Salsa picante o chiles bolivianos, a gusto
Opcional:
Palta, bien picada o aplastada
Queso crema (te ruego que no uses
mayonesa!)
Servilos imediamente calentitos. Segu
cocinando hasta que todos tus amigos se
llenen!
Colabor en una instalacin con Robert McCor-
mack para la Gallery of Visual Arts
8
ABRIL 2012
http://articultores.net
GALERA CLANDESTNA