ADAPTIVE ACTIONS
The process and concept are the same as previously proposed.

But instead of focussing on loitering, I prefer to make a broader call for collaboration on the Adaptive Action theme and have one or two workshops or collective actions on a specific topic such as loitering.

For and during the Adaptive Actions Camp in Madrid, we would like to document and create at least 101 new micro-actions. Some actions would be initiated in Madrid (in different types of neighbourhoods including the conurbano) and elsewhere in other cities in Spain or other countries. I cherish the idea of creating a project of distributed actions, simultaneously happening in different places and brought together in one communal art project. All actions will be documented on the website and some will be part of the next AA publication which will be produced during the Madrid Abierto event.

ADAPTIVE ACTIONS Camp in Madrid
A space of production, presentation and actions

Open call (for collaboration)

> In specialized and local neighbourhood newspapers
> posted on walls, urban furniture and places were people already post information.
> to local community groups, schools and universities
> to all those who proposed, submitted a project to Madrid Abierto but were not selected. - to offer them a possibility to participate, to increase the number of participants, and widen the audience.

Duration

One month in Madrid
The camp would be open 6 days a week and activated by collaborators and me 4 or 5 days a week.

Publication

The publication will include:
30 (with current budget) to 101 Adaptive Actions (depending on final available budget for print & design)
one center-fold poster-image
2-3 texts (or more if additional budget)

One interview

(which will be translated from English to Spanish) on the topic of micropolitics with philosopher and theorist Brian Massumi and Marie-Pier Boucher, PHD student at Duke University in North Carolina, and Jean-François Prost as representative of Adaptive Actions. Brian Massumi recently confirmed his participation and we will be doing this summer a few preliminary lectures and discussions before the official interview.

Collaborators

Confirmed for Madrid Abierto:
Marie-Pier Boucher (Raleigh, USA) = 1 week (publication committee)
Frank Nobert (Montréal) = 3 weeks (publication committee)
Jean-Maxime Dufresne (Montréal)= 4-5 days (workshops)
During the followings weeks I will be looking for two or three persons located in Madrid.
I have several persons in mind and hope to meet others when I come back to Madrid and after making the call for collaboration.

Volunteers

Will you have one or two volunteers? I recently had two persons available at several events and it makes an enormous difference for the artist and visitors. It also permits the artist to free some time to document and assist the work of several participants creating actions outside of the camp.

Assistants

How many assistants will be available, and for how long, to assemble and demount the work?

PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR MADRID ABIERTO 2010

Global idea and intention

The project consists in documenting, revealing and creating new micro-actions of appropriations and unplanned uses in the city of Madrid and elsewhere

Action – process

The project indexes and reports on existing adaptive actions in the city and encourages the implementation of new activity in relation to architecture, urban spaces and objects. It unfolds in three overlapping stages: (1) a call for proposals; (2) action, and; (3) its subsequent publication/broadcast.

1. Call for Contributions and Proposals
In order to document and create an inventory of existing urban acts, a survey is conducted (before and during the event Madrid Abierto). The objective of this project is to document existing or new, marginal, singular or popular, less discussed or highly known forms and places of singular actions. The request for proposals accelerates the process. Several existing or proposed adaptive actions will be chosen along with an idea for a collective action and a workshop.

2. Action
A space for gathering, loitering and submitting proposals will dwell on a busy Madrid street, or in a public building. This temporary camp (with a large recognizable sign indicating ADAPTIVE ACTIONS) will combine presence, production and interaction.

Our shared knowledge and expertise will be applied towards accomplishing a creative project the aim of which is to modify the intended or preponderant or limited use of architectural and urban elements. This infiltration of public space highlights such topics as resident adaptive actions and appropriations, creative transformation potential and the multiplicity of users and uses.

3. Publication/broadcast
The selected new adaptive actions will be made public through the production of a publication and via the Internet1. Dissemination within the community will aim at representing the different forms of actions (in the workplace, the home or public spaces in general) as a creative means of appropriating shared realities and therefore as a form of adaptation. The presentation of actions (on a greater or lesser scale), be they projected or completed, will create a vocabulary with which the collective imagination may express itself through the use of existing structures, and will encourage the growth of other actions.

The intervention is based on the repetition of a series of micro-actions, simple gestures imparting and initiating change in our perception and conception of the urban environment.

This project wants to activate uses in public spaces, contribute and begin to rebuild an urban imaginary, show, encourage visible acts of resistance, of sociability and signs of positive antagonism.

1 A section will be added to the website www.adaptiveaction.net for the Madrid edition and a second Adaptive Actions publication will be produced during the event.

MAY 2008
Jean-François Prost, representative for the project

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