4. Arturo Elenes

Open Space was the perfect pretext for me to review my ideas about the place
I live, what makes me love this city? I approach this, as a registering
exercise of the urban texture of my town: Tijuana, Mexico.

I live in Tijuana and… like most of the people from Tijuana I'm not from
here, TJ is full of outsiders that call this town home, here the so called
third world meets the first world (who come up with these classification
anyway?) in a dramatic way, I work in Mexico and the United States I earn
pesos but spend in dollars, eat tacos and use Levi's, here everything is a
step away from contradiction and convergence, this is a very odd tapestry of
images and sounds from fat norteño musicians to avant-garde electronic
music, Opera singers and guys on traffic lights selling everything you can
imagine from bottled water, art crafts and juggling acts.

I think Tijuana is made from bits and pieces of found objects, images,
typography and sounds. I try to reflect this apparent chaos that reveals and
extraordinary order where everything fits perfectly together in a really
eclectic way… a friend told me recently: "here, things are alive and live
it's chaotic and strange", In a few words "my town is a beautiful mess" ;)

Click here to launch a new window and start with the first picture.

You can also download Open Space in its entirety via a PDF [3.2 Mb] with the latest additions to it.

For those of you wondering about Arturo's contribution, it's even cooler than it looks. Each row of photos is its own mini-page. You can flip one and leave the rest to create your own completely new, interesting composition. Really, a clever idea. Great job, Arturo.

i'm playing with it right now! it's very cool and well crafted. i'm actually almost done with my turn already, i'm looking into figuring out a certain process...but if i cant in a couple days i might send it back early. it's very beautiful.

Oh, is that how Arturo's works? Very cool! I really enjoyed all the vignettes, each one tells a story. Plus reading some of the signage in spanish and spanglish was pretty funny.

Well done Arturo!

I love Arturo's section, especially since I saw it for the first time (as did Brook, I guess) when it was in my hands. It's that terrific fusion of form and content that I'm so often trying to chase down, pulled off with real style and a very specific point of view. I was a little intimidated by it, to be honest.

by the way, Armin and Joy, after seeing now the before-and-after of it, I think you guys are doing a really great job putting the scans/detail pages together. you are definitely capturing much of the spirit of the sections.

>Oh, is that how Arturo's works?>

Sort of a sarape... you know ;-) Mmmm Maybe a quilt is a more close metaphor for the US...

>I was a little intimidated by it, to be honest.

Actually I was intimidated with the ones before me too HaHa... it's a really great way to push our ourselves forward isn't it?

Armin and Joy you are doing a great job organizing all of us!!

fun project. "flipping" through it in pdf form is a (surprisingly) rewarding experience. certainly has personality and a good vibe to it. some comment about cold beer stood out so i'm heading to the market...