COMMON GROUND

Common Ground is an initiative of the Siemens Stiftung Foundation together with Naves Matadero - Centro Internacional de Artes Vivas and Residencias | Centro de Apoyo a la Creación de Matadero Madrid, that provides a workspace in Europe for artists from Latin America with the aim to shift or confront perspectives. Through artistic research, residencies, interventions and interaction with local communities, the project offers an appropriate environment so the artists can experiment their relationship with society, community and knowledge in a different cultural context, touching on common grounds.   If art allows us to discover what we do not know, what we do not understand, this project opens a cross-cultural space for interaction on those discoveries and for appreciation of the dynamic of different views. It bridges parts of a world to be looked at through trans-disciplinary activity and dialogue with audiences.   First stage of this new initiative is a workstay of Colectivo Traficantes, a group of artists from Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Peru and Uruguay that was founded during Experimenta Sur 2016 in Bogotá. As a collective, they develop their artistic practice through various art works and actions using tools such as mailing letters and other aesthetic devices. They are working to create affection networks, and expose our intimate and political realities as well as resignify ways of trade and communication. In this sense they understand Correspondencia as a maze of artworks and petitions that intersect the different actions that they develop.  

Residencies: from June 25th to July 24th. Open studio: July 18th-21st