Geohumanities unfold the practices of placemaking beyond traditional academic narratives by using creative methodologies. In this paper we are presenting several cases of artistic practice that strengthen the essence of place transcending scholarly discourses. The examples are based on artistic curation public exhibits in Avia (Berguedà), a rural village in Central Catalonia, and generate different narratives of the contemporary rural realm. It also aims to reflect and create new discourses that link art with the exercise of constructing a new sense of community and empowerment. _x000D_
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For three consecutive years, and with the support of local authorities, we developed art practices in collaboration with the local community with the purpose to strengthen the sense of place and generate new community dynamics in times of the pandemic. These practices go beyond the rational approach and appeal to the emotional side of the people and facilitate the development of new forms of social cohesion. We presented the possibility of thinking from another point of view about the local essence by forcing the interaction with three female artists who have turned local idiosyncrasies upside down to create an uncomplicated vision of rural life. _x000D_
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The first example recovers family photo albums to pay tribute to the elderly in the summer of the global pandemic where the older population experienced the worst consequences. In the second year, the technique of child-centered drawing was used to tour the municipality with a final exhibition in the form of a productive circle in a freshly mowed field. Finally, working with the village associations, the local imaginary was reversed based on the magic of surrealism to make community social activities visible in a new dialogue between the community and the essence of the place. This whole legacy speaks of a felt, rooted geography and a geo-humanistic need to find a place in a globalized world for these rural communities._x000D_

Rosa Cerarols and Antonio Luna
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)

 
ID Abstract: 539