The paradox of the basque farmhouse: The enfolding and unfolding of a cultural infrastructure

Abstract

This article addresses some of the interpretations that have consolidated the cultural- symbolic-cultural imaginary of the Basque farmhouse, and then broadens the form of approaching the narrative of its identity. From the notion of prototype to that of infrastructure, from anthropological object to artistic object, the Basque farmhouse is conceived as a framework, with an axis open to unfoldings that go beyond the reproduction of its essential image. Concepts related to mediations, performativity and cartography make it possible to track the operativity of this framework, in a process that interweaves different fields of research and controversies that can lead into forms of transdisciplinary, post-qualitative study and cultural innovation.