ECOSYSTEMS OF FICTION | VALENCIA / CASTELLÓN / ALICANTE
TRANSVERSAL AESTHETICS / ECOSYSTEMS OF FICTION
VALENCIA - CASTELLON - ALICANTE
Idensitat + Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana
Transversal Aesthetics - Ecosystems of Fiction is a project by Idensitat + Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana developed in València, Castelló and Alicante on the basis of an open call for two residences (València and Alicante), and a production workshop with an invited artist in the context of Castelló. The València and Alicante residences will be offered to artists or collectives interested in developing a project within the contexts proposed in the terms of the open call, using available work spaces at Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània in Valencia and Centre Cultural Las Cigarreras in Alicante. The residencies’ duration will be two months between June and July 2020 (Alicante), and March to April (València), to be decided between the artist/s and the organising bodies. The objective of both residencies will be to realise a site-specific project, connected to the ongoing theme of Ecosystems of Fiction activated by IDENSITAT and the Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana. The production workshop developed in Castellón by an invited artist will take place in March - April 2021, and will be open to public participation.
INDEX:
- INTRODUCTION
- ECOSYSTEMS OF FYCTION / 2020 - 2021
- COMMON SETTINGS: THE RIVERS
- ARTISTIC PROJECTS IN RESIDENCE AND ACTIONS IN EACH CONTEXT
ALICANTE: RESIDENCY THE NIGHT FLYER, JORGE NÚÑEZ / ACTIVITIES IN RIO SECO AREA WITH DRASSANA ARCHITECTS AND IDENSITAT
VALENCIA: RESIDENDY TURIA, EL LOCO, CLAUDIA CAMPOS AND CLAUDIO BURGUEZ
- A SECTION OF RIVER SEC. PRODUCTION WORKSHOP IN CASTELLÓ, AGUSTÍN SERISUELO + IDENSITAT
- RESULTS IN ALICANTE
- RESULTS IN VALÈNCIA
- RESULTS IN CASTELLÓ
- OPEN CALL
INTRODUCTION
Transversal Aesthetics is a vehicle for experimentation with art, education and social space, representing a meeting-place between artistic practices as a platform for critical research; educational activities as a platform for the production of content, interaction and knowledge transfer; and the urban context as a platform connecting specific themes of work with a specific active social space surrounding them. This vehicle achieves its realisation within medium-sized urban spaces, which act as generators of social, cultural and environmental spaces on the boundaries between rural and urban. The project is founded upon the cross-disciplinary scope of art, in order to make the connection between experiences and activities, impacting upon unique components based on common themes and strategies shared among various participating agents and bodies.
ECOSYSTEMS OF FICTION / 2020 - 2021
Ecosystems of Fiction sets out to explore the tensions, paradoxes or connections between the imagined realities and fictions which at one and the same time define and blur the landscape within the proposed contexts and their urban and social settings. This exploration starts out with a look at rivers, and the various interpretations of their characteristics (natural, social, landscape, political, etc.) as components which both outline and blur the boundaries between rural and urban. The projects chosen by open call must explore specific contexts in Valencia and Alicante, taking as their subject-matter the desires, expectations and projections of the inhabitants of these contexts, and their social and urban stories.
The project aims to study the interesting correlation between two binary relationships, the first of these being the relationship between rural and urban, and the other being the relationship between real and imaginary, understood as concepts which serve in an analysis of a specific context from a creative perspective, and which also involve the social, economic and geographical visions of the context.
Transversal Aesthetics is a project which has already been developed in various geographical contexts such as Navarra, Catalonia and the Valencian Community, based upon the conceptual premise of Fiction, and upon a series of settings common to each context; rivers. Water (or its absence) will negotiate and reveal various imaginary or fictional visions typical of the locations in which the project will be developed; Valencia, Castellón and Alicante, in collaboration with the Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana, the Centro Huarte de Arte Contemporáneo in Navarra, and other arts spaces in Catalonia.
The settings to be explored in Castellón, Valencia and Alicante are three rivers lacking water or with fluvial intermittency:
- The old and new channel of the Túria, in any of its sections
- El Riu Sec in Castellón (Not within the open call, by invitation only)
- El Riu Sec in Alicante, in any of its sections
The specific research locations within each context will be defined by the selected project. These three settings share the fact that the river-water is not usually visible, in one due to a diversion, and in the other two because water gathers during spells of rain. The absence of water in such a natural urban structure as a riverbed yields symbologies, imagery and interpretations (social, urban and political) which will take centre stage in the three locations in which the project will take place. In addition, the remembrance of this water, and the powerful presence of its physical tracery, establish a special relationship that can be approached from the perspective of fiction, such as dystopian narratives or imaginary realities, from imagining other possible ecosystems related to current situations, to analysing an existing ecosystem in order to create or fictionalise alternative realities. An opportunity to use the imagination of utopia, dystopia or heterotopia, using those components which the context offers.
Riu Sec, El Campello June 2020.
