La Tullida Gallery. Pilares para una casa blanda

Madrid

La Tullida Gallery: Pillars for a Soft House is an artistic research project that explores the viability of a cultural center where people with functional diversity are at the center. Not a paternalistic or “inclusive” space, but a cultural center created by, for, and with disabled artists.

This project was conceived by the disabled artist Costa Badía and finds in hablarenarte a curatorial, strategic, and infrastructural partner. It represents a collaboration between a creator who envisions a “soft” space and an organization that champions the independent arts scene and already runs two spaces, Planta Alta and Planta Baja.

La Tullida Gallery: Pillars for a Soft House is an artistic, cultural, and political project born out of the urgent need to rethink the way art spaces are configured, who inhabits them, how they are governed, and whom they are intended for. Its starting point is disability—not as a deficiency, but as a critical lens through which to imagine other ways of being in the world, of creating, and of living together. The Tullida Gallery we envision will not be merely a gallery: it is a proposal for a cultural institution yet to come—a place where we experiment with alternative modes of artistic production, cultural management, critical pedagogy, accessibility, and collective organization.

This project will focus on feasibility and prototyping, addressing aspects such as cultural rights, architecture, economic models, artistic positioning, governance, programming, partnerships and networking, and impact. It is an experimental prototyping process for an artistic space that does not yet exist in Spain, and which will serve as a beacon for artistic practices and the struggle for equality for people with disabilities.

The project is being carried out in collaboration with the Matadero Madrid Artist-in-Residence Center, where Costa Badía is a resident, and with the support of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.

The project will be structured around several strategies and phases:

-Mapping and theoretical research, search for points of reference.

-Meetings and visits to related spaces, potential collaborators, and architecture firms.

-A public program, to be held at the Center for Artist Residencies, which will address the various aspects of the research. Conceived as an open laboratory designed to foster reflection on the presence—and frequent invisibility—of disability in the realm of cultural creation and mediation. Through workshops, conversations, performances, and practical sessions, the project will address issues such as accessible imagination, body-based pedagogy, the ethics of care, and the reexamination of curatorial practices from non-normative perspectives.

Schedule of Sessions:

January 21 - La Tullida Gallery: Prologue in Pieces. Presentation. Featuring Mencía Granados (Colegio Virgen de Europa), Juan Gómez Alemán (La Juan Gallery), Carlos Almela (hablarenarte), Tania Pardo (CA2M), María Acaso (UCM), and Maite Barrera (curator).
February 18 – Cut and Paste: Custom Design. Workshop for people with disabilities; registration required.
March 18 - Economies That Don’t Limp: Other Ways to Sustain a Space. Alternative Funding Sources. Featuring Costa Badía, Pepa Octavio de Toledo (Carasso Foundation), Susana Gómez Sansegundo (Banco Santander Foundation), and Nuria Arribas (Alapar Foundation). Session open to the public until capacity is reached.
April 22 – Designing Twisted Architectures. Creating Physical Space. Featuring Husos Arquitecturas and Clara López (Mesa Camilla). Workshop by prior registration aimed at people with and without disabilities interested in architecture, design, and the right to housing.
May 20 - Programming Without Exclusion and Other Cultural Choreographies. Cultural programming and management from an intersectional perspective. Session open to the public until capacity is reached.
June 17 - Governing Without Commanding, Deciding Without Crushing. Forms of governance and decision-making. Session open to the public until capacity is reached.