THE TICK'S STRATAGEM

-Occupation of a tree with provisional shelter.

-Resistance to urban politics.

-Light construction systems.

-Reversible colonization strategy.

-Dynamics of social adhesion.

-Lucid, but destabilizing, action.

-Instantaneous temporal sequence.

The project Insect-House came about when the platform Alameda Viva, a platform with which I share certain personal and intellectual affinities, invited me to show my support for their act of resistance by occupying some of the trees of La Alameda, in Seville.

By following the fundamental premises of efficacious urban guerrilla, I designed the shelters with parts that allow for an immediate construction.  The outside shell would protect us from possible aggressors using rubber balls and pressured water.  The nocturnal building of the shelter requires about 4 people and takes two hours at most.  The first time we built it, eight people came to help, given the lucid and participative spirit the occasion generated: Salita, Pepe, Raúl, Manu, Jaime, José, Herman, and Santi.

The bottom part of the shelter is usually 4.5 meters off the ground and serves as a stomach/storage space; the top part has a sliding shell for protection.  These, together with the parts that fix and hold the shelter to the three, form a structure that has a particular insect-ventilation flowing through it continuously: this feature allows for a pleasant inhabitation in the summer months, which is when our temporary occupations tend to take place.

It is not necessary to justify what should be obvious concerning the inability of urban planning to define the development and growth of a city that finds itself incapable of action given the changes in political attitudes, which means an absolute submission to the demands of the market and ground speculation.  The implicit goal of the action, and my personal ambition along with those of colleagues with a similar attitude, was to remind people and groups that, even if their voice has been considerably quieted, they are still able to act and decide, that they have a say, in the development of the city and on how this development will be carried out.

Beyond a mere ecological attitude concerning the protection of threes to be cut down, this is a strategy of opposition to plans directed, and often imposed, on the population and its style of urban life, which affect not only the inhabitants of the neighborhood, but also the vast and diverse groups of visitors who frequent the La Alameda neighborhood.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

EXECUTION UNIT

Neighbor who protests political decisions by occupying trees in the Alameda neighborhood of Seville, where a destructive, undemocratic urban development plan begins its speculative and destructive work with the cutting down of trees. The strategy of occupation, agreed on by various neighborhood social and cultural groups, involves hooking or placing various look-out and covering structures in strategically selected trees, with the objective of creating the most extensive aerial encampment possible, called Squirrel Town. The one-person "tick" is constructed with steel beams and covered with PVC foam, and is made of a horizontal level (placed at a height of 4.5 m) covered by a lower shell in the form of a stomach-storage and an upper shell that protects against rain, wind, rubber balls and potential streams of water.  It is tied in place without harming the tree and is placed at sufficient height to make access difficult and in order to not disturb the normal development of activities on the ground.  The structure uses a peculiar form of ventilation which runs continuously through the interior, permitting enjoyable living in the festive period during which the occupation took place.

Subject > Neighbor

Collaborators > Alameda Alive collective, La Fiambrera collective and residents of various Seville neighborhoods.

Materials > Steel beams, PVC foam irons, wood planks and binding elements.

Description > Living space for one person fixed at the top of a tree, 4.5 meters from the ground

Approximate surface area > 1,44 m2 + storage space