Mikel Otxoteko
Buenos Aires, urban ecologies
The project proposes an external reading of the city of Buenos Aires as a dynamic system, where the identity of its neighbourhoods is not presented as something stable or fixed, but rather as a superposition of urban and migratory ecologies in constant transformation, interacting, colliding and continuously reconfiguring themselves in relation to other contemporary forces: touristification and gentrification, real-estate speculation and the proliferation of towers, as well as processes of state regulation and control over certain urban territories.
The proposal takes the form of an installation composed of five vinyl-covered luminous devices, each dedicated to a specific urban ecology. Arranged vertically on the same plane, these elements function as stratigraphic sections revealing the superposition of urban layers. The light projected onto a large-scale map constructs an alternative cartography of Buenos Aires, where each layer makes visible particular spatial logics, economies and ways of life.
His practice is situated at the intersection between experimental anthropology and image-production media. He has developed artistic research projects such as Dance & Drill and Aquí hay dragones, presented at institutions including the Musée d’Art Contemporain Les Abattoirs, Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporánea, The Rag Factory, San Telmo Museoa and Centro Cultural Montehermoso. His film Invierno has been screened at festivals such as Cinespaña and Zinebi. He is currently developing a new project in the Mojave Desert. In 2024, thanks to the Etxepare Institute, he undertook a residency at the University of California, where he further researched the urban planning project California City.
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