Com sonen aquests llocs? A project of sound art, image, archive and territory.
Exhibition at MucBe (Benicarló) from 24.11.2023 to 06.01.2024
Exhibition of the results of Claudio Beorchia artist residency part of Estètiques Transversals / silenciat ~ reactivat
Opening Friday, November 24th, MucBe (Museu de la ciutat de Benicarló). Carrer de la Pau, 2, 12580 Benicarló, Castelló
5.30 p.m. Exhibition Opening
6.30 p.m. Meeting with the artist and tour of the exhibition hall
7.30 p.m. Sound walk around Benicarló
The old photographs of Benicarló in the MUCBE collection show a town very different from the town of today. They show a landscape which is still not exclusively urban; a town whose oldest nucleus is located between the sea and agricultural fields, a testament to the town's double life between fishing and agriculture. Looking at these photos today, one cannot avoid the questions: what are these places like today? Is it possible to trace them and recognise them? or, have they been distorted and radically transformed by the urban developments of the last few decades?
While it is still possible to make a visual comparison between the photographed past and the real present, it is not possible to make a similar comparison through sound, to know what those environments sounded like. What sounds could be heard in the streets at that time almost without cars? Or heard on the coast, where tourism was still a marginal activity for the town's economy? Or heard in the countryside, where work was the result of human and animal activity, rather than tractors and machinery?
These and other thoughts and reflections have led Claudio Beorchia's project during the two-months’ artistic residency in Benicarló, part of the project Estètiques Transversals / silenced ~ reactivated by Idensitat with the support of the Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana. The aim of Transversal Aesthetics is to carry out projects of research, mediation and artistic production, based on related themes and local contexts in order to activate social spaces based upon the transversality of artistic practices.
In this edition, the idea was to work on the relationships, tensions, and interdependencies between the concepts of silenced ~ reactivated. A process of transience or temporality which defines the very vitality of spaces, which pass from one state to another in intermittent cycles, sometimes redundant and sometimes random. No place can be both silenced and reactivated. How can art, and in this case, sound practice, act in this change of fragile structure? Is it possible that it can act as a catalyst and accelerator for transformation? These questions have given rise to three residencies which identify places or situations in a phase of transition between silence and reactivation.
Today, going to the places identified by Claudio from past photographs, listening to their present sounds is, therefore, an inconsistent operation, apparently meaningless. But perhaps it is precisely the inconsistency, the contrast, the distance that is created between the images and the sounds of today which can reactivate a link, a space, or a reflection on the landscape of Benicarló, on the evolution of a town and the lives of its inhabitants. It is not a question of nostalgia, nor of archaeology, but rather of validating the archive footage and the archive itself, evaluating the knowledge of the past in order to better understand transformations over time. In this way, from the present, we can contrast it and question ourselves about where we are, how we are, how we want to be, what we want to silence, or what we want to reactivate.
Credits:
Exhibition of the results of Claudio Beorchia artist residency part of Estètiques Transversals / silenciat ~ reactivat. Idensitat with the support of the Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana, and in collaboration with the Museu de la Ciutat de Benicarló.
Coordination: Roser Colomar Palazón
Outreach and mediation: Ainhoa Cerdà Moliner
Idensitat: Ramon Parramon (director), Roser Colomar Palazón, Irati Irulegi, Albert Gironés, Anna Recasens.
Thanks: Lorena Luján Edo, MucBe director, and to the Museum’s team
Tobías Oelgart, photographer
Photos by Ramon Illa and Lucien Roisin, MucBe archive
PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS
ABRIL, Associació Benicarlanda per la Recuperació i la Investigació del Llegat. ABRIL was born in April 2019 with the purpose of learning about, researching and disseminating the historical, economic, social and cultural facts of Benicarló throughout history; those facts which have shaped the character of our people and which mark our immediate future as a living society in constant evolution, as well as the economic and natural circumstances which have made us a land of welcome and rootedness. Participants: Blanca Jovaní Esbrí, Enric Moya Marzá, Gregorio Segarra Calvet, Joan R. Ferré Querol, Josi Ganzenmüller Roig, Rafael Domínguez Comes.
Fenòmens, Associació de persones amb discapacitat intel·lectual.
The Fenòmens collective was born in 2017 out of a vital necessity for many families who were trying to meet the leisure, employment and socialisation needs of their children with learning disabilities. They offer a variety of leisure activities: musical activities such as the batucada; artistic activities such as theatre; and in-work training for the full inclusion and visibility of young people with learning disabilities. Participants: Ana Cardona Ávila, Andrea Gimeno Redó, Cristian Queralt Carda, José Mª Pellicer Colom, Nathalie Serra Miralles, Pili Ávila Forés.
Associació de Música Tradicional Fartabelitres
The Associació de Música Tradicional Fartabelitres was founded in Benicarló (Baix Maestrat) in 2015 with the intention of researching, documenting and compiling the musical repertoire of our villages, at the same time as disseminating and making traditional music known.
Dance and the way of dancing, as well as the musical instruments of our tradition and the way of playing of our ancestors, are part of the work of Fartabelitres that is shown in our performances, where we invite the public to dance, taking another step towards the revitalisation of traditional Valencian music. Participants: Josep Albiol Alberich
Escola de Persones Adultes
The EPA is a resource of the Generalitat Valenciana offering all kinds of adult tuition. In the centre, training is given in order to acquire general knowledge, to obtain the qualification of the graduate in secondary education, or Spanish for foreigners. Students are also trained to prepare for tests such as university entrance for over 25s, Valencian JQCV , or proficiency in English. Participants: Antonia Bayarri Castell, Gloria Roca Ferrer, Maite Fuster Monserrat, Manolita Guimerà Celma, Mercè Pérez Martínez, Tere Maura Lores
Conversation group that is organized through the PANGEA office of the Department of Social Services and Inclusive Policies of the Benicarló City Council: The Regidoria de Serveis Socials i Polítiques Inclusives, through the PANGEA office, offers conversation groups for migrant women, in order to learn the language, enhance social relationships, and promote their social inclusion. Participants: Aicha Aid, Aicha Ajaddab, Aicha Benjelloun, Aicha Bograra, Aicha Ikban, Aziza El Hajmi, Bazza Akssas, Bouchra Satour, Chaimae El Fahoul, Dalida Habbi, Fatima Ait Abbou, Fatima Bouiajline, Fatima En Nour, Fatima Ouhdda, Fatima Oushainess, Fatima Zouhour, Habiba El Hamzaoui, Houda Chakrat, Lalla Nazha Ait Chrif, Madiha Oubahaddou, Maryem Boufera, Nadia Zouhri, Ouafa Boujida, Rekia Aoutuol, Saida El Allali, Soumia Harti, Teresa Palau Ferré, Touda Ahrour, Zakia El Bastrioui
Friday, November 24th, MucBe (Museu de la ciutat de Benicarló) Carrer de la Pau, 2, 12580 Benicarló, Castelló
5.30 p.m. Exhibition Opening
6.30 p.m. Meeting with the artist and tour of the exhibition hall
7.30 p.m. Sound walk around Benicarló