ACTIONS IN EACH CONTEXT:
The projects in Valencia and Alicante have been selected from 72 proposals received through an open call. Projects received have generally been grouped into three main strands: urban policies and river courses in different geographic areas; rivers as spaces of memory, identity and activism; and the ecological challenges which rivers face today.
The proposed selection of projects has taken into account the strategic interplay between fiction, rivers and social space, core elements as expressly required in the call. Other aspects included in final evaluation were:
- The proposal’s innovation in relation to existing projects which touch upon the theme and the proposed areas.
- An adequately costed budget as per open call guidelines accounting for all described activities.
- The applicant’s career in the field of artistic production with references from previous residencies.
We wish to thank applicants for submitting proposals of a high standard.
ALICANTE
THE NIGHT FLYER.
Jorge Núñez de la Visitación // Centro Cultural Las Cigarreras de Alicante / June - July 2020
THE APPROACH
The project originates with a UFO sighting off the coast of Alicante in 1979. The Manises Case, as it is known, never arrived at a clear explanation, and is currently filed as unsolved.
The night flyer is an exploration of the Seco river (literally “the dry river”) through video, illustrations and sound, creating a multimedia work based upon the aesthetics of fantastic cinema and underground horror. The dry river evokes a sense of phenomenological and geographical desolation which "The Night Flyer" project develops, becoming a liquid project in which it is precisely the absence of water that generates unexpected frictions with the subject matter which forms the project’s origin: the Río Seco.
Where has the water gone? Might it be said that a waterless river course is a failed story? The project will consist of an exhaustive field study of the river’s 15 kilometre length, recording its structure, its gaps, bends and oxbows, by means of video and sound recordings. The structure will play out across 3 fundamental axes: Text (the actual news reporting of the Manises Case), Landscape (Rio Seco in Alicante) and Image (fantastic and horror cinema). Here, the key point at the heart of the project, will be the process of translating across these media of text, image and landscape.
Jorge Núñez de la Visitación (Santurtzi, 1983), lives between Altea, Madrid and Santurtzi. He is a filmmaker, illustrator, and musician. He was awarded a doctorate in Fine Arts in 2013 by the UPV-EHU for his doctoral thesis entitled Fricciones, Artificios dramáticos en el Cine contemporáneo. He was a guest lecturer at Máster InCreArte at the UPV-EHU. From 2013 to 2016 he was a co-director, with Laura Fernández Conde and Rosa Parma, of the cultural space Puerta in Bilbao. He has collaborated in projects with Eremuak, Halfhouse (Barcelona), Hamaca Online, Tabakalera (Donostia), Musac (León), Azala (Araba), Storm And Drunk (Madrid), NauEstruch (Sabadell), Pugnat Film Series (Athens), Syros International Film Fest (Greece) and The Guesthouse (Cork, Ireland); and has organised since 2012, the festival for weird cinema Pantalla Fantasma.
ACTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RIU SEC WITH DRASSANA ARCHITECTS AND IDENSITAT
In parallel with the arts residence, a series of conversations, actions and walking tours will take place around the Riu Sec, with various social and cultural agents from the context, as well as the artist taking part in the residency.
Walking tour with Drassana Arquitectes / July 2020
Walking tour through various diversion dams, irrigation "sèquies", and distribution canals, passing alongside barrier and connecting infrastructures at different sections of the Riu Sec.
Drassana Arquitectes is an architecture studio formed by Ester Gisbert Alemany and Alfonso M. Cuadrado Mulero, which aims to use architecture as a catalyst in the social self-management of the environment from the perspective of the landscape, rooted in the present. A previous project, Camins de l’Aigua, concerned the reconnection of the Riu Sec’s irrigation ditches with the town of Mutxamel.
WORKSHOP FAKE RIUS
October 30th, 31th October - 7th November2020
Presentation of results on November 20th
This workshop combines a hike along the riverbed of the Ríu Sec (or the Dry River, its real name the Riu, or River, Monnegre) with a number of meetings at Las Cigarreras, when participants will together design an installation to be presented on November 20th, at the Hall of Las Cigarreras.
VALENCIA
TURIA, EL LOCO
Claudia Campos and Caludio Burguez / February - Arpil 2021
THE APPROACH
As in Ray Bradbury's novel The Martian Chronicles, Turia the Mad River is the meeting of two generations who have seen (and perhaps still see) two different things from the same vantage point. This is a trans-disciplinary research project that seeks dialogue, critical thought and collective production. If the river is a memory, the blending of these inter-generational stories represents a current of fondness, a flow that returns to form a new ecosystem of communication, with its distant banks and its bridges.
In addition to the poetry in The Martian Chronicles, there is an obvious political implication throughout the book; and just as in Ray Bradbury’s tale, the project soars above human arrogance and the overbearing nature of humanity’s monumental projects. We understand this vision as absolutely relevant, considering the socio-political context in which the river Túria was diverted after the great flood of 1957.
This comparison, together with inter-generational activities of shared production, offers the opportunity to work on a poetic-political project that fictionalises the "past" and "present" of a river.
