Page 219 - Únete. Join us (Bienal de Venecia, 57 edición)

APPARITIONS ThEATRE ANDREA VALDÉS 219
how we want it to remain”, declared an activist in an interview, unaware of all those other sites that also shed their meaning and became self-remade, through their own dereliction.
In the 1970s, for instance, rubble from the construction of the freeway network around Buenos Aires was dumped onto the River Plate, forming an artificial island destined to be the centre of yet another speculative development. The project never got started, however, and over time weed covered the landfill; then trees began to grow and birds and other fauna reclaimed the island. People began to see the place as an ecological reserve until eventually it officially became one, which renders it inviolable to this day.
As regards Tempelhof, some Berliners have taken to calling it “the initiates’ park”, as it has become the place where people learn to ride a bike, to drive a car, to kiss... Every now and then people who have become regular park-goers engage in conversation, overjoyed by the fact that—just for once—collective will prevailed over private interests and the city government literally did nothing. Everything was copacetic until one day, as one of the regulars was unfolding a lounger in one of the disused runways, the guy next to her remarked:
— “This place only has one drawback: too much wind.” Then he took a thermos flask from a basket.
— “Absolutely! It’d be so easy to plant a few trees”, replied the patron lying on the lounger, as he rubbed her hands. “Or to build a fountain.”
A third park-goer joined in:
A fourth
— “What baffles me is that, with so many people coming here, not one public convenience has been built. You work all your life, and this is what you get? These wretched grounds where the wind blows away your bags, and you’ve got to bring your own bike. And on top of that everyone parks wherever they fancy.”
— “You’re right! One of these days we should establish a parking area.” person intervened:
— “If it comes to that, why not build a small stage for concerts?”
— “I vote for a mini-golf course”, a fifth one added.
And thus they inadvertently planned a whole city, which was precisely what they had campaigned against barely two years before—and that reminds me of the title of a story I haven’t even read: In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.