More than half a century ago, Jørn Utzon conceived and built a project in Mallorca integrating aspects of two cultures that, despite belonging to the European region, have different roots. Can Lis exemplifies the value of architecture as a “meeting place with the other”. A place for reflection, encounter, and dialogue; a place where diversity is embraced and celebrated. Furthermore, a place for re-creating cultural bonds that dissolve boundaries between dissimilar identities.
Besides, Can Lis is also a “meeting place with oneself”; a healing space where we return to find primeval experiences: sensorial, perceptive, conceptual, emotional, visual, tactile; and feel the communion with the absolute. It is the solemn identification with vital forces and the spectacle of nature. It connects you, cares for you, and reminds your spiritual potential. Its architecture ties you back to the world providing a strengthened experience of the real, and ultimately, yourself.
With these two leading ideas -or beliefs-: “meeting the other” and “meeting oneself” we propose a group work from within the house, its atmosphere, and the cultural values it encompasses. A collective exploration based on cross-breeding interactions between people with diverse identities, backgrounds, and perspectives.
Where is the common ground between the shared and the individual? How do affections, fears, collective identifications, or emotions shape our cultural identity? Is culture a set of accessible resources that determines our development as individuals, regardless of our origin? How are the personal creative reflection and the collective dialogue framed and influenced by the house? Is it a retreat where any single act is determined by relief? Do we see more thanks to it, do live better inside it? How does it echo in our minds after we leave?
We, the hosts, four architects with varied origins and trajectories, have the role of facilitating and coordinating the encounters, instigating dialogue with (and among) our counterparts, and documenting the creative process. They, the guests, artists from diverse disciplines, have the task of producing an artwork inspired, provoked or influenced by their short stay in the house. Together, we all will perform a collective dialogue to be recorded and, later, transcribed and edited in a conversation series.
