Barcelona is a shop

When we think about the informal activities that occur in public spaces, those associated with commerce and exchange are among the most frequent. Public space is occupied temporarily to become a place-shop where a variety of economic transactions take place, either for mere subsistence or to cater to the needs of tourists. In Barcelona, where public space is increasingly surveilled, subject to pressure and restricted, many of these ephemeral place-shops are being forced into extinction.
Faced with this situation, we set out to document and itemise those place-shops, which could still be seen around the city during the period of research. The sample book Barcelona és botiga (Barcelona is a shop) catalogues all the products that can be purchased in Barcelona’s public spaces, together with all the useful related information: locations, types of spatial occupation, typologies of exchange and their retail price. The audiovisual montage Munta, desmunta, ven i corre (Set it up, , sell it off and run for it) illustrates more specifically the retail practices of those traders who sell goods from blankets on the pavement, characterised by high, swift and compulsory spatial mobility.