Going to the Clay: Exploring Conflicts and Values of the Soil in Valparaíso

Authors

  • Daniela Salgado Cofré Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Université libre de Bruxelles
  • Álvaro Mercado Jara Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Université libre de Bruxelles

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53450/2179-1465.RG.2022v13i2p81-93

Keywords:

Clay, Collective Creation, Material Interdependence, Soil, Urbanisation

Abstract

This proposition presents a design and artistic research focused on the soil and aimed at generating active and poetic forms of reflection around the fragile interdependence of human and non-human lives in an increasingly precarious urban environment, emphasised by the current ecological crisis. In order to engage in such reflections, this practice-oriented research —led by designers, architects, artists and educators— explored and expected to make visible the transformation of peripheral urban areas of the Region of Valparaíso, in Chile. To do so, we focused on following the uses of the soil, identifying conflicts and values that emerge around these extraction sites through immersive sensitive experiences. These collective experiences titled ‘Going to the Clay’ had the objective of searching for clay pits in different sites as the means to establish sensitive connections with the soil and its matter. Thus, the sum of collective and creative explorations performed in the veins and clay pits of Valparaíso served to trace other relational ways of inhabiting, valuing, and working with the soil. We envisage this practice-oriented research project as a poetic alternative to critically question the modern technocratic logics of urbanisation that operate in the region through the commodification and overexploitation of the land.

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Author Biographies

Daniela Salgado Cofré, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Université libre de Bruxelles

Daniela Salgado Cofré is an Industrial Designer and associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, where she has conducted several situated research and pedagogical experiences of design in the studios, at the Travesías and the Ciudad Abierta. She is a Doctoral Researcher (ANID-Chile) at the “AmericaS” laboratory and the “SASHA Laboratory of Architecture and Human Sciences” at the Faculty of Architecture of the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Álvaro Mercado Jara, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Université libre de Bruxelles

Álvaro Mercado is an Architect and associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, where he has conducted several studios and research focused on questioning urbanisation through speculative on-site design methods. He is a Doctoral Researcher (ANID-Chile) at the “LoUIsE Laboratory of Landscape, Urbanism, Infrastructure and Ecology” at the Faculty of Architecture of the Université libre de Bruxelles.

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Published

2022-06-13

How to Cite

SALGADO COFRÉ, D.; MERCADO JARA, Álvaro. Going to the Clay: Exploring Conflicts and Values of the Soil in Valparaíso. Revista GEMInIS, [S. l.], v. 13, n. 2, p. 81–93, 2022. DOI: 10.53450/2179-1465.RG.2022v13i2p81-93. Disponível em: https://revistageminis.ufscar.br/index.php/geminis/article/view/730. Acesso em: 3 jul. 2024.