From the 5th to the 20th of July of 2022, the exhibition space Manuela Ballester in the Facultat de Sociologia at the Universitat de València will hold the exposition “Direm el mar” (“Let’s say sea”) by Elena Martí Manzanares. As the guest creator at the III International CICELI Congress (Female Creations in Literary and Intercultural Education) of the Universitat de València, Elena has designed an interdisciplinary narrative journey, -poetic, critical, ecological and social- in unison.
The proposal of an exhibition design that offers an immersive installation format and includes a videographic intervention was born from a project selected by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain in the year 2020, as part of the program to fund artistic research, creation and production.
Through a collection of materials found in various seascapes of the Mediterranean coast, the aesthetic and critical voice of the artist, inspired by the verses of the poem “El Mar” by poet Miquel Martí i Pol (1993), invites the viewer to co-create new (personal and collective) discourses when confronted with what happens to plastic as it reaches the oceans, and with the key importance of the magnitude of time required for this petroleum-based material to erode or break down in the sea.
The exhibition is a sociocultural and didactic experience, sponsored by the Chair of Cooperation and Sustainable Development of the University of Valencia within the People Axis (ODS 1-5), and inspired by the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to preserve the future of people, nature and the planet, from the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations.
The exhibition also counts with the support and collaboration of the following academic organisms: the Professor Romàn de la Calle Documentation Centre of Valencian Contemporary Art (CDAVC), the Institute of Educational Creativity and Innovation (IUCIE), the Colleges of Teacher Training and Social Sciences of the Universitat de València, and the Department of Teaching of Musical, Visual and Corporal Expression at the Universitat de València (Area of Artistic Education).
The project Direm el mar [Let’s say sea] is a warning cry that promotes human awareness of the sustainability of the Planet and, paradoxically, reminds us of the infinite natural beauty of life, shining a light on the need to provide an adequate sustainable, creative and critical education for the 21st Century society.
The exhibition also strives to become the starting point for a new editorial collection created by the Universitat de València on the topic of “Sustainable, aesthetical, and critical convergences in art education”, under the name of Ecònica. This innovative cultural proposal that addresses the world of art and design in educational contexts, coordinated by professors Ricard Silvestre and Matilde Portalés of the Universitat de València, intends to build a referential and transferential bridge between society and academia, offering an open, transdisciplinary debate space to promote a sustainable, aesthetic and critical perspective in the contemporary classroom.
Together with a selection of researchers from the Universitat de València, several other Spanish academic researchers participate in the first volume of the collection, including the full professor Ricardo Marín of the University of Granada, and the professor Rebeca Zurru of the International University of la Rioja (UNIR).The first volume of Ecònica also incorporates the voice and ideas on nature and sustainability of a dozen creatives of diverse nationalities, who are involved in the fields of art and design: Elena Martí, Cristina Almodóvar, Constance Guisset, Emma Giuliani, Emilie Vast, Joana Santamans, Hugo Martínez-Tormo, Xavier Monsalvatje, Laura Palau, Denica Vaselinova, Eva Okolowicz and Patricia Kuehfuss.
Graphic designer Alberto Herranz, of the studio Ideas Fominaya has been in charge of the whole visual design of the project and the event is aligned with the objectives of the program of World Design Capital Valencia 2022 to promote the didactics of art, design and creative thinking in the world of education through national and international professional connections.
Art exhibition “Direm el mar” by Elena Martí Manzanares. Sustainable, aesthetical, and critical convergences at the Universitat de València. Manuela Ballester Exhibition Hall (Facultat de Ciències Socials). Inauguration: July 5, 2022 (7:00pm)
