Where have you found the coolest repurposed spaces?
Atop Cerro Carcel, a hill in Valparaiso, sits a beautiful park. However, this place used to be a prison. The white building no longer houses prisoners, and the old yard has been transformed into a walkable garden.
Inside, the cells have been removed to make room for practice rooms and a ropes gym. The open layout serves as a culture center. When we visited, a dance team was rehearsing their routine in the foyer while a musician tuned his guitar in one of the rooms above. We could also peek into the gym, where a coach was teaching aerial silk and hoop techniques.
Across the open lawn, there also sits a much newer building, wherein we discovered a free art gallery. This featured a small mural contest outside and works by Loro Coiron inside. He carves his artwork into giant sheets of linoleum and then uses these as a sort of stamp to “print” the final works. It’s a very distinctive style with more of a white-on-black look.
I particularly like that he “animates” some of his characters within a single piece by duplicating them in various poses. With this, we could watch birds fly across the sky or a little girl follow a stray cat through the market.
I also like that he seems to share in our affinity for cats; we could find one in almost every work. And I really love the banner of a cat falling, landing on its feet, and then running away.
How cool is that!
Don’t miss out on new content!
Follow our blog for new snippets every day and full posts and videos every week.