+PATI Proposal for A Cel Obert Tortosa, Spain 2020 +PATI proposes an empirical and experiential approach to Palau Despuig: to experience it through touch and to explore how the tactile and kinaesthetic relation with the material reality of the built environment can enhance its perception as a whole. Visiting it barefoot is the trigger: by having no buffer to direct contact on doing the usual thing – walking into the space – its physical existence is highlighted. The common, but powerful and generally overlooked, act of touching provides an entirely new experience. Feeling the textures and temperatures with our own body will allow for both a literal and a conceptual repositioning in the way we relate to space. The installation takes shape in a wooden cabinet installed at the entrance of the courtyard, facing the street. This way, it embodies both practical and symbolic relationships between the passersby, the Palau, and the ones enjoying the courtyard. The cabinet functions as a device for securely placing your shoes before entering, while filtering the entrance flow and thus allowing for more privacy in the exploring of the space, which becomes visible only to those sharing the experience. On the outside, the unexpected view of the shoes suggest that people are walking barefoot for some reason, without disclosing what is actually happening and, consequently, raising curiosity from the people walking by. Symbolically, this common and utilitarian object – a cabinet – is presented as somehow worthy of artistic value and perceived as something more – the same principle applied to the courtyard itself. Furthermore, as an installation, it represents this ephemeral and transitory community gathered to share a different take on the space, made visible by their shoes.