La Comunidad de la Pala 2.0 (The shovel community 2.0) is a project led by Arquitectura Expandida and EUNIC Colombia which involved over 30 grassroots organisations and artists from four urban-rural nodes of Bogotá, recognising these groups as relevant actors in the construction of a bottom-up city, and promoting their articulation based on the idea that there is no ecological connectivity without social and cultural connectivity.
The project explored the right to the city through the cultural and ecological connections of its territories, with four conceptual lines defined for the development of the collective research-action-creation: territorial connectivity, urban dynamics, dialogue with other forms of life, and cultural, artistic and heritage languages of the communities.
The curators selected four nodes on Bogotá's urban-rural edges, each with different ecosystems and social and cultural dynamics. This diversity is reflected in the range of collectives and artistic languages invited to participate, including hip-hop, popular education, ancestral knowledge, graphic arts, community cinema, urban sports, citizen science, drawing and architecture.
La Comunidad de la Pala has fostered spatial empathy, making us feel connected to other territories, their ecosystems, struggles and cultural values.
Jeremy Leon, geologist and geographer
The Laboratory
The laboratory began with an introductory meeting of participants at the Bogotá Museum and four tours led by local collectives in the Eastern Hills, along the Bogotá River, Cerro Seco, and the Van der Hammen Reserve. Each tour was a space for observation, meetings, data collection, environmental monitoring, music, freestyle, gastronomy, and cartographic analysis of ongoing or planned urban projects. These tours provided inputs for subsequent co-creation and action laboratories, culminating in six artistic narratives about environmental rights:
- A graphic piece directed by the collective LA FUCHACHADA, composed of Carolina Hernández and Benjamín Baracaldo;
- A short fiction film led by the community cinema collective Ojo al Sancocho;
- A video installation for data visualisation led by the collective Oculto, with Viviana Parada, Paul Stewart, Sol Camacho, Sabina Rodríguez, Jeremy León, Antonia Bustamante and Juan Camilo González;
- An EP of music, poetry, and rap directed by Camilo Pinto and composed by Luz Ángela Poveda, Neom Rsc, Lorena Cetina and Juan Ardila;
- A drawing created by Cristian Martínez;
- Two spatial installations, "Las Antenas", led by Arquitectura Expandida, functioning as devices to enhance environmental use of the surroundings with pollinator gardens, birdhouses, or environmental monitoring spaces, while also provoking new scenographies and narratives in favour of environmental rights.
We aimed not just to create a beautiful drawing but a pedagogical tool that each collective could use to discuss socio-environmental issues in our city, strengthen and expand our relationships and work networks, and promote reflection and dialogue.
Draku, visual artist
In early July 2024, the results of this laboratory were exhibited at the Miguel Urrutia Art Museum, accompanied by a panel discussion, and at a community gathering in one of the popular neighbourhoods at the urban edge with the Eastern Hills of Bogotá, where artistic presentations and local tours also took place.
The project continued in the second half of the year with the expansion of the territorial installations and a final exhibition organised with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Colombia and the Secretary of Culture, Recreation, and Sports of Bogotá. The exhibition is planned to tour other cities in the country in 2025.
