Maturín workshop, by Adrián Unger

Maturín is unique in the world. And this is so because in 2256 Maturín Street, La Paternal neighbourhood, Buenos Aires, Argentina, there is just one Maturín workshop. That is the only reason that makes it unique. For all the rest, it is one of the many shared art spaces of the neighbourhood, the country, the planet, and the universe.

At the beginning the nine of us became one to transform a former upholstery shop within a huge furniture factory. It was totally run down and commanded by a flock of pigeons (which we managed to oust with diplomacy). The joint effort gave an incredible result; the space became a living being. There was then an instance of choosing a name and, although many arose, the name of the street remained. Apparently Maturin was a chief of the native peoples of 1700 somewhere in South America.

But what is it that holds us together feeding that huge being?

We’re clearly not together because we live in that historic neighbourhood, because nobody lives around. Nor is it that we are all painters, sculptors, draughtsmen. Everyone does something different. There are no schedules either, we all have the key and each one works when it suits him. Some of us at a set time, others perhaps at night or just a while on the weekends. Nobody leads the space, we are strictly horizontal, we all pay the same, and everything is decided by consensus. Even though most of us met in the Torcuato Di Tella University’s artist program in 2011, that is not the reason why we are together and there. In fact, after the program some of us organized a collective workshop in the neighbourhood of Palermo. The place became too small and we wanted to change the pot (but of course, it was not all of us, so that’s not the pattern either).

But we are together. There is something. And maybe it’s nothing but what makes you get together with friends at a run-down spot. And see it as a paradise. A future ecosystem of people, colours, tools, plants, stories. We have that which makes people come together to improve things. Improve a situation, an environment, a context, a neighbourhood, whatever. That focusing on the process, knowing that the result will come along.

Yes, what we have in common is something you learn sooner or later: nothing makes sense if it is not within a society. And that is why we are on the opposite side of seeking to be unique.