From clay to tile

In the heart of the Barrio del Cristo, Valencia, an artistic and community project rethinks the history of a marginal enclave that emerged between brick factories during the Civil War and the post-war period. Under the title From clay to tile: (re)construction of a collective memory in the Barrio del Cristo (Az-zulaiŷ), researchers from the Centre for Physical Technologies of the Universitat Politècnica de València are working with neighbours and associations to rescue the memory of the Andalusian and La Mancha diaspora that built their homes on the outskirts of the city. Through sensory cartography, oral storytelling and visual collection workshops, the initiative, selected in the Carasso Foundation’s Compose Knowledge 2025 call, will draw an emotional map of the past, present and future of the neighborhood. The testimonies and materials collected will serve as the basis for building a house-monument together with the neighbors in a collective act of one night, as well as to articulate an exhibition that documents this process of historical recovery.