 “Cueva de sombras, plantas de luz” es un proyecto colaborativo entre la artista cántabra Seila Fernández Arconada y el grupo de 5º del colegio CEIP Cuevas del Castillo en Vargas (Cantabria). El proyecto se enmarca en la propuesta “Pedagogías del mañana: educación ecosocial, escenarios de futuro y arte”, el cual propone lo siguiente: “ante situaciones de emergencia ecológica y social necesitamos desplegar de forma acelerada una educación integral capaz de prevenir la catástrofe, anticipar alternativas y alentar la esperanza ante futuros llenos de incertidumbre”. Organizado por el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Reina Sofía y la cooperativa Garúa, esta propuesta ha seleccionado a tres artistas y tres colegios de todo el país. Durante algo más de tres meses, el profesorado ha participado en una formación sobre la temática además de involucrarse en un proceso artístico junto al alumnado y la artista Seila Fernández Arconada, en el caso del colegio Cuevas del Castillo. El proceso de “Cueva de sombras, plantas de luz” se ha desarrollado en el colegio Cuevas del Castillo donde Seila Fernández Arconada ha estado guiando un proceso artístico en el que ha planteado un viaje a través de las plantas desde las épocas prehistóricas pasando por el presente y llegando hacia el futuro. Esta intervención artística, como dice Seila “parte de los sentires y los cuidados y su objetivo es repensarnos en nuestro hábitat y buscar qué puede ofrecernos encontrar otras formas de entendernos en naturaleza, y a fin de cuentas buscar ser más plantas.” Ese verde de la “Cantabria verde” que habitamos, son ellas, la diversidad de plantas que nos acompañan. En estos tiempos de incertidumbres climáticas se puede ver el cambio de tono, dependiente de sus relaciones con otros seres vivos y en particular el agua. ¿Dónde están las plantas representadas en las cuevas prehistóricas? Esta pregunta fue la primera de las reflexiones que Seila planteó en el proceso, puesto que no existen representaciones de plantas reconocidas entre las cuevas estudiadas. “El proceso compartido ha sido muy intenso y las experiencias artísticas nos han aportado otras formas de experimentar y acercarnos a la naturaleza a la que pertenecemos” comenta el profesorado. Las y los alumnos de 5º curso han participado de diferentes actividades entre ellas: el mapeo del territorio que habitan, la creación de un “herbario vivo” con historias con plantas identificadas y dibujadas, la representación de sí mismos como semillas, la creación de imaginarios futuros buscando ”ser más plantas”, entre otras muchas. La imaginación y el pensamiento crítico han sido elementos vitales en el proceso y es ahí donde este viaje ha llevado al grupo a crear una película a través de la acción de proyectar una serie de plantas sobre una de las paredes de la cueva del Castillo en Puente Viesgo, utilizando la luz proyectada como pigmento o grabado. Además, la banda sonora de esta película es una creación sonora colectiva donde el grupo ha representado a través de sonidos un ecosistema imaginario. El proyecto culmina el día 6 de junio con un encuentro-exposición de los trabajos realizados en el Museo Reina Sofía en el que el alumnado y profesorado, además de la artista, estarán presentes en Madrid. Allí presentarán todos los materiales creados como instalación multidisciplinar que también será escenario para el “ritual colectivo” inventado por el grupo de alumnos y alumnas. Una performance colectiva a modo de agradecimiento hacia las plantas, mientras de manera simbólica, buscan comunicarse con las plantas del futuro, contándoles qué sucede en el presente, avisándolas de cambios en el clima, de la escasez de agua y otras posibles situaciones que tendrán que afrontar, además de animarlas a seguir vivas, acompañándonos y cuidándonos porque sin ellas no podríamos vivir. Las fotografías son parte del archivo del proyecto: autorías del profesorado y artista. 
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I am very pleased to share that "Post Truth? countering disinformation narratives" has been launched! It is a very special project in which I have been working on for some time already as Art director of Lernlabor. For the coming months I will be coordinating and curating this project surrounded by amazing people in Lernlabor (Germany) as well as the partner organisations in Poland, Ukraine and France where the project will be taking place. Please have a look for further information if you are interested: https://www.posttruthproject.net/ Also, there is a CURRENT OPEN CALL FOR UKRAINIANS for the first stage of the project taking place in June in Kyiv (Ukraine).  
 Here the link of the discussion (in Spanish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cqqx9gBkEI Last week I had the honour to join the open discussion "VisualizArte" about women artists in the IES María Telo (Los Corrales de Buelna, Spain). This secondary school was back in time the place where I was a student, from where I hold meaningful memories and inspiration from various professors who taught me how to keep being curious, feeding with learning, no matter how old you are. This open discussion was led by María Consuelo Toledo Cañamero with the invitation of also Isabel Victorino, local artist and Andrea Galaxina art historian both involved in feminist approaches. Despite that I was present virtually it was very special as I believe this content is very relevant for growing as humans, it is a reality that being a woman and artist is still a complex ground to work from while defending the need to keep giving voice to women whom work has been shadowed by the male driven art system we still face and all its consecuences. Thanks to all for your contributions and specially to Chelo for her work to organise this space. 
