Bad start for the cultural space at Peironcely, 10, in Entrevías, which intended to become a reference for the world of photography. The Robert Capa Center, which manages the legacy of the Hungarian photographer, has prohibited the Madrid City Council from using his name after it turned its back on the project promoted by a platform of neighbors and artists who have fought to save from demolition the brick house where Capa took the iconic Civil War photograph that appeared in the New York Times.
“We categorically disavow this new unilateral direction and will not authorize, endorse or permit the use of Robert Capa’s name, image or photographic legacy for any center, exhibition or project located at Peironcely 10 that is not led, approved and managed in full agreement with the #SavePeironcely10 Platform,” states the letter sent by the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, the institution founded by Cornell Capa, which acts as global custodian and guarantor of the photographic legacy and history of Capa. “Any attempt to link Robert Capa’s name to this new municipal plan will lack international support and institutional legitimacy,” the letter adds.
The Madrid City Council had announced last week the creation of a Robert Capa Cultural Experimentation Center. A project aimed at young people at risk of exclusion, promoted by the Area of Culture, Tourism and Sports, headed by Marta Rivera de la Cruz, in collaboration with the Area of Social Policies, directed by José Fernández, in which the José María de Llanos Foundation would be in charge of programming.
However, the approach that the house will have, which will be a cultural center for young people instead of an interpretation center of the Civil War, has irritated the #SalvaPeironcely10 Platform, the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (FRAVM) and different neighborhood groups in Puente de Vallecas, such as La Paz, La Viña, Kasko Viejo, Palomeras Bajas or Puente de Vallecas-San Diego. All of them denounce “the maneuver” of the council to hand over the building to the José María Llanos Foundation, an entity that they consider “unrelated” to the original project and whose presence “dynamites a decade of neighborhood, academic and international work to create the Robert Capa Center for the interpretation of the aerial bombings of Madrid and has provoked the reaction of prominent cultural entities outside our borders,” they insist from the platform.
“European embarrassment is added to the ban dictated from New York. The Capa Haus Initiative of Leipzig (Germany) has sent another letter to the council in which it regrets that the opportunity to ‘twin’ both buildings is destroyed. In addition, the German institution discredits the municipal excuse about the suitability of the project, strongly endorsing the neighbors: “Our initiative was deeply impressed by the high academic and artistic level of the work carried out by #SavePeironcely10. No one else can give life to this unique place (…). This house could be the jewel in the crown of work for peace,” the letter adds.
After decades of neglect, Marta Rivera de la Cruz had announced an ambitious program for young people with several lines of work linked to the plastic arts, with painting workshops and theater and dance performance classes, as well as music and composition classes. A third room would be dedicated to novels, poetry, essays and film scripts.
Although it is true that the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory began the process to declare it a Place of Democratic Memory, it will ultimately become a resource for the children and young people of the neighborhood.
The City Council’s goal is to be able to open the 400-square-meter center in 2028 after a year of studies. After its acquisition in 2021, the project has been slowed down by the poor condition of the property, in which the City Council will invest more than one million euros. The municipal architects had to carry out an exhaustive study on the feasibility of carrying out a project to preserve it.
In a last attempt to reverse the plans for Peironcely, 10, the International Center of Photography (ICP) of New York, which has fought alongside neighbors to rescue the place, has “respectfully asked the Madrid City Council to reconsider this decision, relocate the planned social project to another of the many available and suitable municipal spaces in the district, and respect the consensus of a decade to protect the historical memory of Madrid and the world.”
