📷 various authors part of #lvivcandidatecityecoc2030 archive Finally, I’ve found the right moment to share some important news. This year has been extremely busy, and while most of my recent work isn't even online yet (it will be soon!), I must pause to reflect on one important experience I am proud of.
This story begins with an invitation to be one of the conceptual co-creators for the Candidacy for Lviv European Capital of Culture 2030. I couldn’t be more honoured and immediately responded, doing all I could to articulate a situated proposal to integrate with the other meaningful projects in the bid titled:"Responsibility to Be". Creating a situated conceptual approach for Ukraine with all it entangles, based on many levels of "responsibility" while making sense internationally was a challenge. But I can’t be more grateful to have contributed to shaping the vision of the proposal that, despite not reaching the successful final selection, reached the semifinal! For me, this bid is a powerful stand of commitment and creativity, structured as an innovative-situated-respectful programme integrating Arts and Culture as a vital space for safety, awareness, healing, dignity and knowledge. The main objective of the bid was to establish Lviv as a central space for socio-ecological regeneration that would strengthen communal bonds in Ukraine and abroad. However, I believe Lviv is already The Capital of Culture despite the decision from the European Commission. I would like to highlight and highly value the rigorous dedicated work the core team undertook for years to make this bid happen and reach this important stage, their commitment facing the war while working for this huge impactful project. Thanks to all the international institutions and professionals I contacted for support and partnership for the project section I was in charge of. From Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Spain, UK, Ukraine... their trust and the overwhelming motivation to participate were already a sign of how much this cross-border cultural collaboration is needed! I wish this work can be continued in the future. Meaningful, caring and committed collective work is the key to building the Culture we need in Europe. #lvivcandidatecityecoc2030
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- The Artist's Dilemma: How Do We Validate Knowledge That Lives "In Between"?- (Reflection Part I) As a Multidisciplinary Artist Researcher, I face a common yet critical challenge: how to effectively validate the rigorous knowledge and skills acquired through a multidisciplinary international career path? My work isn't confined to a single box. It emerges from 15 years of situated research across international contexts, integrating transdisciplinary collaborations with diverse communities and cultures. This results in a potent blend of expertise, a "baggage" that goes far beyond a traditional CV which often impacts in artists livelihoods. ---- The Unseen Expertise: Embodied, Imagination, Resilience... The essence of this knowledge is often found in the "in between": intangible, fluid insights that resist easy categorisation, particularly within academic structures as artistic research evolves in permeability. The question: if practice is the place where knowledge emerges, and if artists are trained to integrate imagination and critical thinking, how should we validate practice-based knowledge emerging from situated artistic research and embodied learning? Our visions are often too complex to fit into existing disciplinary/institutional boxes. Artist's intentions are diverse and surely different to other profesional perspectives but this is the core for a rich innovative collaboration: diverse perspectives. Such partnerships require of trust not necessarily full understanding. This lifelong research has cultivated vast expertise on me: - from working in research collaborations and education: in situated research methods, academic research, embodied somatic practices, complex system thinking, transdisciplinary collaborations informed with trauma informed practices, conflict management, transformative education, mentoring, psychological practices... - the ongoing multidisciplinary research based on theoretical multidisciplinary knowledge includes: ecosocial justice, water management, ecological/humanitarian relational perspectives, decolonial and sustainability approaches, knowledge on climate change, natural disasters, conflict territories, cultural diplomacy... - multidisciplinary art and design techniques: film, photography, drawing, creative writing, sound art, sculpture, installations, website, publications... - this process also rests on a conscious nomadic lifestyle demanding personal and cultural adaptation as well as bodily resilience, all of which profoundly inform the research, lately, for example, working