SHARED APARTMENTS
The writer Sergio C. Fanjul and I have lived in the same room of the same house on the same street in Madrid at different times in our lives. We didn't know it; we found out some time ago, but since then, I've often thought about the different lives that spaces have had over time.
It all started with the piece "Cajón tipográfico 01," a work I presented in Madrid at the exhibition "Orden Salvaje" (2017). In this piece, I created a building, somewhat like 13 Rue del Percebe, with its miniatures, inside what used to be a typesetting drawer. Those slots once held metal letters used for printing when there were no printers, keyboards, or screens. Now, tiny people live there.

The exhibition concluded, and the piece returned to my home. Sometimes, after finishing a piece, I feel a kind of aversion towards it, and that's exactly what happened; I stored it away because it had been a very challenging creative process.

With time, the lockdown arrived, and we began to question everything. I wanted to approach the piece from another perspective and reconsider it. While pondering, the idea came to me to find someone who, from a different discipline, could narrate what was happening in those rooms. Instead of illustrating a text, someone would “interpret” an illustration. And, to talk about the cohabitation in my building, who better than Sergio?

I told him about the idea, and he immediately agreed. I sent him the photos I had, a layout of the floors, and a small guide on who lived in each house. He reviewed it, and we agreed to publish a couple of times a week. We made 72 posts over ten months, every Tuesday and Thursday. Inside the building, events as diverse as a lap-dance session, a bath in a room-turned-pool, a flamenco dancer trying to get into an elevator, anti-war protests, or a golf course occupying different houses, among many, many windows. And despite this jumble, Sergio always contributed something incredible to what was happening in each room.

Here is the Instagram profile where you can see the project: Pisos compartidos