The work will be presented on June 5 at the VI Culture and Ruralities Forum, while the visit to the finished work will take place on June 7.

In Tectónica Cultural and with the collaboration of Arte Sostenible, from June 1 to 4, we have been involved in the collective production of the work resulting from the AVER project that we have developed in Cañada del Hoyo, Cuenca. The work will be presented on June 5 at the VI Forum Culture and Ruralities while the visit to the finished work will be held on June 7.

It has been four days of intense work in this cultural event in which the artists Rubén Chumillas, Isabel Campos Gil, Miriam Gascón and Paula Belinchón have given their all in the collaborative process. In addition, they have had the good fortune to work with almost thirty participants (among neighbors, friends, collaborators and art and nature enthusiasts) who have made possible the execution of this wicker work.

It is a site-specific installation that takes place on the ruins of the houses where the railway workers and their families used to live, in the station of Cañada del Hoyo (Cuenca). Thinking about the ruins not only implies thinking about the decomposition of the physical, but also has a symbolic and conceptual dimension, which allows us to reflect on memory and the construction of history.

Ruins are material vestiges of past events and can be considered as silent stories. One of these stories tells us that reducing ruins to worthless debris is the trace of the abandonment of rural territories and, as a consequence, isolation, depopulation and the risk of poverty. The idea of bringing the ruins to the temple refers us to worship what was as part of what we are.

The main material used in the installation is wicker. Currently the use of wicker is in decline in the province, but in the past it was part of the complementary economy of the families of the regions of La Alcarria and Serranía Alta de Cuenca. In order to contribute to its recovery, this material has been used and, in this sense, a craftswoman from La Mancha has transmitted her knowledge in a workshop where she has taught its handling to almost thirty people.

The reuse of natural residues that are forming the landscape of the ruins and the recovery of the materials and traditional ways of doing mentioned, lead us to interpret the history through elements connected with the same territory. In this way, they have also contributed to the creation of a more sustainable future, thus helping to revitalize rural areas.

Likewise, this artistic intervention is committed to the creation of new social and territorial links between the artists themselves and the population of Cañada del Hoyo and other neighboring towns. In this way, through the emotional link with the territory, it is intended to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the cultural and natural heritage.

AVER (Visual Artists in Rural Environments), is a cultural project of the Ministry of Culture and Sport and Tectónica Cultural, on the occasion of the VI Forum Culture and Ruralities, to be held in Cuenca from 4 to 7 July 2023.

From Tectónica Cultural we promote cultural diversity and social participation. Find out more about the cultural management of Tectónica and its projects in our website.