Tomorrow, 2nd of September, we present final results of the Socially Engaged Art Lab. 

The OD/thER border creep, is a collaborative project made during the Socially Engaged Art Lab led by the artist Seila Fernández Arconada as part of Viadrinicum 2023.

This project is done in collaboration between:
Ishrat Shaheen
Daura Polonskytė
Oleksandra Nych
Olga Łojewska
Arina Cazac
and Seila Fernández Arconada

Viadrinicum is an annual summer school at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), devoted to the countries of the Eastern Partnership, and the larger context of Central and Eastern Europe. Its 2023 edition will revolve around the multifaceted question, how cities learn, and will look into the entanglements of urban learning and dwelling practices.

viadrinicum.blog/viadrinicum-2023/

Even on facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/1379940376067824/?ref=newsfeed

I am very pleased to share that today we, HangaroH Collective, will present our creation „FLOT“ at the Festival d’Art Contemporain in Roquebrune-sur-Argens (France)
The work has been made during a micro-residency that is part of the local Festival d’Art Contemporain.

We explored ways of attunement with the landscape of Roquebrune which is dominated by a brown-red reflecting rock aligned by the Argens River, in between the Mediterranean Sea and its interior. A process of salt-leaking bodies, crickets cricketing, sharp-edged Earth crust lines awakening bones, hot air muting linear thinking, and breath shaped by rock lines and curvatures.

Together with experiences in the residency epicentre, an extended camping ground, this led to the creation of a Sun-responsive sculpted object: an ephemeral intervention coming alive in both a sandy arid riverbed and a popular swimming pool overlooked by Roquebrune. A conversation between two landscape elements of a different nature.
HangaroH Collective is a collaboration between artists Bartaku (FI/BE), Seila Fernández Arconada (DE/ES), Anne Glassner (AT) and Laurie Sheridan (US).

https://hangarohcollective.wordpress.com

With support from Le Forum Culturel Autrichien and the Rewilding Cultures project (https://rewildingcultures.net/).
​
Special thanks to Le Festival d’Art Contemporain.

I am very pleased to share that some images of the first edition of “Post Truth? Countering disinformation narratives” in Kyiv, Ukraine which I have been directing as being its curator, designer  of the program and facilitator of the process which followed a hybrid experimental program between training course, experiential collective engagement and a collaborative artist residency, a space to create artistic responses from the collective experience. 

During 8 days, 8 selected Ukrainian artists explored the topic of post truth from different perspectives, focusing on the growing problem of disinformation and fake news and how it could be countered through critical thinking, media literacy and other artistic strategies.

We had the honour to have invited researchers from different disciplines: Mykhailo Koltsov, Bogdan Bondarchuk, Alessandro Rolandi, Txaro Arrazola and Bernard Fairhurst. We also had a number of experiential and experimental collaborative activities including a collective engaged dialogue with the Dnipro river. The collaborative process enabled ideas to be materialised in the final presentation where the artists created some artworks presented as a multidisciplinary installation in the Art Space «Вежа» located at The National Technical University of Ukraine in Kyiv.

This project has been organized by Lernlabor in partnership with Logos Ukraine and financed by the Auswärtiges Amt and Civil Society Cooperation. Thanks to the local coordinator Veronika Kurkina in support of her team in Logos Ukraine (Viktoriia Nuzhdova , Emir Shevkiev) who took care of logistics providing a safe and comfortable working environment.

Thanks to much to all who made it happening, in particular to the selected artists who managed to create very inspiring and meaningful artistic outcomes, thank you:
​
Vartan Markarian
Roksolana Dudka
Mikhail Ray
Gennadiy Che
Karina Synytsia
Fedir Khorkov
Bohdana Zaiats
Anna Kravchenko

Here you can see some visual glimpses, however, you can see more and discover more about the project in the website of the following website, also you can follow @Lernlabor.berlin social media and hashtag: #posttruthproject  
​
PROCESS: https://www.posttruthproject.net/process--blog​
VISUAL JOURNEY AND OUTCOMES: www.posttruthproject.net/ukraine.html

"Cueva de Sombras, Plantas de luz" ("Cave of shadows, Plants of light") is a collaborative project between the Cantabrian artist Seila Fernández Arconada and the 5th course of CEIP Cuevas del Castillo school in Vargas (Cantabria, Spain).

The project is framed on the project "Pedagogías del mañana: educación ecosocial, escenarios de futuro y arte" (Pedagogies of Tomorrow: Ecosocial Education, Future Scenarios, and Art), which suggests the following: "In the face of ecological and social emergency situations, we need to rapidly deploy a comprehensive education capable of preventing catastrophe, anticipating alternatives, and fostering hope in uncertain futures."

Organised by the Reina Sofía Museum of Contemporary Art and the Garúa cooperative, this proposal has selected three artists and three schools from across the country. Over a period of slightly over three months, the teaching staff has participated in training on the subject, as well as engaging in an artistic process alongside the students and the artist Seila Fernández Arconada, in the case of Cuevas del Castillo school.

"Cave of shadows, Plants of light" is an artistic intervention that has taken place at Cuevas del Castillo school, where Seila Fernández Arconada has guided an artistic process that involves a journey through plants, from prehistoric times to the present and into the future. This artistic intervention, as Seila states, "arises from feelings and care, and its objective is to rethink ourselves in our habitat and explore what other ways of understanding ourselves in nature can offer us, ultimately seeking to become more like plants."

That greenness of the "green Cantabria" that we inhabit is them—the diversity of plants that accompany us. In these times of climate uncertainties, one can observe changes in tone, dependent on their relationships with other living beings, especially water. Where are the plants represented in prehistoric caves? This question was the first of the reflections posed by Seila in the process, given that no recognized plant representations exist among the studied caves.

"The shared process has been very intense, and the artistic experiences have provided us with other ways of experiencing and approaching the nature to which we belong," comments the teaching staff. The 5th course students have participated in various activities, including mapping the territory they inhabit, creating a "living herbarium" with stories about identified and drawn plants, representing themselves as seeds, and envisioning future imaginaries in an attempt to "become more like plants," among many others. Imagination and critical thinking have been vital elements in the process, and that is where this journey has led the group to create a film through the act of projecting a series of plants onto one of the walls of the Cave of Castillo in Puente Viesgo, using projected light as pigment or engraving. Furthermore, the soundtrack of this film is a collective sound creation, where the group has represented an imaginary ecosystem through sounds.


The project culminated on June 6th with a meeting-exhibition of the works created at the Reina Sofía Museum, where both the students and the teachers, along with the artist, will be present in Madrid. There, they will present all the materials created as a multidisciplinary installation, which will also serve as the stage for the "collective ritual" invented by the group of students. It is a collective performance to express gratitude towards plants while symbolically seeking to communicate with the plants of the future, telling them what is happening in the present, warning them of climate changes, water scarcity, and other potential situations they will have to face, as well as encouraging them to stay alive, accompanying and taking care of us because we couldn't live without them.

​The photographs are part of the project's archive, authored by the teachers and the artist.
 ​

​“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. 

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.