On the 13th of March at 7pm I participated in the discussion board "Gerrarik Ez! An image of war from the point of view of victims, refugees and human rights" that took place in Vitoria (Basque Country) although I presented from Kyiv (Ukraine) where I am currently. Thanks so much for the invitation, specially to Txaro Arrazola, to Abdul Kader and Juan Ibarrondo and the active participation of the audience.  Today 13th of March at 7pm I am participating in the discussion board "Gerrarik Ez! An image of war from the point of view of victims, refugees and human rights". This participation will be virtual as I will be speaking from Kyiv (Ukraine), during this small presentation I will share some connections to the context of what is happening in Ukraine with some reflections from personal experience that takes the focus on people. In addition I will address briefly some work about art and healing in this context. This discussion is part of a series of activities organised by Espazioa with the participation of more than a hundred cultural workers.   During the last ten days I have been leading the project "Germinating Futures: Collaborative art and care for eco-social (re)balance” with Lernlabor in Lutter Am Barenberge. I would like to share some insights from the very rich process. Thanks so much to Lernlabor and all partner organisations, also the amazing participants who too part in this collective journey.  "The magical surroundings of Lutter Castle provided the backdrop for a programme of collaborative methods and practices of care led by the artist Seila Fernández Arconada stimulating reflections on nature, eco-social crisis, resilience, sustainability, climate change and other pressing topics. “Germinating Futures”, our latest international training course, enabled participants to apply artistic methods and collaborative practices as practical tools for engaging with eco-social (re)balance, encouraging them to move between the experimental and experiential to germinate interactions with other kinds of knowledge, narratives, and species, and thus generating an inclusive and thoughtful dialogue to explore alternative forms of being together with artistic expressions as our vehicle. The project was based on a number of presentations and activities named as artistic experiments including seeds creation, germinating stories; collaborative painting, sensorial photography; play as creation, collective drawing and as result of this journey some collaborative projects between participants were presented in a final exhibition. We are grateful to all involved for their engagement, interaction and connection. A big thanks to our partners Asociación Cultural La Ortiga Collectiva, Logos Polska, Fundatia Pentru Tineret Buzau, Volonterski Centrar Vojvodine, for preparing and sending such motivated participants. The project “Germinating Futures: Collaborative art and care for eco-social (re)balance” is co-funded by the European Union." Lernlabor             
     “Transcending uncertainties: Art healing for uprooting times” was the latest chapter of our Youth Participation project, Engagement Academy. Hosted in the beautiful @großer garten, this workshop created a safe space for participants to express themselves through exploring what an art process is - and how we can use this to foster healing processes. Over four days, we experimented with different art tools to explore emotions and inner awareness, and learning how to engage with multidisciplinary art processes in both theory and practice. A particular focus was placed on the importance of accompanying such processes with the necessary respect and care, with the awareness that exploring memories and experiences can also trigger trauma or dislocation.
This workshop was led by @Seila Fernández Arconada, who is an experienced multidisciplinary artist and researcher with an extensive international experience in art projects including work with displaced people and places in conflict. Engagement Academy is a one-year long-term project co-funded by European Union and @jfe under youth participation program. The project is created and implemented by Lernlabor and our partners Logos in Poznan. The aim of Engagement Academy is is to provide participants with the skills, tools, and support structures to empower their civil society engagement and strengthen their participation in democratic life.  "Transcending uncertainties : Art healing for uprooting times" begins today for the next 5 days of immersive collective experience. The aim of this training course is to create a safe space where participants will be able to express themselves exploring what an art process is. We will use different art tools to explore emotions and inner awareness taking care of creating a peaceful and inclusive atmosphere. During the time together we will learn how to deal with such multidisciplinary art processes as well as accompanying from respect and care any vulnerabilities that memories or experiences could bring including trauma or dislocation. The experience will be following grounded theory about art practice as therapy as well as collaborative transdisciplinary processes. This project will be led by Seila Fernández Arconada, who is an experienced multidisciplinary artist and researcher with an extensive international experience in art projects including work with displaced people and places in conflict. Transcending Uncertainties is framed in the year programme Engagement Academy produced by Lernlabor.
These days I am enrolling Haumea Ecoversity based in Ireland. The course exploring the Earth Charter is so far very interesting and inspiring for my own practice as we are analising key values represented in this oficial document originated in 1987. These values we consider them vital to a shift on the ecosocial crisis we are living. The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. Created by a global consultation process, and endorsed by organizations representing millions of people, the Charter "seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community of life, and future generations." Values education is now seen as fundamental to guide: individuals’ creative work, teaching, curating; cultural institutions' sustainability communications, programming or education outreach; to foster inclusive community dialogue for ecosystem restoration endeavours; and to deepen sustainability and social justice understanding for those working in science, law, industry, politics, faith communities or business. |
