A collective performance in which the memory of what has been done leads to transformation. Literally, “concha de amor” means “shell of love,” but it is also an expression used, in different parts of South America, to describe groups of people who come together to talk, while embroidering, for example, or doing laundry in wash houses. On this occasion the audience was asked to parade, tie knots in long sailor ropes and, through these gestures, weave the stories of the people with the stories of the place.

Concha de Amor is an event designed for an empty and disused urban space, inhabited by silent “signs of the city,” remnants of marble ornaments, cast-iron grills and street lamps salvaged from Republic Square, oil storage jars, busts of famous men. Through the participation of people and their work, its history is evoked, a transformation is triggered that fills it with meaning.