Desarrollo de las tres líneas del proyecto:
- La Criaturia, libro ilustrado en a partir de las anécdotas de adultos mayores del proyecto de mediación "La Merienda" coordinado por Alba Cacheda, y los dibujos del alumnado de segundo de primaria del colegio público Les Arenes, gracias a la colaboración de Lola Prima.
- Turia el loco, dramaturgia inestable
- Valencia anfibia y lecturias
A workshop with students from the master’s degree course PERMEA ( Experimental Programme of Mediation and Education in the Arts, CMCV-UV).
A decision-making workshop, a system of signposting adapted to the river environment, or performative riverbank hikes are some of the possible mediations suggested by students from PERMEA for the "Turia el Loco" project. With this artistic residence, a dialogue opens up between artists and mediators exploring the potential of the river as a tool for social connection, and a space for remembrance and multiple narratives. This research and artistic action workshop will add to the project’s other activities; interviews with elderly people, and workshops with students from Las Arenas del Cabanyal Primary School.
PRESENTACIÓ PÚBLICA DE RESULTATS
Túria el loco es va presentar en el marc de la trobada Cauces de ficción celebrada al CCCC el 14 i 15 de maig, i en dos activacions: una lectura dramaturgica de la publicació "Turia el loco" i una trobada amb Lola Prima (col·legi públic Les Arenes del barri del Cabanyal, València), Alba Cacheda (mediadora cultural i coordinadora del projecte La Merienda per a gent gran) i els residents Claudio Burguez i Claudia Campos.
TURIA EL LOCO, DRAMATURGIA INESTABLE EN TRES ACTOS
Claudia Campos (Uruguay) is a writer and actress trained at the Margarita Xirgú Multidisciplinary School of Dramatic Arts. She is a teacher of French, with a qualification from the Bourgogne University, and also teaches theatre for children and teenagers (Liceo Francés Jules Supervielle, Centre for Foreign Languages and Escuelita de Teatro Moviecenter ). As an actor, she has taken part in various performances and plays. As a writer, she has been invited to take part in several literary festivals (Buenos Aires Book Fair, Montevideo Book Fair, FILBA, World Poetics, Letter Ñ Magazine Festival, among others). She belongs to the group of multidisciplinary artists Los Negros, and formed part of the management team of the Residencias Silvestres project - artistic residences for writers and visual artists. In 2013 she published her first book La carne es Devil (Editorial Yaugurú), which took second prize in the category of Unpublished Poetry, Annual Prize for Literature Ministry of Education and Culture.
As a curator she took part in the group shows Desmantelamiento, which took place at the art space Pera de Goma and Casos in Micon´s bar.
She was selected for the Fortuito artistic residences (Casarodante, 2017), Una mujer está bordando(Museo Zorrilla de San Martín, 2019) and Laboratorio de producción y edición de recuerdos (Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, 2019). Jardín interior is her second book, and was published in Uruguay by the Propia Cartonera in 2017, and was re-edited by Ediciones Liliputienses (Cáceres, Spain) in December 2019.
Claudio Burguez (Uruguay) is a writer and visual artist. He has founded several musical bands and artistic groups with which he participated in group shows, urban interventions and interdisciplinary collaborations.
He has published poetry, narrative and essay: Finlandia, 2006. El gran Algo, 2010. Perro de Aeropuerto, 2011 (Estuario) reissued in Spain (Ediciones Liliputienses ), Las cosas que quiero no se quieren entre sí, 2019 (Pez en el hielo), La sangre, 2020 (Pez en el hielo).
As curator, he has participated in: Transfigurations (FILBA: International Literature Festival of Buenos Aires 2014 (with Enrique Vila-Matas, Alberto Fuguet, Juan Sasturain, Sabela de Tezanos), Sinestesia (Space of Contemporary Art EAC, World of Poetry 2015), Desmantelamiento (Pera de Goma, 2016) Collective exhibition of 13 Uruguayan artists.
In 2017 he was selected by the Montevideo Photography Centre (CDF), for the Montevideo-Uruguay Photography Festival, curated by Luis Camnitzer. He organised the International Literature Festival of Buenos Aires, Montevideo edition in 2014 and 2015. Founder of Residencias Silvestres (artistic residences for writers and visual artists). Since 2017 he has coordinated the experimental writing workshop E-laboratory, and his blog: campomagnético.net for the distribution of experimental content.
CASTELLÓN
UN FRAGMENT DE RIU SEC
A visual production workshop with Agustín Serisuelo and Idensitat // January 2021
The Ríu Sec de Castelló, like the Rio Seco of Alicante and the Túria as it passes through Valencia, share the similarity that water is rarely seen in them, one because it has been diverted, and the others because water only gathers in them during rainfall. The absence of water in an urban and natural structure such as a riverbed produces symbologies, representations and readings (social, urban and political) which form the main thematic elements in the three regions in which the overall project has been in development. In addition, the memory of this water and the powerful presence of its physical traces establish a particular relationship which is equally workable from the perspectives of fiction, the dystopian story or imaginary realities.
The workshop will take place over 4 sessions divided into a walking tour, work meetings, and sessions of creation and presentation of results.
ACCESS TO PREVIOUS EDITIONS AND WORK IN PROGRESS
