ON HERMITS AND SHELLS SUMMER CABIN

Lots of things happen in the summertime that don’t seem as possible throughout the year: you meet new people, eat more ice cream than allowed, stay out later… Time streeeeeetches out, like when you step on chewing gum with your shoes. When we were little, we may have gotten bored, especially those of us who stayed in the city. There are hours when you can’t go outside unless you want to fry like an egg, and that’s when the maddest ideas are hatched.
How about we mix chocolate and sausage?
Those of us who already have a few summers under our belts are trying to conserve this spirit, and we wonder… what if Madrid’s asphalt turned into the sea? Could an art centre be a shell for a hermit crab? Could the CA2M Museum be a refuge for children in the summer? What about all year round?

On Hermits and Shells aims to turn the museum into a portal to a reality where these ideas may be possible, beginning with constructing our own space for and with children: a coral reef, a giant shell, a summer home… with views of the sea? Hairy walls? No adults?
Then we’ll see if we want to head out to explore our new habitat, leaving a slime trail like snails but in fluorescent colours so we don’t forget our way back and in case we want to invite anyone to enter.

Through performative games, installations and textile sculptures, we’ll also create our own portable homes so we can carry all our wishes and scatter them around the corners, hoping to communicate with other beings, in other spaces, in other seasons… beyond summer.

Massa Salvatge is a work cooperative located in Valencia that imagines, develops and promotes educational and cultural spaces for action, where critical imaginaries are explored in relation to the social issues that affect us. They work from an ‘anti-adult’ perspective of education, art and culture, placing the focus on children’s rights and needs. The group has drawn from the diverse backgrounds, knowledge and expertise of its members, using artistic tools and strategies, cultural mediation and education as their foundation, and they have blended these practices with research and participatory action, cultural management and training.