La Escalera

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Who are you and what is your relation to this adventure of La Escalera (“The Staircase”)? 0:22

When, where, and why was La Escalera born? 0:53

What’s the legal structure of La Escalera? 4:51

What does an “escalera” (in the sense of this project) consist of? 8:43

Thinking about 15M, for many collectives/projects (including those that existed before 15M) that movement was a moment of reorganization, of reinvention, of strengthening. What did that moment mean to La Escalera? 15:02

What relationship has La Escalera had with public institutions? 17:30

How did La Escalera maintain itself once its funding was cut off after seven months? 23:00

What could La Escalera have turned into, and what has it actually become? 25:01

What is it about our current society that necessitates the development of a project like La Escalera to facilitate contact between people? 27:40

You’ve talked about the existence of 30 escaleras working throughout the Community of Madrid. Are you personally keeping up with every escalera? 31:07

Is this a political project? And if so, what kind of politics are we talking about? 32:43

What do you mean when you talk about “cuidados,” caregiving? 33:32

Regarding your personal experience, what have you been thinking about through this process of creating “escaleras”? 34:41

What has the process of La Escalera taught the residents who participate in it? 35:46

What inspired you in making the kit for La Escalera? 36:47

From the perspective of La Escalera, what are some of the outstanding subjects of the neoliberal model of society? 39:08

Has there been any relationship between this project and the environment of school and university? 41:49

If someone wanted to start an escalera in their community, what steps should they take? 44:07

Would you say that the majority of people that have contacted you to start an escalera are female? 46:52

What does growth look like for La Escalera? 47:10

Keeping in mind the climate of precarity and political alienation, what keeps the engine of your hope or energy alive? 50:19

The original idea behind the La Escalera (The Ladder) project originated in 2015 in a group researching in the field of care as part of Medialab Prado (Madrid). The question the project revolves around is “What can be asked of a community of neighbors?” La Escalera is a tool of mediation and care with the ability to activate communities and facilitate relationships between neighbors of a particular community. Its operationalization has the potential to awaken a series of questions within people. These questions center on how these individuals can relate to one another in integrated communities made up of people who have not chosen each other to live with, what conditions favor or complicate care relationships in those environments, and what practices are possible to establish in communities in order to sustain those relationships.

Cohabitation & housing rights

Forms of care & self-care

Cohabitation & housing rights Forms of care & self-care