Makan, in the shape of team members Diala Khasawnih and Ola Khalidi, crossed great distances and flown south over the equator to land in the spring of Buenos Aires to take part in a residency entitled “Who can live in this house” during October 2009.

For more information check: http://www.lucreciaurbano.com.ar/QUIEN_PUEDE_VIVIR_EN_ESTA_CASA/quien_puede_vivir_en_esta_casa.html

This international residency program was initiated and is run by visual artist and curator Lucrecia Urbano. She also founded and directs Zona Imaginaria, a contemporary print making studio, next door. Her work is defined by the research and application of combined techniques: non-toxic printmaking, photography, video, digital prints, glass and installations, among others. She has participated in national and international group exhibitions and has received many awards and fellowships. For more information, check: http://www.lucreciaurbano.com.ar. 

The first residency took place in October 2008, this year’s edition is the second and includes Argentinean and international artists, of whom Makan, along with the two Brazilian artists Ernesto Bonato and Marina  from São Paulo and Argentineans Cecilia Mandrile, Nicolás Balangero and Gabriel Chaile all live in the residency house. The house inhabitants are expected to share the space as their temporary home, while it is the base for their art work and intervention, it must remain functioning as a home for everyone. Argentinean artist Alejandra Metler is also taking part with an intervention.

The residency will be concluded with an Open House, showing, in one form or another, the different works and art interventions developed in the residency. The event invites the public to meet the artists and see the  house and the results of this exchange and experience. The residency encourages a dialogue between all the participants as well as a dialogue between the artists themselves and their immediate surrounding.

The house address is 3386 Chile Street, San Fernando, a large suburb of Greater Buenos Aires. It is strategically located, with lots of facilities around including Disco Supermerkado, many verdura y frutas shops, restaurants and cafes, a small local a dish a day restaurant by the name Clementina which Makan still plans to discover, a Laundromat by the kilo and a couple of small shops by the name kiosko operating through small metal barred windows. The city centre of Buenos Aires is some kilometers away but it could be a 2 hour journey on a couple of buses. For more information, check: http://mapa.buenosaires.gov.ar/sig/index.phtml

So far Makan has been exploring San Fernando and the neighbourhoods around such as The Tigre and San Isidro as well as the local delicacies of dulce de leche and asado, for more information, check:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigre,_Buenos_Aires

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partido_de_San_Isidro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_de_leche

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asado