On the occasion of the exhibition ‘La Nau dels Bojos. Una odissea de la desraó', organised by the Universitat de València, the Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Society has organised a series of debates that aims to break the clichéd image of social danger linked to madness to deal with one that is much more related to the arts and thought, with the participation of artists, writers and various professionals from the field of psychiatry.
The debates, organised by the curators of the exhibition 'La Nau dels Bojos', Cándido Polo and Ana Hernández, will be held at La Nau Cultural Centre between Tuesday 20th September and Friday 14th October. "Mental health has become very important recently and we have taken advantage of this coincidence together with the Universitat, which soon realised that the best place to welcome unreason is the seat of reason," says Cándido Polo.
‘Los restos de la locura: imágenes y huellas’ (Spanish for The Faces of Madness: Images and Traces) will open the cycle this Tuesday, 20th September, at 6 p.m., in the Magna Room of La Nau. The colloquium will include the participation of the artists Patricia Gómez and María Jesús González, creators of the art installations in the exhibition: 'Espejo del mundo' and 'Stultifiera navis. Restos del naufragio'; and by the psychiatrist Óscar Martínez Azumendi, creator of the blog 'Psiquifotos', one of the most important pages of psychiatric images. The debate, which will be moderated by the psychiatrist and curator of the exhibition, Cándido Polo, will deal with how madness has been interpreted in the different arts throughout history, from the first photographs of the 19th century - which established in the collective imagination the clichéd image of the madman locked up - to the most recent photographs of psychiatry today.
On Tuesday 27th September, La Nau will host the debate ‘Genio, locura y creatividad’ (Spanish for Genius, madness and creativity) at 19.30 with the intervention of the journalist and writer Rosa Montero on the occasion of the publication of the book 'El peligro de estar cuerda' (Spanish for Dangers of being sane) (Seix Barral, 2022). Based on her personal experience, the author makes a passionate defence of the value of being different through great authors from different disciplines who exemplify the relationship between mental imbalance and creativity. The debate will be presented and moderated by the head of the Lecture Society of the Universitat de València, Professor Cristina García Pascual, and will include the participation of the exhibition curators Cándido Polo and Ana Hernández.
The third debate in this cycle, ‘Misterios del acto creativo: inspiración, melancolía, alienación’ (Spanish for Mysteries of the creative act: inspiration, melancholy, alienation), will be held on Monday 3rd October at 6 p.m. in the Magna Room of the La Nau Cultural Centre with the University philosopher Anacleto Ferrer, the writer Bárbara Blasco and the artist Chema López at a round table moderated by the art therapist and curator Ana Hernández. The concept of melancholy, which has evolved throughout history since Aristotle coined it to describe the 'black bile' shared by the most brilliant men of his generation, will be discussed during the colloquium. "This table illustrates where inspiration begins and where the melancholy that manifests itself in many people's sensitivity and need to create intervenes," says curator Cándido Polo.
Finally, ‘Luces desde la otra orilla. Los nuevos movimientos sociales en Salud Mental’ (Spanish for Lights from the other shore. The new social movements in Mental Health) will close this cycle on Friday 14th October, at 6 p.m., in the Magna Room of La Nau. With the intervention of the clinical psychologist Ana Sánchez, the sociologist of the Universitat Francesc J. Hernández and the new collectives 'Obertament', 'Orgullo Loco' and 'Teixint Vincles', the collective conscience that has led to the grouping of different groups that demand a change to a psychiatric care model for people suffering from some kind of mental disorder will be discussed.
The debates are organised through the Escola Europea de Pensament Lluís Vives and the Lecture Society of the Universitat de València.
