AWC & A*DESK present Ojos de Barrio

The term “glocality” is often paraded as a beacon of progress, a concept that seamlessly blends the local and the global. Yet, this ideal often conceals the deep-seated inequalities and systemic violence that cities from the possibility of being cohesive networks of beings. In cities such as Barcelona and Berlin, where privilege and exclusion glaringly define their structures, the notion of “glocality” masks the harsh realities faced by those marginalized by capitalism’s relentless advance. The romanticized notion of cultural blending too often ignores this quiet but clear devastation.

We have exchanged gazes and ideas with the Berlin-and-Barcelona-based editors of A*Desk, Montse Badia, and María Muñoz, to refresh once again our commitment to critical dialogue achieved through a polyphony of multi-situated voices. The issue, titled “Neighborhood Watch/Ojos de Barrio”, examines annual and biennial events such as Manifesta 15 and Berlin Art Week 2024 to take their collectives into account for how art becomes a tool for finding cracks in the monolith of urban wealth accumulation, where communities can breathe and flourish and neighborliness counterposes the aridity of profit and gentrification. It’s an invitation to recognize that scarcity is one of the main modus operandi in the arts, by navigating the brutal intricacies of its most sordid form of attention specular to capitalism.

A*Desk, deeply embedded in Barcelona’s cultural fabric, has long been a haven for critical revision and resistance to the alienation of culture against the backdrop of gentrification. Thus, AWC (re)visits and translates previously published essays and conversations from A*Desk’s online platform which refuses to carve out spaces of plural belonging, but rather defines them. We want to query a few things with you, reader, in between the cities: how do we navigate fractured realities? How do we build resilient communities against the tides of gentrification and displacement? How does art actively reshape, not merely reflect, the spaces we inhabit? These are not abstract musings—they are the lived experiences of the artists and art workers featured in this issue. Their work is a testament to the power of art to reveal and resist, to nurture connections, and to root us in a shared struggle for dignity and belonging. 

Indeed, the collaboration between A*Desk and Arts of the Working Class is more than an intersection of ideas—it’s an opportunity to rethink the indispensable roles of independent realities within the cultural system and to envision new ways of connecting and supporting one another in our differences. We are committed to extending the invitation, as Arts of the Working Class begins to leave its mark on Barcelona’s cultural landscape hand in hand with A*Desk, and in complicity with Michael Hart, our new partner in crime, and the members of his Free Music School, a wonderful gathering place for the dwellers of Poble Sec. Let us use perennials, art fairs, and gallery weekends not just as a means to observe, but to become active in shaping a more historically and politically engaged collective consciousness as an expression of the arts’ unresolved social role. Only then art can stop being merely a reflection but a powerful force for transformation, grounding us in our shared struggle and collective hope. Social change may be only a few blocks away from you if you wish to engage. —María Inés Plaza Lazo, Paul Sochacki, Dalia Maini & Amelie Jakubek

This issue was possible in collaboration with Theresa Zwerschke, Selma Louise Christoph, William Kherbek, Léa d Allexandre, Kurt Hollander, Huda Zikry, Giorgia Belotti, Hassoumi Moctar Agali, Amina Zerourou, Ruslana Shabelnyk, Nina Abba, Hannah Lu Verse, anna zrenner, Sophie Franziska Schultz, Kira Schmitz, Nadine Bajek, Cora Pagano, Yasemin Şenkal, Lukas Grube, Duarte Eduardo, Felix Dengg, James Rhys Edwards, Louisa Maria Stank, Sophie Hartleib, Teresa Mayr, Leo Baumgärtner, Katharina Thurow, Annalisa Giacinti, Mia Ribeiro Alonso, Line Lange, Noa Jarri, Federico F. Giordano, Dani Gasol, Cecilia Gentili, Paula Noya de Blas, Fito Conesa, Ro Caminal, Irina Mutt, Miralda, Gisela Chillida, Carlos Casas, Jeremy Deller, Nuria Güell, Alba Feito, Pilar Cruz Ramón, Jokkoo Collective, Glòria Guirao Soro, Carlos Delclós, Helios (Ilyas) F. Garcés and Nancy Garín Guzmán, Michael Hart, Xavier Acarín, Iconoclasistas and Constanza Mendoza, Diana Padrón, Carolina Campos, Inés Plasencia,  Rico Zyrrano, Abolitionist Jelly, Shibboleth, Amr Amer, Center for Plausible Economies and Union Workers from ver.di

Arts of the Working Class can now be read digitally, too. Please find our vendors who carry a STREAD badge and you will be able to scan a code to digitally buy a copy and additionally the STREAD issue of each month.

Support our labor and donate via Paypal: p@artsoftheworkingclass.org.