La Tabacalera de Lavapiés

The Tabacalera de Lavapiés (Tabacalera of Lavapiés) or Centro Social Autogestionado La Tabacalera de Lavapiés (Self-managed Social Center Tabacalera of Lavapiés) is a well-known cultural and social center in Madrid, Spain.[1] It consists of a large (9,200 m2; 97,000 sq ft) set of connected buildings in the central neighbourhood of Lavapiés.[2][3] The buildings are property of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, although since 2010 its use has been transferred to a local grassroots association, and since then it is managed by a local community. The space hosts a fab lab, a theatre, several music bands, artist collectives and multiple social activities. Nowadays, it is one of the major spots for cultural activities in the city, especially among the youth.[1][2]

La Tabacalera de Lavapiés
Main gate of Tabacalera
Established2010
Locationc/ Embajadores 51
Madrid, Spain
TypeCultural center, Autonomous social center, Art gallery
WebsiteOfficial website

History

The set of buildings is an old abandoned tobacco factory, which planned by initiative of King Charles III of Spain in 1781.[4] Starting in 1809, it served as industrial factory focused on the production of tobacco, performed by 6,000 female workers, in a space of 30,000 m2 (355,000-square-foot).[5][3] Since 1977, the building was declared part of the Spanish Cultural Heritage, receiving the Bien de Interés Cultural mention.[6] The factory remained in operation until the privatization of the public tobacco monopoly Tabacalera[7] in 1999, when the buildings properly was transferred to the Spanish Ministry of Culture[8].

In the following 10 years, the building was abandoned and under-maintained. Since its closure, several local grassroots collectives from Lavapiés organized to claim the abandoned property for the neightbourhood, as a new socio-cultural center. Since 2004, multiple activities took place under the frame "Tabacalera A Debate" (Tabacalera under debate) [9][10], which gathered the support of multiple artists, cultural figures and museum directors.[2] Eventually, in 2010 the Ministry of Culture signed an agreement with the local association SCCPP, for a one year lease, of part of the property. In such agreement, the Ministry agreed to undertake, in the wording of the contract, the “cultural project CSA La Tabacalera de Lavapiés, presented by the Association SCCPP, as a pilot experiment for the social interaction with different agents that might be committed to the social, creative and intellectual development of the people in their context.”[2] In late 2011, the agreement was signed again, this time with the new Association for the Tabacalera of Lavapiés, and for 8 years renewable every 2 years.

Since then, a third of its total surface, 9,200 m2 (97,000 sq ft) is dedicated to the Centro Social Autogestionado La Tabacalera de Lavapiés (Autonomous Social Center Tabacalera of Lavapiés).

Activities

The center is based on five principles underlined in its founding agreement and the forthcoming reports provided to the Ministry of Culture: [11] autonomy of self-management, participatory democracy, support of the Free Culture practices, a critical stance towards traditional cultural management, and socio-cultural expression.[11][12] As such, the center was quickly characterized for housing a large diversity of collectives, focused on social, cultural and artistic activities. Because of its participatory and self-management principles, it is managed by bi-weekly open assemblies and open commissions, and the collectives hosted are requested to be horizontal and open.[2] As the center subscribes to the Free Culture movement, multiple collectives release their works under Creative Commons licenses.[13][14]

The center has a large building and several smaller buildings, a community garden, patio space, bar, library, a free shop and kitchen.[15] It hosts multiple artistic activities, such as murals as part of the Madrid Street Art Project, [16] urban graffiti art in its galleries, or photo exhibitions such as PHotoEspaña[2], Madrid's international festival of photography and visual arts. It houses a theatre which provides multiple performing art activities, including theatre, circus arts, skateboarding[17], and dance, and has a wide range of music collectives from different cultures, such as reggae or afro, which host regular concerts. It provides workshops to teach drawing, cooking, bike repair, sewing, serigraphy, legal issues, or video-making.[18][2] It regularly hosts wrestling matches of international relevance, [19] flea markets, film festivals, and socio-political activities such as meetings, debates and lectures.[15][2] The center is also base of a hackerspace and the fab lab Nave Trapecio.[2]