from Ukraine and how war not only impacts the work I do but myself. It is an ongoing evolution, continuously surfacing intangible "in betweens" to highlight relationality over categories and disciplines. Reflection part II ----- Expanding Multidisciplinary Vocabulary To give multidisciplinary academic language to what the practice already inhabits intuitively, I constantly join virtual or in person spaces to learn and exchange in order to keep growing and challenging perspectives. Recently I expanded my educational journey in various ramifications of the research I am developing. One of them I came across years ago, the Earth Charter, a UNESCO endorsed international declaration of fundamental values and principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century. This took me to enrol the Ecoliteracy course (2023) by Haumea University run with Dr Cathy Fitzgerald. As she notes, “ecoliteracy means becoming familiar with the ecological philosophy, ethics, and sciences that advance an ecological worldview”. This foundational course led me to this year the Certificate on Education for Sustainable Development by Earth Charter International and UNESCO at the University for Peace (UPEACE) - UN Mandated in Costa Rica. I'm now proud to be a certified educator of the Earth Charter”! This expanded learning enhances my ongoing research, which centers on artistic practice as a core response to the current socio-ecological crisis. I weave artistic transdisciplinary methods, imagination, intuition, and critical thinking with transformative, collective ways of being. I am particularly fascinated by how transformative education and the Earth Charter merge with artistic visions and embodied-grounded forms of being, embracing our emotional and intuitive intelligence. This journey provided the theoretical words to articulate better in the educational context transferring what was already was emerging in my artistic practice. This is added to a number of recent certifications including "Trauma-Informed Art Practices" organised by Art therapy Force and Kings College London in June 2024 (Kyiv, Ukraine) and the course "teacher training methods and tools to help students navigate climate anxiety while fostering resilience and regeneration" (2025) by CLARITY run by One Resilient Earth with Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS and IIIEE The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (Lund University), REAL School Budapest and Climate Creativity and also "Water, Relationality and Ethics. A philosophical ethical and artistic exploration" (2025) organised by the University of Antwerp in collaboration with Atlas Bioethics Center and University of Almería. Here courses (list is growing to further add more already finished past courses): https://www.seilafernandezarconada.net/multidisciplinary-education.html ----- Next Steps: Sharing the Expertise This latest round of learning was achieved while immersed in multiple international projects, mostly in Ukraine but also in Portugal, Spain, Germany and other countries. The questions keep arising, feeding this ongoing research, however, with this journey concluded and planning underway for the new year, I am now offering:
If you're interested in exploring how my expertise can benefit your organisation or project, please check out what I can offer here: https://www.seilafernandezarconada.net/sharing-expertise.html and my BIO with a brief CV here: https://www.seilafernandezarconada.net/bio1.html 
  I would like to share about the recent discussion on "Artistic Practices and Care" in which I talk together with the psychologist Helena Samperio, as part of our project CREATE, PARTICIPATE, CELEBRATE. CULTURE AND COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH. A session to explore the connections between artistic practices and community mental health created by La Ortiga Colectiva.
The project CREATE, PARTICIPATE, CELEBRATE: CULTURE AND COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH focuses on exploring the links between cultural practices and community mental health. With a program that combines online meetings with in-person workshops, it seeks to focus attention on the creation of new narratives and scenarios that enhance, on the one hand, the vital, social, and emotional dimension of culture and, on the other, community mental health as a context for reflection and action in the face of contemporary eco-social challenges. Furthermore, throughout the process, an action-research is proposed, which positions participants as active agents able to participate in the collaborative creation of a cultural toolkit prototype, with the aim of identifying, supporting, and increasing the visibility of resources and practices concerning community mental health. During this online session, only the interventions of the invited speakers were