Hucha de deseos: We are all one neighborhood, act!

12 November 2009 - 28 February 2010Location: Plaza Puerta de Moros and entire La Latina neighborhood. Every banknote carries a trade value, but also a potential future value (saving for the next holidays, for the desired car...). Every conversation carries the potential of a future business, a new invention, a new task, a chance.Everyone carries an unused potential, an idea in mind, an observation, an untold story or observation, unused old coins in a drawer at home. The public art project Hucha de deseos: ¡Todos somos un barrio, movilízate! seeks to collect these little individual potentials. The art project brings them together to transform them into collective projects and outcomes.More than 136.000.000.000 Peseta coins and 154.000.000.000 Peseta banknotes remain in peoples private property. Hucha de deseos: ¡Todos somos un barrio, movilízate! collects the Peseta1 coins and banknotes in a public collection site in Plaza Puerta de Moros, La Latina neighborhood for a four months period, from the 12 November 2009 to the end of February 2010. Along with the peseta collection, the project asks the neighborhood and the users of the neighborhood (visitors of the markets, bars, cafes) actively, what they would like to realize with this public and undervalued money in and for La Latina? During the event, the project will collect and publish to full extent wishes made by participants on both the project website, in the public media and in the neighbourhood. During the final month of February, the wishes will be presented in a daily public art action from 15-18 h on Paseo de Recoletos.The coins and banknotes are ongoingly counted and delivered to the Banco de España.On 27 February 2010 everybody who would like to be part of the decision making process and decision outcome, is invited to attend an Open Space event at Círculo de Bellas Artes. This one day event will be used to decide collectively what will happen to the pesetas and how this will be put into action.On 27th February 2010, 55 people met in el Circulo de Bellas Artes en Madrid. The reason was the final event of the public art project ‘Hucha de deseos’. The neighbors of La Latina were invited to decide together, what will happen with the 512 collected wishes in and for La Latina and with the around 85 000 Pesetas, exchanged into 513.70 Euros.The Open Space event, titled ‘La Latina quiere ser escuchada’ reunited neighbors, students, high school students, children, activists, artists as well as teachers, interested observers and supporters of La Latina. After a vivid debate of five hours the following two decisions were made collectively: The multiple named wish of more green space in La Latina will be realized through planting numerous trees in the Cornisa Park on the 14th March 2010. The ‘Asociacion Amigos de la Cornisa-Las Vestillas’ will take care of the realization of this wish and received the money.The second wish is putting a letterbox on Plaza Puerta de Moros – the previous location of the hucha - in which any local associations can stay in contact, exchange ideas and inform each other of events. The plan is to put the info on a blog so that the local network will be strengthened. The collective zoohaus will create the letterbox.Madrid Abierto as the cultural association who commissioned this art project will initiate the permission process for the letterbox.The Hucha was removed on 28th Feb 2010 and is currently storaged to explore the possibilities to initiate the process in another neighborhood in Spain. Interested neighborhood may contact Madrid Abierto to explore the options.The public project started on 12th Nov 2009 and had created over the period of 3.5 months a massive dialogue among visitors and neighbors of La Latina, what they would like to change and better in the common public space of La Latina.