ITI Guadalajara

What if different kinds of art could be brought together for one day? What if a social and artistic movement could help us to relate to the people who live amongst us, and discover their reality?  How can this new form of artistic expression and communication help form our social interactions?

The ITI mission is one that promotes respect, favours social equality and aspires to create community support and involvement in this social and artistic movement.

It is common knowledge nowadays that human rights laws are taken more seriously.  Nevertheless there are many instances which show that inequalities still exist.  Art should be a tool used to promote free expression and equality instead of what it represents currently; art only being available  to a small percentage of society to enjoy and appreciate it.

The ITI Guadalajara event is inspired by the street and all its imperfections. We would like to explore the poetry that comes from the village streets by focusing on the personal interchange we are all capable of having with street people. This in the hope of making us all more humane towards those who are not as fortunate as others.

On the 18^th of March, 2012, the citizens of Guadalajara are invited to roam the streets of the city to discover what she reserves for them.

Your mission: find the ambassadors of this project, the people who make up this project.  Approach them and share something, whatever you please, in exchange of a photo…

The idea: to soften the social inequalities which exist by creating dialogue or contact between people of different backgrounds.  During the event the citizens will collect 21 photos of people with the use of the map above.

The exchange: during this contact the citizens will be invited to exchange what they wish for a portrait photo (for ex. Clothes, food, money, book, advice, a smile).

The objective: to share, if only for a few minutes, what it is like for the people of the street and to make them feel like they are part of something big and important.

For more information:

Visit our Facebook page (facebook.com/itiproject)

or write to us at iti.guadalajara@gmail.com.

Not only are they designers, artistic event coordinators and travellers, they are passionate about human contact.  Human contact which occurs during exchanges that take place between people from all different walks of life and importantly the energy that comes from these exchanges.  Their fascination with photography has also been an important tool that they use to share their passion with others.

The pair started working on this project only a month ago.  Since then they have visited every corner of the city, sharing meetings with people on the street in order to choose individuals to be involved in this fantastic project.  From there the project began to take form, rapidly receiving support from the Cultural Department of Guadalajara.  So much so that the director of the Cultural Department gave them the possibility of exposing their project at one of the city’s most well know exposition sites.

Their aim is to make of this project a pilot, to give a voice to those who have none and to able to view these people as people and not just judge them on their social situation.  As a result of these exchanges, the people on the street involved in this project have had a renewed sense of self-worth and pride...to be part of something much bigger than them.