ACUSTIKAS is an ongoing project documenting the soundscape of Vallekas, the neighborhood where I was born and where I lived for 25 years.
Vallekas is a district in southeastern Madrid, formed by Puente de Vallecas and Villa de Vallecas. With a strong working-class and antifascist history, it grew rapidly and in an unorganized way in the 1950s through spanish rural migration linked to industrial and construction labor.
Over time, the neighborhood became a center of social movements and community activism, shaped by collective resistance and a strong local identity.
Right now, the neighborhood and its inhabitants are changing due to turistification, gentrification and deindustrialization, reasons that affects also its sounds when we stop and listen carefully.
Traffic, voices, music, and everyday activity fill its streets, overpasses, and public spaces, defining a dense and constantly shifting urban soundscape that tell us stories of its past and present narratives.