The Random and Vagrant side of Barcelona. Hanging out with Osvaldo Lamborghini

Ruta de autor combines archival and historical research from a range of disciplines to investigate the city. Its walking tours through public spaces act as a conduit for bringing people together while generating critical perspectives on official narratives by peeling back the multiple layers of a city’s history from its streets, architecture and monuments. It juxtaposes the archive with the present day by recalling histories and giving new meaning to familiar places. One of its emblematic routes is Barcelona and the Indianos (2014–ongoing), which follows the lives of those who set off to make their fortune in the colonial Americas in the 19th century and examines their impact on the city upon their return. In 2019 Ruta de autor organised Green Flag, a route and exhibition which explored the impact of a water treatment plant and the rerouting of the River Llobregat. Ruta de autor are Aymara Arreaza R. and Lorena Bou Linhares, who pool their rich backgrounds in comparative literature, visual cultures and critical theory. Green Flag (2019) was presented in and around the Centre Cívic Jardins de la Pau, El Prat de Llobregat, with /UNZIP Arts Visuals. Their recent routes include Calippos of the World, with Larre (2020); Barcelona and America Tour: A Cartography of the Colonial Narrative (1835–1888), with MACBA (2019), and The Port ‘in Sekula Saeculorum’, with the Fundació Tàpies and The Green Parrot (2017).  More information: rutadeautor.com