recorded, not the discussion space that took place afterward with the people who connected, with the aim of creating a friendly space for relaxed conversation. Here you have the link to watch this conversation in Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYXSU8vVlKk Seila Fernández Arconada Multidisciplinary artist and researcher whose practice centers on contemporary socio-ecological uncertainties. Through situated collaborations, her (eco)socially engaged practice addresses transdisciplinarity, systemic thinking, ecosocial justice, conflict management, and trauma-informed practices, among others. This work is situated at the intersection of artistic practices, formal and non-formal education, and ecological/humanitarian practices. She has directed numerous multidisciplinary projects, workshops, and interventions internationally. She is currently working on several projects such as: "Dnipro River: Ecosocial Belonging in Wartime" and is a mentor for the Art Therapy Force project in Ukraine. Helena Samperio Licensed in Psychology from the University of Deusto. Collegiate General Health Psychologist CA-474. Couple and Family Psychotherapist accredited by FEATF. Disseminator of systemic relational methodology among professionals and institutions. Co-director of the Encuentrax program for judicial measure psychotherapy in the open setting of the Government of Cantabria. She has participated in national and international congresses. Organized by: La Ortiga Colectiva Funded by: Fundación Santander Creativa More information about the project: https://laortigacolectiva.net/crear-participar-celebrar-cultura-y-salud-mental-comunitaria/ #saludmental #laortigacolectiva #arte #culturacomunitaria #seilafernandezarconada #saludmentalcomunitaria #Cantabria #Santander #psicología #psicologíasocial #psicologíasistémica #helenasamperio This week, KIU Fellow Francesc G. Rodríguez Mansilla and KIU alumna Seila Fernández Arconada will present their research at the International Alumni Conference “70 Years of the Hague Convention: Learning from the Past and Present for the Future” in Cottbus. “The Many Lives of Rivers in Wartime: A Focus on Ukraine” 📅 Tuesday, 25 November 🕟 4:30–5:30 p.m. 📍 Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg • Seila Fernández Arconada (KIU Alumna) “Dnipro River: Ecosocial Belonging in Wartime” — exploring the role of the Dnipro River in shaping identity and belonging during war • Francesc G. Rodríguez Mansilla (KIU Fellow) “Enduring Waterscapes” — an ethnographic study of war-affected riverine communities in Ukraine 🗣 Roundtable (onsite & online): 📅 Thursday, 27 November 🕑 2:00–3:30 p.m. Participants: Francesc Rodríguez, Issam Juha & Manana Tevzadze The conference is organised by the International Association of World Heritage Professionals (iAWHP) and funded by DAAD Worldwide
I am extremely excited to share that my project proposal “O Fio da Água: Embracing Water’s Flow for Resilient Futures” has been one of the selected EU-funded S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION grant (Science, Technology and Arts initiative). The call of S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION addressed pressing water challenges in four countries. 25 artistic projects were selected to be implemented during 13 months, starting October 2025. The selected artists will collaborate with researchers, policymakers, businesses, and local communities to develop sustainable, creative prototypes or artwork addressing the challenges. The challenged I applied for is "Moving Waters – Reimagining Flood Resilience" in Portugal. “O Fio da Água: Embracing Water's Flow for Resilient Futures” blends artistic research into a transdisciplinary collaboration to transform flood-prone communities' understandings of water uncertainties into imaginative coexistence. The project is envisioned to generate a series of public artistic interventions and collective activities as experimental “flood conversations” through multi-sensorial collective journeys. It aims to reveal hidden water flows and cultivate embodied socio-ecological belonging, empowering individuals to live harmoniously with their dynamic water environment, inspiring behavioural shifts in water attitudes and practices for a more resilient future. Outcomes include a living archive of sensory practices as a collaborative experimental publication documenting the entire process, outcomes and legacies, providing imaginaries and collaborative actions for sustainable relationships between humans and water. #startseu #startsresidencies #OfioDaAgua #Floods #waterresilience #artisticresearch #imaginativecoexistence  This is the reason why I am in Azores Island these days for the conference-presentation of this new project chapter. The photo is from here, the vast Atlantic Ocean with whom I will be collaborating in this project.
