On Sunday the community of Las Brisas in La Palomera, Baruta - Caracas, conducted an open assembly to vote on a playground and park. In early July, we proposed building a public space under a large mature possumwood “jabillo” where neighbors currently park cars to the community. Over a series of meeting the design changed and was strengthened by their concerns for security and flexibility. After a heated debate and a certain amount of tension, the community overwhelmingly voted for the park and so we will begin work in the coming weeks. We are looking forward to this new experience with the community of Las Brisas.

During the fall 2018 semester, Elisa will be teaching an option studio titled “The Agency of Mezcal in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico” at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The studio addresses the environmental, social and economic aspects that surround the growing opportunities for mezcal production in the Oaxaca Valley. Findings could serve as a thoughtful inquiry to guide the potential agency of mezcal in the region with viable holistic strategies. 

The publication “Downward Spiral: El Helicoide´s descent from Mall to Prison” edited by Celeste Olalquiaga and Lisa Blackmore will be presented at the bookstore Lugar Comun in Altamira Caracas, on Friday the 13th of July 2018. The event will be presided by Vicente Lecuna with the participation of several of the book´s collaborators including Elisa Silva

Event program:
Vicente Lecuna – Opening remarks
Jorge Villota - El Helicoide´s construction
Diego Larrique - San Agustín del Sur
Elisa Silva – informal settlements and their appearance/disappearance from maps
Iris Rosas – The relationship of informal settlements with El Helicoide
Sandra Pinardi – El Helicoide and the ruin
Vicente Lecuna - El Helicoide and Parque Central
Conversation among the panelists and the audience

Elisa Silva was invited by the journalist Graciela Beltran for an interview on her radio program on Onda Station 109.7 RM on June 22^nd 2018, to speak about the value of public space in the city. They also touched on the experience of the Sabana Grande Boulevard transformation, the potential integration of the city including its informal settlements through a network of public spaces, and the upcoming publication by Enlace Arquitectura on public spaces in informal settlements of Latin American cities titled “Pure Space”.

The 15^th and 16^th of June a formal presentation was made of the public space projects designed together with the communities of Chapellin and El Cardon in Caracas. The Swiss Ambassador in Venezuela was among the audience members invited to the event. The project emerges as a collaboration between the communities, Caracas MiConvive and Enlace Arqutiectura, with the support of the Swiss Embassy in Venezuela.

During the week of May 21^st 2018, Elisa was invited to participate in a workshop of the Master in Urban and territorial development at the Cataluna Politecnical University UPC together with Prof. María Isabel Espinoza. The ninth debate on “Latin American cities and territories” took place on May 22^ndand was moderated by Prof. Carles Llop.  Elisa presented the content of “CABA Cartography of the Caracas barrios” and the results of the AICA (Actions to Integrate Caracas) workshop sponsored by the Metropolitan Municipality.

Elisa Silva participates as invited guest at the event “La Caracas que Queremos” Wednesday May 4, 2018 at the Simon Bolivar auditorium complex. The initiative represents a space to promote debate and actualize a vision for Venezuela through concrete and current actions and programs that intervene in communities and the public domain from several perspectives.

We would like to invite you to the inauguration of the exhibition “Caracas in Three Historic Times” to commemorate the 450^th anniversary of Caracas and the 50^th anniversary of the Urbanism Institute. Enlace Arquitectura participates with the research project “CABA Cartography of the Caracas Barrios 1966-2014”. The exhibition is organized by the Extension Department at the FAU-UCV.

Place: Exhibition and Lecture Hall FAU UCV

Date: Monday April 23, 2018. 4:00pm

Elisa Silva was invited to speak at the VII Cisneros Foundation Seminar titled “Disruptions: Dilemmas Regarding the Image in Contemporaneity” curated by Ileana Ramírez. It considers art´s link with politics as it operates to construct new subjectivities, and encourage questioning of what Jacques Rancière called “the aesthetic and representative logic of art”. The event took place March 16 2018 at the Chacao Cultural Center. Elisa’s intervention centered on the relationship of Caracas’ inhabitants with the real city, denied and replace by a plutonic and narcissistic love that is disengaged and inoperative. A dysfunctional relationship and missed timing, as exemplified in Félix González Torres´ 1989 piece “Perfect Lovers.”

Elisa was invited to a live interview with Albani Losada and Unai Abenamar as part of their program on Radio Station Exitos 99.7, the 19^th of February 2018. The conversation centered on the role public space plays in building social cohesion in cities. The City Planting projects by Citibank and Fudep are examples of how communities come together to transform their environment, but also manifest their desire to be considered equals in the city. Enlace Arquitectura´s work on the mappings of Caracas´ informal settlements show that half of the urban population lives there, and yet they do not enjoy the same recognition, nor access to urban spaces such as public plazas and children playgrounds. They also spoke about the pending conversion of the city´s Rio Guaire into a continuous linear park, and the critical role civil society can represent in advancing urban transformation agendas.