Casa de Todos|Comfort Station
La Casa de Todos | Everyone’s Home
6/2024 to 1/2025
Supporting programming schedule:
comfortstationlogansquare.org/la-casa-d…
Statement:
"At “La Casa de Todos,” everybody is invited to celebrate home together. Composed of two sculptural units designed as spaces of gathering and celebration, a complex interplay is revealed. The meeting point of these two structures is a liminal space between inside and outside, belonging and othering, private and public: a porch.
Through visual art, social practice, and architectural intervention, I encourage a deeper understanding of our cross-cultural dynamics and sense of personal responsibility. “La Casa de Todos” channels my own migratory experience, resonating with the experiences of others who see a familiar piece of home in a new place.
Alluding to Puerto Rican architectural vernacular, specifically their marquesinas and balcones, the structures of “La Casa de Todos” feature motifs of rejas (wrought iron screens) and quiebrasoles (concrete barriers) that have become synonymous with the porches of the working class of the archipelago.
The work makes visible the relationships between Puerto Rican cultural memory, its African and Black heritage, and the threads of colonial historical lineage of the United States. “La Casa de Todos” highlights the multicultural origins that still shape the elements of architecture and the exchange of knowledge between the United States and Puerto Rico, celebrating these forms by inhabiting them with empathy and compassion. This project exposes how the act of being on a porch, especially in America, is not monolithic in meaning. These transitional spaces become symbols of identity, resilience, and the diverse realities we face. At “La Casa de Todos” everyone is welcome."
With this public installation, Soto invites the community to celebrate a shared home together. La Casa de Todos, or “Everyone's Home,” reconfigures Via Chicago Architects + Disenadores’ work titled SCAFFOLD, transforming its structure by overlapping abstract carved panels, delineating safe zones destined to house public gatherings and moments for celebration.