Transformation of Abandoned Spaces into Cultural Spaces: Of Heterotopias and Assemblies of Place. The Case of Vieja Farmacia Solís, Montevideo

Abstract

The case of the Vieja Farmacia Solís is similar to several buildings located around the east part of the bay of Montevideo, which meet the characteristic of having formerly been factories or shops, gone through a process of abandonment and become spaces for the deployment of artistic, sports and / or educational activities. From an ethnography carried out between 2016 and 2020 in this territoriality, we analyze the processes of subjectivation involved in the transformations of these spaces. That is why we present results of this unique space, which has a history linked to human actions, the mutation of technical objects, and desiring production, in the midst of a process of abandonment and capitalist speculation. For this we use theoretical-conceptual perspectives from the studies of heterotopias and Environmental Psychology, which allowed us to problematize the heterogeneity of actions, senses, interests, desires and controversies, from a relational, articulatory and analytical perspective of power. From ethnography and its translation into narrative, we provide an account of the affirmative nature of the proposal of spatial palimpsest, and a way of conceiving it as inclusive and critical heterotropia.