Mi Casa Tu Casa, Daniel González, 2018
Located in Mondello Palace Hotel garden, the ephemeral architecture “Mi Casa Tu Casa” is a house where the private objects of a Sicilian family become the structure of the house itself, eliminating the boundaries between private and public. “Mi Casa Tu Casa” changes the relationship between local culture and immigrant cultures, between in- and outside and it stems from a profound reflection on the concept of hospitality, in centuries of migration in the city of Palermo.
In the gardens at the Mondello Palace Hotel, everyday objects such as shelves, sofas, chairs, rugs, beds, mattresses and private objects make up the external walls of the new contemporary home, where the entrance is through a closet and the interiors is completely empty. A house that welcomes showing what is its dearest private property, and shares it without discrimination of purpose. “Mi Casa Tu Casa” welcomes the passer-by, the visitor, the tourist and the citizen in an emotional relationship of continuous visual and environmental exchange.
Making direct reference to the ephemeral Baroque architectures by Bernini built to make a maximum impact in a short life span, Daniel González develops “Mi Casa Tu Casa” as the latest in a series of temporary architectural interventions: the most recent one being “ Imaginary Country” where the artist created a digital topography with hand-painted across the street banners in the post-industrial borough Milano-Lambrate (2017-2018) and “Paper Building” (2016) realized for the community in the Swiss Blenio valley, where he reset to zero degree the history of the former chocolate factory changing its emotional value through the artwork. González took part in Witte de With Festival (2010) where he realized the first “Pop-Up Building” on the facade of the Arminius Church in Rotterdam, turning it into a gigantic pop-up book, 35 meters tall. This was followed by “Pop-Up Museo Disco Club” (New York, 2011), a special project for the Biennale of El Museo, The (S) Files, where a sculpture-installation transformed El Museo del Barrio’s 5th Avenue facade and its lobby into a six month long block party.
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