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Hermanas Sánchez Circus, in the 1940s.
Four exhibitions promoted by students and young researchers from the Universitat de València will bring proposals exploring contemporary creation, circus heritage, tourism during the Francoism, and cultural resistance spaces to different university spaces this summer. ‘As easy as circular. Collaborative artistic project on circle limitation’, ‘Under the tarps. Archive and memory of the circus in Mislata’, ‘Under the regime’s sun. Benidorm, bikini, and ‘modernity’ in the Francoist Spain (1950-1970)’, and ‘Shared spaces. Culture, thinking, and resistance’ are part of the eight projects distinguished in the fifth edition of the Activa Cultura awards, containing 16.000 euros and being promoted by the Vice-Principal for Culture, Sports, and Social Engagement. The two first exhibitions were inaugurated on Tuesday, 16 June, while the others will open their doors on July and September. The event was leaded by the Vice-Principal for Culture, Sports, and Social Engagement, Albert Moncusí; the academic responsible for Activa Cultura, María Ángeles Pérez; the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Elena Mut; the students responsible for the project, as well as academic responsible staff, and cultural managers of the City Council of Mislata.
‘As easy as circular, at Espai Vives
The first of the exhibitions, inaugurated on 16 June at Espai Vives, at the Blasco Ibáñez campus will be available for visits until September. It is organised by Fernando Piñero, student of the Degree in History of Art at the Universitat de València, in cooperation with Samuel Galiano and Diego Torrente.
As easy as circular. Collaborative artistic project on circle limitation is the exhibiting result of Circular Call, a collaborative artistic project that suggests a deliberated limitation: working only from the circle’s shape. What could apparently be interpreted as a restriction turns here into as tool for expanding creative possibilities and questioning the idea of rule itself. The proposal reflects on how rules determine the creation processes and on the strategies available to enable, transform, or go beyond them.
The exhibition includes works of Fernando Piñero, María Cigalat, Julia Real, Samuel Galiano, Miquel Losada, Paula Rodríguez, Ismael Morales, Lú Mateo, Marta María Sánchez, Paula Almela, Mateo Olascoaga, Diego Torrente, Adela Alcaide, and Candela Ridaura. Through different disciplines and languages, the pieces explore the presence of the circle both in the final result and the working process itself, turning this geometric shape into an element that assembles paths, methodologies, and ways of interacting with the space.
The project suggests a shared experience in which the rule is visible and tangible, generating a wide field of creative possibilities. The exhibition shows precisely how a common condition can result in very different answers, highlighting collective experimentation and the dialogue between artists.
‘Under the tarps. Archive and memory of the circus in Mislata’, at the Faculty of Social Sciences
Also inaugurated on 16 June, Under the tarps. Archive and memory of the circus in Mislata is available for visits until 27 July at the Manuela Ballester Hall of the Faculty of Social Sciences, at the Tarongers campus. The exhibition is organised by Maya Monfort Palomero, graduated in History of Art and student of the Master’s Degree in History of Art and Visual Culture at the Universitat de València.
The exhibition recovers the familiar photographic archive of Rosa Sánchez and Markus, circus artists, to reconstruct a personal story that, at the same time, is part of Mislata’s collective memory. Photos of performances, family portraits, and materials linked to the companies for which both artists worked enable approaching the circus daily life beyond the stage and the show.
The proposal defends the documentary and patrimonial value of an unprecedented photographic collection, and it contributes to drawing attention to a community traditionally absent from the major cultural stories. Additionally, it sets the focus on the close relationship between Mislata and the circus world, a link that led to the establishment of many families that were dedicated to the traveling show in the city, known for decades as the ‘City of clowns.’
‘Under the regime’s sun’, at La Nau, from 7 July onwards
The Sala Oberta of La Nau Cultural Centre will hold Under the regime’s sun. Benidorm, bikini, and ‘modernity’ in the Francoist Spain (1950-1970) from 7 July to 6 September. The project is organised by Lucía Sellés Calvillo, graduated in History of Art and student of the Doctoral Programme in History of Art.
The exhibition analyses how Francoism used tourism to project an international image of modernity and openness, while it held political, moral, and social control mechanisms. Through archive photographs, periodical publications, and historical clothing, the exhibition checks the construction of the touristic imaginary associated to Benidorm and to the mass tourism phenomenon.
The bikini emerges as one of the main symbols of this contradiction: a clothing item associated to modernity and touristic attractive that coexisted with speeches of censorship and surveillance on female body. From this perspective, the exhibition suggests a reflection on the construction of the external image of Spain, gender speeches, and cultural transformations that marked developmentalism.
‘Shared spaces’, at Rector Peset Hall of Residence, from 8 September onwards
The last proposal is available for visits from 8 September to 4 October at the Sala de la Muralla at the Rector Peset Hall of Residence. It is organised by Lara Sánchez Canet, graduated in History of Art and student of the Master’s Degree in History of Art and Visual Culture at the Universitat de València.
Shared spaces. Culture, thinking, and resistance defends the role of non-institutional cultural places that, during the Francoist regime, turned into meeting spaces, cultural exchange, and critical thinking. The project takes as its starting point the hermitage of Llutxent linked to Alfons Roig, where many artists, intellectuals, writers, and people interested in the culture in a context marked by censorship.
Through documentation from Roig’s personal archive and the testimonies of the main characters of that experience, the exhibition reconstructs the importance of these peripheral spaces as the centres of cultural irradiation.
The proposal also includes a gender perspective to analyse the role played by women in these environments and expand the understanding of an essential episode of Valencian cultural history.
The tour includes other locations such as Joan Fuster’s home in Sueca or the Museum of Contemporary Art of Valafamés, examples of how some spaces distant from the official circuits turned into authentic windows to the world.
