Art approaches science in the Mostra art públic / universitat pública

The Mostra art públic / universitat pública has beeninauguratedthis Monday, 4 October, at the Burjassot Campus in a ceremony where the vice-principal for Cultura i Esport of the Universitat de València, Ester Alba;the vice-principal for Ocupació i Programes Formatius, Adela Valero; the Delegate for Students, Manuel González; the organiser of the exhibition, Alba Braza;members of the deanship, and teaching and campus staff have attended. After the inaugural speeches, the artists conducteda guided visit through the works exhibited in this university space dedicated to teaching and research.

The Mostra is convened bythe Office of the Vice-Principal for Occupation and TrainingProgrammes, promoted by the Delegate for Students andorganised by the SeDi Information and Promotion Service, with the collaboration of the Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Sport, as well as the campus services and staff. It connects the university community with its environment by the selection of works of art, specifically planned for thesespaces, making them trigger other multidisciplinary knowledge.

This edition, apart from being located at the Burjassot Campus, will be held in the Blasco Ibáñez Campus from 22 October. This means an increase in works and spaces that, accordingAlba Braza, organiser of the Mostra,“it doesn't add, it multiplies” and it will make possible that works from different campuses“also talk with each other and start a dialogue”. The number of projects has also been increased to eleven. Theseworksdeal with topics such asenvironmental sustainability, historical memory, sexual diversity and new masculinites, new social communication models, archaeology of new technologies, and influence ofcomputer algorithms in the current world.

According to the vice-principal forCultura i Esport of the Universitat de València, Ester Alba, one of the values of theMostra art públic is that it is an initiative which “asks itself what art can provide to contemporary problems” and that, with its mediation role, it contributes to“the vocation of theUniversitat de València towards comprehensive and critical training”. In this sense, Alba has mentioned the activitySabers tentaculars which brings art closer to university students, within the framework of the Mostra. On the other hand, the Delegate for Students,Manuel González, has thanked for “having kept students in mind”, for “having pointed out the value of what young people can provide” and for “having let art pervadeuniversity campuses”.

Besides having interacted with the university environment, the artists havecarried out their works with thecollaboration ofstaff from different departments of the Universitat de València, with whom they have exchanged knowledgeand experiences. These collaborations are “gifts”, Braza has claimed, and“they make real the dialogue between disciplines”. For instance, María Roncero, professor of the Department of Psychological Personality, Evaluation and Treatment of the Universitat de València, has collaborated with Laura José in her workLa culpable. Los comentarios de cada día;Suri Kim andÁngel Arias have worked with Clara Gómez Clari andRafa Muñoz Espí, from the Department of Physical Chemistry, in their workFor Eternity; Pep Sales Gabarda has counted on the collaboration of theLibraries and Documentation Service, and of Juan Antonio Rodríguez del Pino, professor of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, inMasculinidades disidentes. Una alternativa frente a la violència de género; Sara Gurrea has been supported by Isabel Cordero Carrión, professor of the Departament of Mathematics, andGloria Herrero Gascón, student of the Mathematics degree, in herEl teléfono roto; Miquel García has cooperated with Vicent Gabarda Cebellán, associate of theDepartament of Modern and Contemporary History, and thePlataforma de asociaciones y familiares víctimas del franquismo de las fosas comunes de Paterna (a movement for the mass graves victims during Franco regime), inExhumación 1; and forRedes fantasma, Andrea Siervo and Rossi Aguilar have worked together withNúria Martí, member of CALAGUA-UV, a research group in Environmental Technologies.

A catalogue including photos of the works and artists' reflections will be published in connection with the Mostra.

The jury that selected the projects was made up of Mijo Miquel, professor of Fine Arts in theUniversitat Politècnica de València; Jodie Di Napoli, mediator and exhibitions coordinator; Alba Braza, organiser of the Mostra art públic / universitat pública, andEster Alba, vice-principal for Cultura i Esport of the Universitat de València.

Sabers tentaculars: a cross-curricular dialogue between students of the Universitat

For the second time, and after the stop caused byCovid-19, the Mostra art públic / universitat pública is supplemented by a mediation activity targeted towardsuniversity students which has been titledSabers tentaculars. In this parallel initiative, tentacular groups of students of the Universitat de València from different degrees will be created. By means of the artistic works of the Mostra, teamwork and meetings with artists, they will explore the cross-sectional relations between disciplines which are present in the current art, as well as the collaborative networks existingbetween the university community and the artistic and cultural world. Additionally, this training will help themconnect and understand better the art installations andbe able to transmit these experiences to other students.

• Mostra art públic / universitat pública
• Guia d'intervencions artístiques [PDF]