La Escocesa
La Escocesa is a factory recovered, reopened and put into operation by a group of artists who in the 90s decided to reinterpret the use of the factory and question its hierarchical and alienating principles. At the end of 2017, it began to relate itself as an open factory of analog creation, referring to the precarious imprint of its industrial space, which forces the relationship of those who inhabit it with obsolete architectures and technologies. The definition also places special emphasis on episodes of the last industrialization in the country when factories were retaken by their workers. La Escocesa is an expanded community of creators in an institution that owns them.
Through its residencies and its lines of research, open to the public in some of its activities, La Escocesa aims to contribute to the emergence of new alternative forms of experience based on artistic practice. These forms of experience are located in the context of the recovery of the factory itself as a common resource, taking up the cooperative strategies that were reproduced in different manufacturing facilities, including La Escocesa, in response to the crisis of industrial reconversion in the mid-1980s.
La Escocesa is a multidisciplinary artistic production centre focused on the visual arts and self-managed with a public vocation. It is housed in a factory building dating from 1899, where 100 years later, in 1999, it was used for artist's workshops. It currently has 21 workshops, which are awarded through a public call for proposals that is held periodically. The La Escocesa building is just one of the buildings in the space. It has two floors, a terrace of about 500m2 and a third intermediate floor of about 100m2 where the centre's offices are located. It has changing open spaces in its decoration. The exterior space is a patio with remains of asphalt and spontaneous and changing vegetation, with a chimney from its industrial period of 30 meters in height. Most of the exterior walls of La Escocesa are full of graffiti that give an urban and eclectic style.
It is a unique space that breathes creativity and dynamism, industrial and rough style full of charming corners, where the ruin is their own history. Throughout the premises, one can appreciate Barcelona's industrial history and its relationship with the contemporary world. There are resident artists with whom you can collaborate, subject to prior agreement. The singularity of La Escocesa is that it is a working space that welcomes resident artists, therefore the schedules and noise have to be very controlled. Likewise, the resident artists must previously approve each external project that is carried out.
Here you can find more info about the different studios
Here you can read more about the project from Gordana Zikic, developed in the residency and supported by i-Portunus, EU Mobility Scheme for artists and cultural professionals.