Talent of the Year 2020 - NOMINEE: Edgar dos Santos
Edgar dos Santos
Inventory of bridges and viaducts of the Spanish high-speed (AVE)
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Abstract
"Architecture - and by extension the City and its spaces - make up a synthesis - perhaps unique - of Geographical Infrastructure, Economic Structure and Ideological Superstructure". Antoni Miranda, architect and essayist
This is a tour around the bridges and viaducts of the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Barcelona to explore the social and environmental implications of a territory in the shadow of the AVE (Spanish High Speed). A territory that supports the most powerful infrastructure and emblem of modernity in Spain, but that leaves it out of the image it projects. An infrastructure that is the fruit of political, economic and territorial power at the service of speculation and spectacularisation. Progress and capitalism impose their interests and aesthetics conditioning the human and natural landscape of the territory.
Captions
01 - A walker. Viaduct near Sant Boi, Barcelona.
The corridor that joins the two capitals is the largest number of travellers, the longest, and the fastest in average speed of all the Ave lines. With the construction of these lines and those that followed, the Spanish economic miracle designed and consolidated the largest high-speed rail network in Europe, and 2nd in the world, falling behind only China.
02 - Bathers. Viaduct near Martorell.
The State acts as an organizer of the territory, of collective habits and consumption (production of land value and distribution of goods and people) and in a certain way of daily life. As the sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefevre describes in "The production of space" each society produces its own space according to its own way of thinking about the world. Space as a product of social, political and economic relations.
03 - Train hunter photographers waiting for the AVE. Viaduct near Santa Fe.
Railway and photography are the result of the industrial revolution, they are born and developed in parallel with the consolidation of a new capitalist society. Their relationship is especially fruitful. The documentary nature of photography has served to publicly project the image of the railway while the plasticity of the railway has often been used by photographers and artists as a motif of their creations.
O4 - Portrait. Near Sant Sadurní.
High speed has opted for a radial design, linking the provincial capitals with Madrid, although not with each other, as a model of territorial equality. The AVE draws its own map weaving the centre with the periphery regardless of the higher concentrations of population (mostly on its shores), the most dynamic areas, or the connection with Europe. Like China or Turkey, Spain has prioritized administrative status by uniting provincial capital over other considerations such as traffic density or economic flow.
05 - Viaduct near Lleida.
In August 2016, four hooded men shot dead the meat entrepreneur who lived with his family on the floor above this now abandoned factory.
06 - Three neighbours playing cards. Near Plasencia de Jalon.
"The decision to build high-speed lines is often based on political considerations and cost-benefit analyses are not typically used to make decisions." It is one of the conclusions of the EU Court of Auditors' report published on June 2018. Although Spain has been the main beneficiary of EU subsidies for high speed, this effort has not resulted in better connections with neighbouring states.
07 - Viaduct that was not. The original layout was deflected by the interests of a local businessman linked to the political power
The management and construction of the Ave lines and stations has been plagued by fraudulent operations: commissions, spectacular over cost, fraudulent re-qualifications, bribes, real estate speculations, rigged tenders... and in which are involved from officials to kings, politicians and businessmen of the first line.
08 - Viaduct near Anchuelo. Path and tree.
The Madrid-Barcelona line closely follows the ancient Roman roads. For centuries these pathways and their branches served to establish relationships and vertebrate the territory, collect taxes or lead armies. Like the skilful Roman engineers who applied themselves to drawing the straightest line between two points, the layout of the AVE seeks the straightest path, in a balance of technological and environmental costs, political and social interests.
09 - The weekend gardener. Viaduct near Madrid.
The commitment to bring high speed to each provincial capital has meant that the conventional network and investments in medium and short distances have been neglected, as this is what truly supports the territory and is used by 80% of travellers. The conventional network is more than 13,000 kilometres long compared to the 3,000 kilometres of the AVE high-speed train. Despite this, almost all investment is aimed at extending the latter. The priority given to the connectivity of large cities and large economic flows has contributed to seeing the city as a place with more opportunities than the already abandoned rural world.
10 - Sin (without)
Like a map that folds to unite Madrid and Barcelona in space, the Ave line has reduced the distance between the two capitals but has left the intermediate territory that supports it apart from its benefits, as if the progress of society was sustained on the back of a "terrain vague" that does not have much to say. (Sin, from folded Spain, means without).
About author:
Edgar dos Santos is a visual artist, documentary photographer and lecturer. Co-founder at Documentary Agency Zoom www.agenciazoom.com. Actually, I teach photography at the Lleida School of Art.
My work focuses on the relationship we establish with the environment, the interactions and mutual affectations, and those linked to the processes of apprehension, use and representation of space / territory / landscape. I am interested in how this environment is perceived, digested and returned. Which is the nature of what we see and how we give it a meaning. The space from its physical, social and mental way. I alternate staging with documentary-style approaches.
In parallel, I work with vulnerable groups in participatory projects. Based on the context, problems and needs, we develop actions and interventions that are generally critical and public in nature that contribute to their empowerment and visibility.
I’ve exhibited in London (AA Gallery), Barcelona (Arts Santa Monica, Homesession…), Madrid (Cero Gallery, Caixa Forum), Lleida (La Panera Contemporary Art Centre…), France (Musée Terrrus), Ghana (NKA Foundation). I’ve done three artistic residencies and received several awards and photography fellowships and for social improvement projects. I’ve been finalist and participate in several calls and photographic festivals (Emergent Lleida, Forum Can Basté BCN...). I’ve published in different national and international media and participated in three photographic and artístic publications.