After 2011's 15-M protests, the President of the Madrid region, Cristina Cifuentes, together with several right-wing newspapers, criticized the social center for hosting protester meetings and migrant rights advocates.[20][21]

International recognition

Time Out magazine wrote that "Lavapiés has the largest number of neighbourhood associations and self-managed centres in Madrid; the most well-known is La Tabacalera de Lavapiés. Located in an old tobacco factory, it’s a collective cultural space where anyone can submit a proposal to set up an exhibit, organise a debate or show a documentary they've made. Thanks to centres like this one, cultural events are quite popular in this barrio and always supported by the locals."[1]

Atlas Obscura magazine considered it "one of the most striking examples of Madrid's cultural diversity" and a "bastion of democracy" [15] Both the New York Times [22] and the Washington Post [16] recommended a visit. It has also been considered "Madrid's most exciting art space" because of its "vibrant artistic community", [23] and "Madrid's Most Culturally Diverse Space". [3]

See also

References
  1. Bac, Marta (October 2014). "The best of the barrios: Lavapiés". Time Out. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  2. Durán, Gloria G.; Moore, Alan W. (2015). "La Tabacalera of Lavapiés: A Social Experiment or a Work of Art? |". Field: A Journal of Socially-engaged Art Criticism. 2: 49–75. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  3. Jones, Jessica. "La Tabacalera de Lavapiés: Welcome to Madrid's Most Culturally Diverse Space". Culture Trip. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  4. Madridiario. "Abre sus puertas la Fábrica de Tabacos de Embajadores". Madridiario (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  5. Galloway, Heather (2018-11-10). "NOT COOL: Locals in Spain reject having their neighbourhood branded 'coolest in world'". Olive Press News Spain. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  6. Hidalgo Giralt, Carmen; Palacios García, Antonio J. (2016). "El patrimonio industrial declarado Bien de Interés Cultural en Madrid: Su integración en la oferta cultural y turística de la ciudad" (PDF). PASOS Revista de turismo y patrimonio cultural. 14 (1): 193–212. doi:10.25145/j.pasos.2016.14.013.
  7. "Cuatro razones para visitar Tabacalera (también en verano)". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  8. Bono, Ferran (2018-03-18). "Reportaje | Los secretos de la gigantesca Tabacalera deshabitada". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  9. País, Ediciones El (2005-02-18). "Columna | Tabacalera, a debate". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  10. "..:: LaTabacalera a Debate ::." latabacalera.net. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  11. CSA La Tabacalera de Lavapiés (November 2011). "Dossier". CSA LA TABACALERA (in Spanish). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 2011. Retrieved 2019-12-09.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  12. "About La Tabacalera". CSA La Tabacalera de Lavapiés. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  13. Dirección General de Autogestión Cultural. "La Tabacalera Copyfight: Propuesta de proyecto para un centro social autogestionado liberador de cultura". CSA La Tabacalera de Lavapiés (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  14. "Official Site". CSA La Tabacalera de Lavapiés (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  15. "La Tabacalera de Lavapiés". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  16. Ávalos, Almudena (2019). "A local's guide to Madrid". Washington Post.
  17. "Off the beaten track: Eight Madrid museums you've probably never heard of". www.thelocal.es. 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  18. "La Tabacalera de Lavapiés. Cultura en Madrid". Moove Magazine (in Spanish). 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  19. "White Wolf Wrestling: The Five Star Spanish Sensation Making Waves in Europe". Daily DDT. 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  20. "Tabacalera, el cobijo del «15-M»". abc (in Spanish). 2011-08-01. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  21. Internet, Unidad Editorial. "Cifuentes dice que 'La Tabacalera' es un lugar de 'antisistemas radicales'". www.elmundo.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  22. Wilder, Charly (2017-09-21). "36 Hours in Madrid". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  23. "IN PICS: La Tabacalera, Madrid's most exciting art space". www.thelocal.es. 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2019-12-09.

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