219
Arte Útil archive nr:
219
Initiator:
Núria Güell
Location:
Spain
Category:
politics, economy, social
Users:
Homeless people and people evicted by banks
Maintained by:
Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca de Torrevieja y Vega Baja
Certification:
implemented
Duration:
2012
Núria Güell
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Intervention #1
Description:
58,241 evictions were conducted in Spain last year, mostly through real estate speculation by the Mediterranean Savings Bank. In Intervention #1, the artist created a cooperative through which she contracted a construction worker (who himself had been evicted from his own house) to remove the entrance doors to other foreclosed properties. Since the process of hiring the worker was done through a legal entity, it prevented him from being legally liable.
Goals:
To reinstate to public use houses and warehouses that were purchased by banks through public bailouts. To make visible the legal strategies used by banks to steal from the state and citizens with total impunity.
Beneficial Outcomes:
The project offered houses to citizens who do not have homes. Instead of the citizens, the project itself assumes responsibility for opening the houses. On a pedagogic level, the project promotes legal strategies which citizens can use to avoid legal liability, adopting similar strategies to those that banks themselves use to avoid culpability.