Soy Guiri

Hospitality has intrigued Lotte Gulpers for many years. To get into the subject, she went into Madrid as a tourist, a traveler and a researcher. She explored the famous Spanish hospitality and noticed the different forms it takes. She felt that tourism had strongly changed the way strangers interact with each other in Madrid. That’s why she made a guide for the future tourist. It is a critical piece which shows the future of tourism in cities. It is aimed at the contemporary traveler visiting Matadero, who might treat the local life as a spectacle. They enjoy seeing the people live, work and play. There are three different guided tours available. The first is about the way people work. The second one is all about their life: where do the locals live and how do they do that? The third one is about play; how they spend their free time. Each tour takes about 30 minutes and can be joined at different times during the day. At first sight, it might look like a convenient option for the visitor. But is this really the way we want to be treating other cultures? Lotte believes citizens have been simplified into a product that can be consumed as easily as a day at the zoo. This time, the animals come as humans.