Lima 2100: Collective resilience through adaptive urbanism

The American Arts Incubator Peru (AAI) took place virtually in June/July of 2020 in the midst of the global COVID pandemic. Quarantine in their homes, artists in Lima responded to these challenging times with passion, humor, and brilliance. Through our virtual portals, we were able to reach out by breaking through walls and traversing across continents to develop meaningful connections, share ideas and knowledge, and create amazing new works of art. By all accounts, the program was a huge success! Thanks to the dedication of the many wonderful people that made it possible.

The month-long program consisted of a series of workshops, guest speaker panels, and a final artistic project addressing the challenge of “urban development” in Lima related to climate change, urban health, and social equity. Originally planned as an in-person cultural exchange utilizing the facilities and resources of our host institution UTEC, we all adapted to a virtual format making use of free software, web-based collaborative tools, and the technology that each participant artist had at home. From these limitations sprouted incredible ideas developed by the artists and a workflow that in many ways was more sustainable to continue post-incubator. That relies on the tools at hand and builds off of the newly formed skill sets and relationships.

I led four workshops that introduced technology platforms, theoretical frameworks, and led to short exercises applying these tools with artist ideas. Workshop 1 involved a collective “Psycho-geographic Mapping” of Lima using a web-based virtual whiteboard canvas. In Workshop 2, artists created “Postcards from the Future” that envisioned a speculative vision of Lima in the year 2100. Workshop 3 introduced tools for digital 3D modeling to create a “Monument to the Pandemic”. Workshop 4 demonstrated the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality to visualize the artist’s work.

There were two Guest Speaker Panels that introduced critical dialog on the AAI social challenge of urban development through examples of their own work in the fields of art + design. Guest Speaker Panel 1 focused on inclusive public space and included Dr. Patricia Kim (Monument Lab), Dr. Ghigo DiTommaso (Gehl Architects), and Lucía Nogales (Ocupa tu Calle). Guest Speaker Panel 2 focused on socially responsive artwork and included Nicolas Gomez Echeverri (MAC Lima) and Natalija Boljsakov (UTEC), Ferran Gisbert (UTEC), and Kiko Mayorga (UTEC).

For the last ten days of the program, each artist created new artwork responding to the theme “Lima 2100 – Collective Resilience through Adaptive Urbanism.” This work took the form of 2D collage, audio and video, and digital 3D forms. I was amazed by the creativity and thoughtfulness of each project and the dedication that each artist demonstrated in developing their artwork in such a short amount of time. Artists presented their work and concepts to distinguished guest critics where they received feedback. The final exhibition was originally planned to take place physically in the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC Lima). Instead, we created a Virtual Reality Gallery of the MAC with a curated exhibition of each artist’s work. This was the first time we were able to gather in the same room, walking around and chatting as avatars, while viewing the artwork as a collective project.

A big thank you to all of the participant artists, our partners in Lima including UTEC, MAC, and the U.S. Embassy, our guest speakers and critics. This program has introduced new ideas and understanding in my creative practice and expanded my ecosystem of collaborators. I am grateful for the opportunity to have taken part in the American Arts Incubator Peru.

Workshops

Workshop 1: Collective Psycho-geography of Lima

The first workshop utilized a web-based virtual whiteboard canvas Mural to create a collaborative mapping of Lima. Artists geo-referenced images of public space in their neighborhoods and from around the city, including memories and descriptions of what they appreciate and dislike about the space. Since artists couldn’t leave their house due to the pandemic, they used Google Maps street view or old photographs. The result was a collective collage of the good, bad, and ugly of Lima, a shared vision composed of their individual experiences.

Workshop 2: Postcards from the Future

The second workshop asked each artist to travel to Lima in the year 2100 and to send back a postcard of what they see. Is it a utopia or dystopia? What has changed and what remains the same? How is this future framed by the past and the present? Artists created speculative futures through written and graphic narrative. Using a public space image from the mapping exercise in workshop 1, they each created a digital photomontage of their futuristic vision. Postcards included animated abstractions of dancing and layered images, electric llamas, environmental devastation and social displacement, urban agriculture and buildings that grow like trees.

Workshop 3: Monument to the Pandemic

The third workshop focused on a discussion of how the global pandemic was affecting our lives and the function of the city. Artists worked in teams to consider what a representative monument to the pandemic might look like. I led tutorials in digital 3D modeling with Rhino, 3D scanning with photogrammetry utilizing Autodesk Recap, and digital 3D mesh editing with Autodesk Meshmixer. Utilizing these tools, each artist team created a collaborative Monument to the Pandemic.

Workshop 4: Virtual and Augmented Reality

In the fourth and final workshop, we focused on the application of Virtual and Augmented Reality applications to visualize and share each artist team’s digital models of their Monuments to the Pandemic. I introduced the web-based application Mozilla Hubs for virtual reality and Sketchfab for augmented reality, combined with smartphones and Google Cardboard. These platforms allowed the artists to share their work with each other through immersive digital environments and in the physical space in each of their houses.