Meandering (2021–23)
A two-year-long programme of fellowships, commissions, convenings, residencies, and performances on ecology and community practices
Inspired by how rivers bend and curve, connecting entire ecosystems, the artistic research program Meandering unfolded the cultural, historical, spiritual, and ecological trajectories of waterways to cultivate the vitality of water, from source to sea.
By developing critical-creative insight into the interconnectedness between land and coastal waters, freshwater, and the ocean system, the programme formed a case study in regenerative cultural practice in the Guadalquivir Valley, in Andalusia, Spain. By supporting an ecological praxis that sought to generate both inner transformation and the conditions of possibility for social change, it set forth a methodology for bringing together artistic research and community practice.
The programme proposed an experiential and experimental approach to foster renewed sensibilities for social and environmental justice. It commissioned artists to engage local agents, schools, public administration, young persons, neighbourhood associations, spiritual communities, designers, policymakers, and activist platforms connected to environmental struggles in the region, to formulate a practical and poetic toolset for understanding our interdependence with the watershed.
Programme Trailer. Video and editing by Lourdes Cabrera, voice by Sofia Lemos
The programme’s course through the Guadalquivir traced river systems through the sierras and forests in the south of Spain, to the heartlands of the Americas and the undersurface of the Mediterranean, in a complex cartography of cultural, ecological, and spiritual exchange. For this journey, pop polymath Lafawndah (b.1984, France); philosophy-trained choreographer Isabel Lewis (b. 1981, Dominican Republic); and visionary artist Eduardo Navarro (b. 1979, Argentina) were invited to develop new participatory and community-oriented research fellowships to be presented alongside site-specific performances, river-walks, poetry, music, meditation, and communal meals.
Interview with Eduardo Navarro about his fellowship
Contributors
Jesús Alcaide, Lourdes Cabrera, Edgar Calel, Federico Campagna, Carolina Caycedo, Emanuele Coccia, Amina Costa, Jessica Ekomane, Sally Fenaux Barleycorn, Elizabeth Gallón Droste, Coco Fusco, Francisco Gamero, Francisco Godoy Vega, Lafawndah, Lanoche, Isabel Lewis with Guillermo Castro Buendía, Carlos López Campos, Javiera de la Fuente, Brooke Holmes, Helena Martos, Laila Tafur, and Rosário Vacas, Gracia López Anguita, Juan Lopéz Intzín, Gabrielle Mangeri, Michael Marder, Ana María Millán, Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome, Eduardo Navarro, Claudia Pagès, Cristina Aguilar Porro, Brian W. Rogers, Lorenzo Sandoval, Colin Self, Emilija Škarnulytė, Chaveli Sifre, Michael Taussig, Medina Tenour Whiteman, Rosa Tharrats, and Caique Tizzi.
Team
Curatorial Assistance: Maya Saravia and Maria Buey Gonzaléz
Design: Lana Jerichová
Digital: Martin Bartoš, Andrej Kučera, Michal Kučerák, Petra Linhartová
Editorial: Katrina Black, Eva Ebersberger, Beatrice Forchini
Research: Maya Saravia
Production: Ana Ballesteros, Henry Eigenheer, Francisco Estepa, and Verónica Mari
Communications: Pablo García Contreras, Maria Gil Sáenz, Victoria de Gracia, Patricia Esteban Gonzaléz, Barbora Horská, Katarina Rakušček, Arancha Rios, Cristiantan Tena, Julia Zafra
Acknowledgements
Agripino, Hashim Cabrera, Casa Árabe, Casa del Agua, Casa Palacio de los Angulo, Guillermo Castro Buendía, CEIP La Paz, Luis Celorio, Cuevas del Pino Casas Rurales, Culturhaza, Carlos Delgado López, ESAD Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Córdoba, IMTUR - Instituto Municipal de Turismo de Córdoba, La Mariposa de Hilo - Escuela de Patronaje y Moda, Salma al-Farouki, Juan Gallego Benot, Victoria Garcia Gomez, JUGO Vinos Vivos, Joshua Leon, Gabrielle Mangeri, Lourdes Márquez Carmona, Elena Martos, Nuria Medina, Virginia Moreno, Javier Occaray, Patio Vesubio, PLATA, Carmen Pérez Cuello, Carlos Alberto Rivas Quintero,Niño Ruben, Rosario Vacas, Laila Tafur, Violeta Vaca Delgado, Antonio Valenzuela and Abbas Zahedi as well as all applicants, volunteers, and participants of our programs and activities.
Related
Meandering: Art, Ecology, and Metaphysics (2024)
The Journeying Stream (2022)
An Ocean Without Shore (2022)
Third Margin Deepest Spring (2023)