recuperar

L'any 2017 vaig començar un Erasmus a Manchester. I el dia en què hi vaig arribar, quan vaig entrar a la meva nova habitació, vaig veure que l'anterior inquilina m'havia deixat el llit fet: un detall que, en la incertesa d'una primera nit a l'estranger, vaig agrair de tot cor. Durant els sis mesos següents, vaig dormir en aquells llençols. Quan l'Erasmus es va acabar, vaig decidir que els deixaria allà i faria el llit pel següent inquilí: repetint el gest que havia inaugurat la meva estada.

Aquest projecte neix uns mesos després, quan els vaig voler recuperar. Un desig que va néixer després d'entendre que aquests llençols representaven un punt d'unió entre dos mons diferents: ja que havien acollit els cossos de les persones que més m'estimava de Sabadell (amics i familiars que havien vingut a visitar-me) com de les noves amistats i aventures que havia conegut allà, a Manchester.

Quan els vaig recuperar, però, vaig decidir que no hi tornaria a dormir: organitzaria un sopar en què aquests llençols farien d'estovalles; i en el que els convidats serien totes aquelles persones amb qui hi he dormit.

To recover the bed sheets from Manchester

In 2017, I began an Erasmus exchange in Manchester. And, when I arrived at my new room, I found that the former tenant had left me her bed sheets and the bed made: a detail that, in the uncertainty of a first night abroad, made me feel welcomed, almost at home. During the following six months, I slept in those bed sheets. And, when the exchange came to an end, I decided to leave them and make the bed for the next tenant: mimicking the gesture that inaugurated my stay.

In this project, I aimed to recover the bed sheets that I had used during my Erasmus in Manchester. A desire that was born out of the understanding that those sheets represented a point between two different worlds: as they had sheltered the bodies of the friends and relatives from Barcelona that had visited me in Manchester, as well as the ones from the new friends and lovers I met there, in the UK.

After recovering them, I aimed to organize a dinner in which the bed sheets would serve as a tablecloth. The guests: all the people who had slept in them during my time abroad.

Volia organitzar aquest sopar el setembre de 2020, però el confinament em va obligar a ajornar-lo. Vaig decidir utilitzar el temps a casa com una oportunitat per aprendre a brodar i, quan vam poder tornar a sortir, una amiga de la meva mare em va ensenyar a fer anar la màquina de cosir. Aquests coneixements tenien un objectiu molt clar: havia decidit que la funda nòrdica, estampada de rosa i blau, seria les estovalles del sopar; i que utilitzaria el llençol de sota per a fer tovallons: en els que hi brodaria el nom dels catorze convidats.

Si la situació global ho permet, organitzaré el sopar l’estiu del 2022.

I wanted to organize the dinner in September 2020, but the lockdown obliged me to postpone the date I had in my mind. I then decided to use the time at home as an opportunity to learn how to embroider and, when we were finally free, a friend from my mother taught me how to use the sewing machine. This knowledge had a very specific purpose: I had decided that the nordic cover would be the tablecloth of the dinner; and that I would use the pink undersheet to make the napkins: in which I would embroider the names of the fourteen guests.

Depending on the pandemic situation, I will organize the dinner next Summer 2022.

In July 2021, I presented the actual stage of this project in a solo show in the Museum of Art of Sabadell, titled "To recover the bed sheets from Manchester". For this show, I designed a 'site-specific' installation divided in two rooms.