FRAN QUIROGA

Legacy Care (Betanzos, Galicia) is a contemporary creation project by Concomitentes, the Spanish version of Nouveaux Commanditaires, a program promoted in France more than thirty years ago by the artist François Hers. For this concomitance, that is, each of the projects that are developed in Concomitentes, the starting point revolves around the legacy of the García Naveira brothers, residents of Betanzos who emigrate to Argentina and who after their return at the end of the 19th century They begin to promote philanthropic acts such as the creation of the encyclopedic park, the Casa do Pobo, the Lavadoiro, the Schools, the Refuge or the Asylum. Addressing this issue is an exercise in historic commitment to a reality that has affected thousands of people. Through this Concomitance we want to pay tribute to these acts of social justice through philanthropy, think about the return, but also problematize how we were not able to maintain in an optimal state a heritage that speaks of a we, hence the title of the concomitance «Legacy Care».

Heritage is a legacy of those who came before us. We are part of those multiple legacies that somehow build and identify us, heritage creates subject, both individual and collective. Society seeks its safeguard; we are the custodians of these elements, be it the language, traditional dances, or real estate etc. That a public space like Parque Pasatempo is closed is the result of carelessness, but also of a wound, of a fissure; Hence, groups such as the Asociación Amigos del Parque Pasatempo have promoted various actions with the aim of reversing this situation so that the park and the legacy of the García Naveira brothers can recover that radiance.

In addition to the Association of Friends of Pasatempo Park, the Friends of the Old Town of Betanzos and the Free Cultural Association of Paderne Roxin Roxal also promote this concomitance. Both share the defense of heritage, addressing this care through different strategies, based on this assumption of co-responsibility, of doing. Faced with this concern for the heritage situation, there are many mechanisms that are addressed, from routes, demonstrations, to festivals or second-hand markets in the historic center of Betanzos. In this set of actions hides a desire, there is a doing-in-the-park, or-in-the-old-area, but also a doing-with-others and therein lies the power to promote a participatory project of creation contemporary artistic.

In Concomitents, each concomitance has its specificities and, in the case of the project in Betanzos, the frameworks for citizen participation are expanded through an adaptation of the Participatory Research-Action methodologies. If on occasions it has been pointed out how these methodologies seek to democratize knowledge, and if Nouveaux Commanditaires democratizes art as its founder has pointed out, it is relevant to combine both worlds, with the aim of extending the commission of the work of art to all people. who is interested in participating.

Investigations of participatory actions emanate from a question of common interest that encourages the community itself, with the support of technical staff, to develop an investigation with practical content. So one of the first tensions in this project would be to determine if there was such a shared demand in the community. It is very likely that the community did not immediately think about creating a work of art, we were never given that possibility. But there is a latent desire, which is that making-for-the-heritage and that is where we could begin to problematize this negotiation of the collective desire. But how to make that collective desire emerge beyond the initial demand itself?

Function: Mediation
Devices: Research- Action- Participatory
Temporality: 2018-…
Budget: € 75,000
With the support of: Concomitentes  and Fundación Daniel y Nina Carasso
With the collaboration of : Asoc. Amigas del Parque del Pasatiempo, Asoc. Roxin Roxal, the Asoc. Amigos do Casco Histórico de Betanzos and the Asoc. Gabinete de Imaxinación and City Council of Betanzos
Image by: Oscar Gorriz

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