Manuela Valtchanova
(2023)
In February 2022, one of the ships of the NGO Open Arms was about to end its activity after more than 70 humanitarian missions and 6500 people saved. A group of professors were faced with the need to rethink the transformation of the ship, its uses, and all the social and political value it has gained over the years. This need gave rise to the research project described below. As a transdisciplinary team of designers, architects and artists actively engaged in practice, research and academia, we decided to introduce the project into the academic curriculum in a multidirectional and transversal search for new reformulations of the Open Arms ship that could respond to the main purpose that the leader of the NGO asked us for: How can we turn the Open Arms rescue boat into a communication tool that generates proactive engagement, critical attitude and social and civic awareness about the migratory phenomenon primarily in young people?
Fig. 1. Minecraft Open Arms School: Play and interaction as new hybrid spaces for learning and protest action. Sample of the interactive ship hosted on a stand-alone server containing an uncensored digital library, as well as various mini-games in defence of human rights. Project: Minecraft Open Arms School. 4th GDIS; 22-23. Source: Carlos Álvarez, 2022.
Fig 2. StoryTeller: transmedia strategies as an active practice of knowledge co-production and questioning of hegemonic truths. Sample of the printed publication with the pedagogical statement and the curatorship of the programmed activities. Project: StoryTeller. 4th GDIS; 22-23. Source: Alba Agüera, 2022.
Fig. 3: Make your own salt: A peaceful protest for human rights that democratises salt production and knowledge sharing. Image generated through DALL-E, imagining the ship transformed into a floating saltworks that self-produces salt in the Mediterranean. Project: Make Your Own Salt, 4th GDIS, 22-23. Source: Sara Barcons 2022
Fig 4: Spread the bread: Baking bread as a form of protest and a practice for building subversive communities. Sample from one of the manuals on self-construction, self-management, and utilisation for creating bread ovens and occupying boats and public spaces. Project: Spread the Bread, 4th GDIS, 22-23. Source: Vinyet Tejedor, Salmerón Clara 202.