La Casa de Guatemala en Montréal

2020 – Ongoing
Participatory research-creation project, in collaboration with members of the Guatemalan community in Montreal, researchers, architects, and participatory artists
Montreal, Canada

 

Recreating a Forgotten Social Space and Fostering Intergenerational Connections within the Guatemalan Diaspora in Montreal

La Casa de Guatemala en Montréal revives the legacy of the Club Social Tikal Guatemala, an emblematic gathering space for Guatemalan immigrants in Montreal in the 1970s and 80s. The club, which closed in 1982, was a hub for cultural exchange, sports, and mutual support, offering newcomers a sense of belonging and solidarity. Through oral histories, archives, and participatory art, this project reconstructs the lost space, allowing the diaspora’s stories to unfold in multidimensional narratives. By bridging past experiences with contemporary challenges, La Casa de Guatemala en Montréal fosters a dynamic dialogue on migration, identity, and cultural resilience.

3D Reconstruction of the Space

The project creates a virtual model of Club Tikal, bringing its history to life. Using interviews with former members and archival research, an evolving 3D digital model has been developed as a living archive. This space allows visitors to explore the club’s architecture, events, and atmosphere, bridging past narratives with contemporary imaginations.

El Mejor Tesoro Theatrical Play

Theatre played a central role in the cultural life of Club Tikal. Originally performed in 1979, El Mejor Tesoro is being revisited and reenacted as part of this project. In collaboration with René Lara, the original director, and a group of Latin American immigrant students, the production revives a forgotten cultural heritage. This process explores identity, memory, and belonging within the diaspora, fostering a dialogue between generations. Through participatory theatre, El Mejor Tesoro becomes a space for resilience and solidarity, rethinking contemporary migration experiences through the lens of cultural history.

Augmented Reality Route of the Historic Parade

In 1979, Club Tikal organized a parade celebrating Guatemalan national holidays, imprinting its stories and traditions onto Montreal’s urban landscape. Today, this history is revived through augmented reality, allowing participants to retrace the original parade route in the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighborhood. Through interactive AR scenes, visitors engage with images, sounds, and testimonies from former club members, blending past and present through digital storytelling. This participatory approach transforms historical memory into an immersive experience, making diasporic histories visible within Montreal’s cultural fabric.

Dissemination and Engagement

La Casa de Guatemala en Montréal extends beyond archives and digital spaces to public exhibitions, performances, and community events. These activities amplify the voices of the Guatemalan diaspora, creating a space for dialogue and shared memory. The project revalorizes an overlooked history while critically engaging with issues of migration, belonging, and identity. La Casa de Guatemala en Montréal is not just an archive—it is a living social space, where the past informs the present and shapes the future of diasporic communities.

Credits

Archival Coordinators (Research): Santiago Franco, Romeo Gongora, René Lara, Doris Lara, José de Oliva, Carlos Pineda, Alfa Pineda, Ismael Recinos, Carlos Rivera, Ricardo Ulloa, and more Club Tikal Guatemala’s former members to come
Archival Research Assistants: Caroline Foray and Ludmila Santana
Interviews Assistant: Andrea Calderón Stephens

Research-Creation Collaborators: Andrea Calderón, Juana Semanate, Alejandro Mejia, Andrés Herrera, Andrés Oswaldo Muñoz Herrera, Christian Garcia, Fabian Gonzalez, Isabella Cano Upegui, Lukas Gongora-Munares, Maria Claudia Quijano, Maria Del Pilar Escobar, Olivia Gongora-Munares, Thélonius Garcia, Benoît Lachambre

Community Contributors: Elizabeth Recinos, Edgar Lopez, Francisco Garcia, Rafael Mendizabal, Manuel Gongora, Mercedes Pinto, Aura Vargas, Amilcar Vargas, Anibal Rivera, Cony Martinez

Academic and Institutional Advisors: Victor Armony, Pilar Del Ser, Angela Sierra, Hubert Marsolais, Danielle Lysaught, Paul Hamelin

3D Virtual Tour Coordinator (Concept): Romeo Gongora
Architect: Diego Cortinas
3D Modeling Coordinator (Programming): Florence Turmel
3D Modeling Assistants: Jean-François Gauthier and André Girard

Website Coordinator (Concept): Romeo Gongora
Website Designers: André Girard and Romeo Gongora
Website Programmer: André Girard

Contributing voices

In this project, you can explore testimonials, archival materials, and creative interventions from members of the Guatemalan diaspora through the links provided above. Their contributions involved sharing personal histories in audio interviews, providing archival documents, participating in the reconstruction of Club Tikal’s space, and engaging in the re-staging of El Mejor Tesoro. They also assisted in organizing meetings, coordinating community events, and offering feedback on the conceptual development of the project. My role consisted of conceptualizing, organizing, producing, and facilitating the different components of the project in collaboration with them and other contributors.

La Casa de Guatemala en Montréal (2020-), recreating a forgotten social space

Table of Contents
  1. Description
  2. 3D Reconstruction of the Space
  3. El Mejor Tesoro Theatrical Play
  4. AR Route of the Historic Parade
  5. Dissemination and Engagement
  6. Credits
  7. Contributing voices