Violated territories. How the future can change the past
From September 19th to February 5th, 2023
Biennale Artchitecture du Frac Centre-Val de Loire, Vierzon, France
Presentation of the research project “Violated territories. How the future can modify the past” directed by Professor Mónica García Martínez, in collaboration with Mª Jesús Muñoz Pardo and Beatriz G. Bustamante and the following students of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, ETSA: Andrea Alcántar Vizcaino, Mathys Citerne, Martina Divisova, Karolina Doniec, Julia Anna Duda, Johana Sofía Flores Barcenas, Fiorela Gibaja Gómez, Luis Giménez Olmos, Julia Kudla, Barbara Leszczynska, Giulia Pedilarco, Lena Pfeffing, Julia Raud, Hannah Schmidt, Tora Augland Stoelen, Natalia Suchowolak, Ecem Bengisu Üncü, Maria Wagner, Tsjerk Wicherink and Agnieszka Wiecha.”The goal is to end the invisibilization of women in the history of architecture and art. Perhaps once these fights have been won, that of re-reading the history of art and architecture from the prism of feminism and that of equal acceptance of gender, we will see the beginning of what the author Marie-Céline Naves has called a feminist democracy emerge.” (Damani, 2021)
The students of the ETSA of the UPV have been invited to participate in the Biennale d’Art et d’Architecture 2022, entitled “Infinite freedom, a world for a feminist democracy”, organized by the FRAC Centre-Val de Loire in Vierzon, France. This biennial is above all that of a new imaginary based on equality, where several social, militant and artistic readings coexist with the perspective of fostering a new common sense. It is also the biennial of a new social ideal based on renewed experimentation, plural knowledge and citizen action.
The research presented assumes the creative challenge of the real and imaginary reconstruction of places and territories, literary and archaeological, that were inhabited and organized by women in the desert at the beginning of primitive Christianity. As feminist historian Gerda Lerner states, they are one of the groups of women who preceded the creation of feminist consciousness throughout history.
The main sources of visual inspiration have been the archaeological landscapes of the deserts of Kellia and Scetis in Egypt, once inhabited by the Ammas The Desert Mothers, the Karakum or the black sand desert of Turkmenistan, the cave hermitages, as well as the medieval cells, where “inmates” or “walled-in” women decided to voluntarily seclude themselves in search of an alternative to patriarchy.
The re-construction of these habitats and territories through drawings, collages, plaster sculptures and photomontages have questioned our imaginary and our thought processes. Beyond its relation to history, the concept of feminist democracy infiltrates the reading of the discipline, and gives rise to several questions: What cities and urban planning programs are designed by and for women? What is the place of women architects in a male-dominated profession and what is their production? What mechanisms should be put in place to bring this artistic production out of invisibility? The Biennale d’Art et d’Architecture will be expressed as a “Manifesto of proximity”, in which ephemeral artistic manifestations will occupy two territories: that of Vierzon and that of Valencia. The aim will be to make the biennial a driving force for the urban, architectural and artistic dynamics of these cities, as well as a space to build living together and encourage citizens to take ownership of their city.