A space of production, presentation and actions
www.adaptiveactions.net

AA

The Adaptive Action (AA) laboratory, initiated in London in 2007[1], lends voice to marginal causes, alternative urban lifestyles, counter-conducts and citizen’s artistic creations by which imagination and personal creativity influences daily life. AA makes an inventory in order to disclose these singularities and existing actions.AA also aims to encourage others to engage in new creative activities in order to adapt the urban fabric. AA nurtures itselfon individual and collective contributions and initiatives by extendingan open call for collaboration (taking placein several places simultaneously). AA is looking for contributions for the website, itspublication as well as for contributions that maystimulate reflection, discussions and presentations at the Camp in Madrid. Through the AAwebsite or at the Camp, people may register as actors and submit actions.These may be already existing, created by you or by others, all are welcome. You may also comment or discuss forthcoming contributions.

AA CAMP, MADRID

At the Atocha train station in Madrid, a production and live-action Camp will house the AA project during February. Experiences and materials – whether in the making or from past and/or future initiatives – will be presented at the Camp and in a forthcoming publication. Visitors may modify existing contributions or post their own. Supporters[2] at the Camp will assist theactors and discuss possible additions, proposed actions and  arisingissues with participants. Madrid citizens will be invited to put forward micro-actions yet to be carried out.

WORKSHOPS

The program of events at the AA Camp (workshops/actions, lunch-and-learns) on specific topics and locations will build bridges between actors and actions. The latter will undergo prolongation and be remodelled. Some will be launched in Madrid some inother cities and countries) and collected into a joint art project. The aim, as Maurizio Lazzarato would say, is not to neutralise differences but, conversely, to enrich the concept of commonality through these differences[3]. As Lazzaratoargues, the challenge is to find ways to retain multiplicity, to embrace heterogeneity while maintaining disparity.

LIVE PUBLICATION

The second AA publication[4] will be developed and produced in Madrid, live and in publicwithin a limited timeframe. During themonth ofproduction camp, all material for the publication will be assembled and edited and by the end of thisprocess, the book will be published. Actors can contribute directly to the selection and preparation of material on site or viaemail. Throughout this process, visitors will post new actions atthe Camp, hallmarking the ongoingrenewal of adaptive actions in counterpoint to those featured in the publication. At the AA Camp, structure and planning will coexist with the unexpected.

EXPLORATORY MODE 

This project will expand thoughts on various themes related and complementary to architecture and art, including the concept of post-production and unplanned, un-programmed transformation and appropriation that give meaning to the city. By this process, various impressions will merge. One-off, geographically isolated acts will converge and, in vast numbers, take new directions, shape coherences, strengths and arouse interest by creating unexpected -and otherwise impossible- associations, links and cross-references.

The project focuses on micro-actions because these prompt or modify our perception of the urban environment. Their design is a reflection and expression of behaviour in tune with artistic creation. Many actions are anonymous, unsigned, clandestine, previous to transformation. The authors are awarethat these actions will eventually be changed, maintained or possibly eliminated by others. Their relation to the context suggests a potential re-appropriation, but the collective imagination they establish - especially if they multiply by numbersand if their presence becomes widely known - ensures the sustainability of a state of mind akin to artistic expression. Consciousness, signature and participation are thus inherent to this type of project. Citizen actions suggest a different process for shaping cities, open and collaborative, responsive and crosscutting.

Visit www.adaptiveactions.net for information and schedule of activities, workshops and meals that will take place weekly at the AA Camp in Madrid and elsewhere.

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