The "Kiwi Camarote" project (2003–2008) represents a foundational moment in Anto Lloveras’s socioplastic trajectory, serving as a physical manifestation of the intersection between architecture, epistemology, and art. Located on Calle Hortaleza in Madrid's vibrant Salesas district—historically significant as a residence of the novelist Galdós—this 100m² space was transformed from a former mechanical workshop into a highly personalized living and work atelier. Conceived and designed by Lloveras, the intervention is not merely a residential renovation but a "relational device" that facilitates transdisciplinary research and creative production. The space embodies the transition from industrial labor to intellectual and artistic output, preserving the raw, expansive character of the workshop while introducing a modular, domestic logic that reflects the "cool" and sophisticated atmosphere of its contemporary urban context. The spatial design of the Kiwi Camarote utilizes an open-plan configuration to promote a non-linear flow between various cognitive activities. A architectural floor plan of the project reveals a carefully orchestrated layout where living areas, workstations, and a prominent central round table coexist without rigid boundaries. High ceilings and exposed wooden structural columns maintain the industrial heritage, while a mezzanine level connected by a spiral staircase expands the vertical utility of the 100m² footprint. This architectural "metamorphosis" allows the space to function simultaneously as an archive, a studio, and a domestic sanctum, where the "socioplastic" motto—the fusion of architecture and art—is lived out daily. The inclusion of a large, circular wooden table serves as a symbolic and functional hub for dialogue, reflecting Lloveras’s commitment to collaborative exchange and the "Breakfast" series of intellectual engagements.
Visual documentation of the interior highlights a curated "ordered chaos" that mirrors a rhizomatic thinking process. Shelves are densely packed with academic literature, conceptual files, and artistic references, creating an environment that functions as a "cognitive anchor". Large-scale projections onto the workshop's white walls—often featuring cinematic or historical imagery—transform the domestic space into a performative arena, blurring the lines between private life and public artistic discourse. This "extended ego" of the space is further emphasized by the presence of graphic syntagms, architectural models, and urban research materials pinned to the walls, signaling that every corner of the Camarote is a site of active investigation. The integration of diverse elements, from modernist furniture to "junk monochromes," reinforces the idea that the space is an ongoing artwork in itself. The Kiwi Experience stands as a precursor to Lloveras’s later, more complex institutional critiques like CAPA (Consejo Agonista de Políticas Anticipatorias), providing the intimate laboratory necessary to develop theories on symbolic capital and social narrative markets. By reclaiming a site of mechanical labor for the purpose of "socioplastic" production, Lloveras asserts the artist's role in the urban narrative and the potential for domestic spaces to act as catalysts for epistemic change. The project remains a definitive example of how architectural "frugality" and intellectual rigor can converge to create a "modular epistemic tool" for living. This period in Madrid captures the early "vanguard" spirit of LAPIEZA, where the street as a scenario and the home as a laboratory first merged into a singular, ongoing meta-documentary of creative life.
Lloveras, A. (2012) Kiwi at Camarote 2003-2008. [Online] Available at:
