The epic and poetics of the Travesía as a space of resistance in design education

Abstract

The "Travesías" are an emblematic practice of the PUCV School of Architecture and Design, recognised as a radical element in the training of designers and architects. They originated not from a pedagogical intentionality but from an artistic impulse inherent in the poetry-craft relationship (and, within the framework of a school, in the teacher-disciple relationship). Their systematisation as a permanent part of the curriculum is a later phenomenon due to their resounding success in disciplinary apprenticeship. The theoretical and poetic foundations of the travesías are multiple and varied, each essential to the school. These include contemplative observation as the primary action of the craft, the permanent question about America and being American, the collective sense in the epic of undertaking a shared adventure and the sense of the Work from its inaugural and gratuitous sense. These elements coexist and intersect and amplify each other, constituting the rich complexity that defines the experience of the voyages. The contemporary context poses severe challenges to these fundamental principles, both in the installation of new subjectivities and new ethos and in institutional and normative aspects. Greater psychological fragility among young people results in a much lesser willingness to engage in physical adventures in wild environments, with less focus and much more fragmented attention. At the institutional level, the judicialisation of education and the right to free education commodify time, threatening the viability of travesías as an enterprise that exceeds mere instruction, to name but a few aspects that threaten them. Moreover, in an age that advocates tackling more significant practical challenges such as energy sustainability, access to clean water, climate change or social inequality, to name but a few, a "poetic purpose" is indeed an oxymoron. Furthermore, it risks being misunderstood as irresponsible: in times of urgency, there is no room for poetry, apparently. The sense of design as a problem solver does not necessarily reveal the depth and richness of the possible. This presentation seeks, first, to critically examine the meaning of travesías in the light of contemporary challenges and, second, to open a dialogue with the academic and professional community to discuss whether these fundamental principles are still recognised as valuable. Also, explore new ways and means of reinventing travesías, especially when their core values are threatened by the cultural and systemic transformations of our time.