"Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0" is now on display at First Ward Park in uptown Charlotte for the Charlotte SHOUT! festival. The art installation is a group of bright red 3D structures that form the shape of houses.
"Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0" was created by Ignacio Cadena and Hector Esrawe back in 2014. The two were commissioned to fill a space at the High Museum of Art in midtown Atlanta.
“How can design transform public space and make it a place for celebrating community and togetherness?" Cadena asked. "So this is how 'Mi Casa, Your Casa' was born — as an effort to show how design can bring people together.”
"Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0" has traveled across North America for over 10 years, making stops in Florida, Texas, Illinois and Canada, even during the pandemic.
"When the pandemic came, it became much more evident that people wanted to connect in open spaces," Cadena said. “It became a vessel also to begin engaging with public space again and with community and with one another.”
The three-dimensional red frames invite people to come inside and experience warmth and comfort. Cadena and Esrawe say the installation is meant to resemble mercados, or markets, in Latin America.
“We looked at what happens in public markets in Latin America — these spaces where people gather, connect, eat and buy,” Cadena said. “If you look at the structures of public markets in Latin America, they're basic squares and the structures are painted in red.”
The red houses serve as a blank space for community engagement. The artists hope to see people conversing with others, listening to live music, or just existing in an open space.
“It was this ‘eureka’ moment of something that our intuition said it would work but then seeing them laid out on public space and seeing people interact with them," Cadena said. “Sometimes they would not have anything on them — just a series of objects placed in public space so people could walk through them.”
The houses have the option to be displayed empty, with a swing, or with a hammock. Here in Charlotte, they were constructed with swings, just in time for the Charlotte SHOUT! festival.
“I'm hoping that brings that joy and sense of 'ohh' to the community that we aim to do with passion and with love and through the work that we do,” Cadena said.
Charlotte SHOUT! is an annual festival celebrating creativity, innovation and community in uptown Charlotte, featuring large-scale art installations, live performances and culinary experiences.
"Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0" is back in Charlotte for the first time since 2022. The houses will be on display at First Ward Park through April 20.
Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0 was created by Esrawe + Cadena and is powered by Creos.
