The Convention on the Use of Space - El Cuarto de Invitados, CA2M (Madrid)
April to September 2016

Project initiated by the artist Adelita Husni-Bey.
Organised at El Cuarto de Invitados by Alba Folgado.


The ‘Convention on the Use of Space’ is a legal instrument drawn up in the Netherlands between March and May 2015 as a response to the housing crisis: the lack of affordable housing, the absence of provisions for the undocumented, rising rents, and the criminalization of squatting. The Convention considers space as a ‘good’ that should not be privatised for profit or be left empty simply for speculative purposes and it lists the uses in which squatting should be protected, like providing free health services, sharing knowledge and skills, occupying space in protest, for housing purposes, running cooperative systems for wealth and labour distribution, providing mental and physical support, or the taking of space in order to protect it from environmental destruction.

In June and September 2016 we are organising a series of public meetings in various spaces in Móstoles and Madrid in which the Spanish chapter of the Convention will be prepared. Paying special attention to the historic genealogy of the issue of housing in Spain and the subsequent development of legislation, the meetings will feature keynote speakers and will encourage the public to take part in drafting this legislation from the perspective of different movements. A translated version of the ‘Convention on the Use of Space’ will be read during the meetings, after which it will be discussed and modified in close collaboration with local groups of activists, legal experts, lawyers and the general public. The meetings will be open to the public and all those interested in issues related with the use of space.

Between April and May 2016, a number of meetings were held at Cuarto de Invitados to work on the convention and its translation. These meetings, which included a small group of participants, examined the ways in which the convention is expressed, the implications of the language used, and the issues involved in translating it. In addition, based on the material compiled during each meeting, there was a shared reflection on the various concerns raised by the document in question.

The ‘Convention on the Use of Space’ is a project initiated by the artist Adelita Husni-Bey.

More info at CA2M and Cuarto de Invitados