With Lanzarote's move to Phase 2 of the state de-escalation plan, the Culture area of the Lanzarote Council, led by Councilor Alberto Aguiar, has developed a Protocol of Preventive Measures and Recommendations that has allowed the partial reopening of the Cultural Innovation Center (CIC) El Almacén, starting with its exhibition halls. From today, Friday, May 29, the exhibition halls of El Patio and El Aljbe can be visited again, from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Among the many measures established to reopen El Almacén, informative panels have been placed at all entrances to the building, establishing the rules and information regarding access, capacity, etc., in addition to dispensers of hydroalcoholic solutions for hand hygiene.
Before entering the El Almacén building, each citizen must make sure if they can do so (for capacity reasons) and, in any case, must commit to respecting the rules established by the administration, including physical distancing of 2 meters, periodic hand hygiene with soap or alcoholic solutions, and the use of masks when it is not possible to maintain social distancing.
Likewise, cleaning and disinfection services and frequency will be increased throughout the building, with special emphasis on bathrooms and common areas.
One third of the usual capacity
In each space, the permitted capacity will be indicated, which must be respected by the attending public and controlled by the authorized personnel at the CIC El Almacén. In this Phase 2, in which only the ground floor and the two exhibition halls will be opened, the capacity for the entrance hall of the building is one person, for the entrance Patio 13 people, for the El Cubo Hall 17 people, for the El Aljibe Hall 12 people, for the meeting room 3 people, and for the El Almacén Cultural Factory business incubator 3 people.
For the reopening of the CIC El Almacén, Cultura Lanzarote has installed new signage in the building, with informative panels on the new access and COVID-19 contagion prevention rules, in addition to the mandatory entry and exit flows of the building and the different halls.
But it will also be used to place, soon, the posters with the names of Buñuel for the Cinema hall and Picasso for the bar, whose names the current councilor, Alberto Aguiar, decided to recover.
In addition to all this, an illustrative panel will also be installed in which you can see, in a very summarized way, the chronological evolution of the history of El Almacén, from its inauguration in 1974 to the present, and which will be placed in the entrance hall of the building.
Progressive opening of the rest of the spaces of El Almacén
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, wanted to show her satisfaction for the reopening of the CIC El Almacén. "With caution, and with all the necessary prevention measures, the Cabildo is gradually recovering all services to citizens, including the cultural offer"
For his part, the Councilor for Culture of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Alberto Aguiar, has also shown his satisfaction for the reopening of the exhibition halls. "Although it is partial, it is a great satisfaction to be able to reopen El Almacén to the public. Anyone who wants to can visit the two exhibitions that we maintain in these spaces, those of Xurxo Chirro and Rigoberto Camacho, they can do so. Of course, complying with all mandatory safety and hygiene measures," said Aguiar.
Regarding the rest of the halls and services of the CIC El Almacén, the Councilor for Culture Lanzarote has specified that its opening will depend on how the health conditions and the state of alarm in Lanzarote evolve. "We all know that the situation is still very changing, and although Lanzarote is in a favorable situation, we will have to see how the requirements established by the health authorities evolve. If all goes well, it is our intention to gradually open the rest of the spaces in the coming months, such as the Buñuel Cinema hall, and to program some small-format activities, always monitoring the capacity and scrupulously taking care of the prevention measures," concluded the councilor.
Rigoberto Camacho and Xurxo Chirro
The two exhibitions that were on display before the quarantine will be the ones that welcome the first visitors who come back to the CIC El Almacén, which are "Syncretism" by Rigoberto Camacho and "Extraordinary Videocartographies" by Xurxo Chirro. In principle, both exhibitions can be seen until next September.
In "Syncretism", Rigoberto Camacho ventures to make his artistic production transit through a creative process that is nourished by the interaction and assimilation of diverse cultural elements that coexist and coexist in his environment to create a unique and committed plastic expression, born from the syncretic sum of human relations and contexts that allow him to configure a new anthropological and cultural construct linked to the territory from the legacy, memory and influence of testimonies from different individuals, as well as from different places and times.
Videocartography of Extraordinary Architectures is a project conceived and directed by Xurxo Chirro that consists of a series of videos about different buildings in Arrecife with the idea of discovering them or seeing them with other eyes.
Many Arrecife buildings live cornered in oblivion. Some have singularities that make them unique: situation, shape, use, decoration, history? A set of buildings that anxiously await to have a greater role within the urban heritage.
This project is a crossroads of methodologies in which it was intended to get the most out of the world of the archive. It all began with a documentary process that delved into the characteristics of the buildings. Later that information was shared with young people in a training process. A collaboration that was confirmed in the reformulation of the archives to give it a new aesthetic perspective. And, finally, all this device was technically fixed in an app so that its projection can be extended in space and time.
The project is part of the 10th Biennial Meeting of Lanzarote, organized by CACT Lanzarote, and which, until the beginning of this quarantine period, was exhibited in the El Aljibe Hall of the CIC El Almacén, a center dependent on Cultura Lanzarote.
You can view the project, download the App or see the map in which to locate the buildings on the website of Videocartografía de Arquitecturas Extraordinarias.