In the Open City, after several poetic acts called "phalènes" debuted in 1960s Europe and South America, the idea emerged to ​​cross America from the South to the North. The first crossing was done in 1965, with an expanded group of artists, poets, and philosophers, who published the poem "Amereida" (a portmanteau of “America” and the “Aeneid”), two years later. A paradox surrounds the orientation of Latin American countries: South is our North. Ephemeral architecture around poetry, produced collectively, with local materials, will be conceived as a work-in-progress; a paper pavilion will expose our philosophy in Athens, and a wooden pavilion will receive hospitality in Kassel.

Marcelo Araya Aravena is an industrial designer and professor in the School of Architecture and Design at the Catholic University in Valparaíso, Chile. He earned his doctorate from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain. A member of the Amereida Cultural Corporation’s Open City Project, Araya Aravena leads workshops on design, landscape, and their representations.

Andrés Garcés Alzamora is a member of the Amereida Cultural Corporation’s Open City Project, as well as professor in the School of Architecture and Design at the Catholic University in Valparaíso, Chile. He earned his doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Cataluña in Barcelona, Spain. He has been responsible for various international exhibitions, including Desvíos de la Deriva at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid (2010) and Imminent Poetics at the 30th Bienal de São Paulo (2012). Garcés Alzamora currently serves as architectural project coordinator at the EAD-PUCV.

Iván Ivelic Yanes has lived in the Open City since 1972, collaborating on workshops, events, celebrations, and administration. As vice-president of the Corporation Cultural Amereida, he is the legal figurehead of the Open City. He has been an architect since 1995, and received his doctorate from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in 2012. Currently, he serves as professor and director of the School of Architecture and Design at the Catholic University in Valparaiso, Chile.

Manuel Sanfuentes Vio is a graphic designer and member of the Amereida Cultural Corporation’s Open City Project, for which he has directed the Travesías project and other poetic acts for the past twenty years. He has exhibited work at the MoMA, New York; the 30^th Bienal de São Paolo; and the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid. He currently directs both the graphic design workshop and also the digital library at the PUCV’s School of Architecture and Design.