More to come soon! I would like to thank everyone for the numerous lovely messages and surprises that have come my way thanks to the publication of an excerpt from the interview I did for El País a few weeks ago. Thank you to all the people I collaborate with, specifically the projects I mentioned in the interview. Back in time, to the people involved in the project ‘The Land of the Summer People’, especially Prof. Thorsten Wagener and all the artists and engineering students at the University of Bristol who made it happen. "Some when, celebrating cohesion through the watery heritage of the Somerset Levels and Moors" together with the artist Sage Brice and people affected by flooding, particularly in Langport (UK). More recently, to the project, still in progress, ‘Dnipro River: Ecosocial Belonging in Wartime’, I would like to thank Інша Освіта / Insha Osvita for their support from Ukraine, especially Olga Diatel and all the people who participated in the activities that will soon continue. Thanks also to Art Therapy Force for including me in the family of mentors and committed team of professionals from whom I learn every day we spend together, working from the heart with all our artistic tools to support children and youngsters in Ukraine. For sure there is more people but at least a few direct references to those mentions in the article. Thanks to Berna for conducting the interview. The whole article is here, in Spanish: https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-09-16/seila-fernandez-arconada-artista-conozco-el-poder-magico-de-crear-de-forma-colectiva.html
It has been a real honour to lead the summer course 'Artistic Practices for Eco-Social Renewal' at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (Santander, Spain). Thank you to everyone who made it possible, and to the participants for making it such unique and enriching experience. Description of the course: "Artistic Practices for Eco-Social Renewal" by Seila Fernández Arconada Artistic practices generate permeable spaces for cross-disciplinary dialogue and collective creation that go beyond museums and galleries to enter other worlds. From community art to collaborations between art and science, artistic methodologies have been woven into a transdisciplinary world, where their understanding offers other ways of understanding art and its potential. This workshop seeks to provide an insight into artistic practices focused on the process, on how art can be woven together with other disciplines (including scientific ones), on how artistic practices offer other methodologies and languages for understanding the past, present and future. Thematic areas: - Current artistic practices, from the artist's experience to a journey through forms of (eco)socially committed art. - Collaborations between art, science and the community on contemporary eco-social uncertainties. - Artistic practices, trauma and mental health. - Dialogue of knowledge, situated artistic experimentation. #workshop #menendezpelayointernationaluniversity #summercourses #Santander #artisticpractices #ecosocialrenewal #socialart #collaborativeart #communityart #artandscience #artandtrauma #art #ecology #ecosocialcrisis #dialoguesofknowledge #taller #universidadinternacionalmenendezpelayo #cursosdeverano #Santander #practicasartisticas #renovacionecosocial #artesocial #artecolaborativo #artecomunitario #arteyciencia #arteytrauma #arte #ecologia #crisisecosocial #dialogosdesaberes 💧 Cultivating Connections: Artistic Praxis & Translocal Solidarities in Wartimes – Online Session with Seila Fernández Arconada Some notes from the online session part of HYSTERICALLY, YOURS, a program on art, healing, and social change.      💧 Cultivating Connections: Artistic Praxis & Translocal Solidarities in Wartimes – Online Session with Seila Fernández Arconada 🗓 August 19, 2025 🕖 19:00 Moldova / Romania | 18:00 Italy 📍 Online (in English) 📩 Free participation – register to receive the access link on the day of the event. 👉 Register here link in bio. We’re excited to welcome Seila Fernández Arconada, a multidisciplinary artist-researcher whose work explores contemporary socio-ecological crises—shaped by climate change, social conflicts, and extractive actions on Nature—with a focus on bodies of water. In this talk, Seila will share her journey from the Amazon to Ukraine, showing how art can build translocal solidarity in times of war. She will present projects such as Post Truth, Countering Disinformation Narratives, The War Didn’t Come to Me, I Came to It, and Dnipro River: Ecosocial Belonging in Wartime—an artistic research treating the Dnipro as a war witness and a site for collective healing and reflection on human–nature interdependence. Part of HYSTERICALLY, YOURS, a program on art, healing, and social change.  "Brushstrokes from artistic practice and its tangled relationships" is a short reflection on the journey that made me as an artist. In this article I share about some steps in my career and the focus of my artistic research. Originally written in Spanish. Full article in Spanish language: https://fundacionbotin.org/sala-de-prensa/pinceladas-desde-la-practica-artistica-y-su-marana-de-relaciones/  |
