Open Program 2021

The nine conferences were held by Isabel Ferreira, Josep-Maria Mallarach, Jordi Pigem, Daniel Wahl, Zaida Muxí, Gustavo Utrabo, Hisao Suzuki, Carme Pinós and Izaskun Chinchilla; all preceded by video art creations from the Forest Matter III cycle.

As a novelty, 3 conversations were held.

In the third edition of Forest Matter, a selection of video creations pays tribute to the ethical and aesthetic power of trees as beings of the future. They are short video dance and video art works that, as in previous editions, accompany the 2021 Open Program conferences.

Forest Matter III Teaser
2021, 02:00 min

Forest Matter makes a sensitive contribution to the ongoing construction of a new aesthetic inspired by trees. An aesthetic that is shaped by values such as care, protection, fertility, simplicity, vitality, care and interdependence. Trees and the forest are increasingly perceived as a collective heritage closely linked to our health, well-being and even our survival and, in this sense, the construction and dissemination of a forest culture is relevant contemporary that brings society closer to its universe and that gives greater visibility to its geostrategic importance.

Forest Matter, walking towards a contemporary forest culture.

Eduardo Bonito and Isabel Ferreira

Contemporary forest culture in contemporary art and performing arts projects.

Eduardo Bonito (São Paulo, Brazil, 1969) coordinates the BIG PULSE project, which brings together 12 festivals from 12 European countries. In addition, he is a cultural manager, independent curator and consultant for various companies and organizations of contemporary culture.

Isabel Ferreira (Pamplona, Spain, 1970) is an independent curator and cultural manager trained in Art History with a master’s degree in Visual Culture and postgraduate courses in cultural ecologies. She was artistic director of the Navarra DNA Festival of Contemporary Dance (2017 and 2018); director of Composições Polítiques in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2010-2016). In addition, she is co-curator of the program of performative talks Brasil Segrestat and international development coordinator of the FIT of Cadiz.

Four Solos in the Wild
United Kingdom (2016), 18 min
Direction: Ray Jacobs
Choreography: Mervyn Bradley, Erika Juniper, Graham Busby and Andrew Kelly

Non-professional artists often evoke truth and depth in art. Performers Mervyn Bradley, Erika Juniper, Graham Busby and Andrew Kelly spent two weeks in Tycanol Forest in Wales and from this experience created four dance solos where they play with their physical and perceptual limits to surrender to an absolute symbiosis with nature. It is a project carried out with Arty Party, an association that works with adults with learning disabilities to explore, express and celebrate their creativity.

Solo performers: Mervyn Bradley, Erika Juniper, Graham Busby and Andrew Kelly. Project performers: Chloe Shepherd, Dean Warburton, Georgie Dawson. Creative support: Anna Belyavin, Fran O’Boyle, Tara Rutter. Choreographic mentor: Rachel Liggitt. Music: Deuair. Sound design: Jonah Brody. Residence Facilitator: Simon Whitehead. Costume and design: Wren Miller. Supply: Drew Robertson Jacobs. Assistant cameraman: Callum Barre. Cinematographer: Jonathan Tritton. Editing: Jonathan Tritton and Ray Jacobs. Dub Mixers: Andrew Wilson and Rob Edwards. Photography: Chris Nash and Ray Jacobs. Directed by Ray Jacobs. Produced by Arty Party.

RCR Selection 2019: The Movement of Life: Respecting and Restoring the Flow of the Natural Environment

Josep Maria Mallarach

Reconnect with nature and the territory.

Josep Maria Mallarach (Olot, Spain, 1955) was the first director of the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park (1985-1991) and coordinated with Josep Germain the first evaluation of Catalonia’s protected areas system (2001-2003) . It is part of the Working Group for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the management of protected areas of the World Commission of Protected Areas of the IUCN. He wrote the evaluation chapter of Spain’s Protected Natural Areas Action Plan (2002) and the first evaluation (2007). Since 2001, he has directed the master’s degree in protected natural areas at the Autonomous Universities of Madrid, Complutense and Alcalá de Henares. He has published six books and numerous articles. He is the founder of the Silene association to study, disseminate and promote the intangible spiritual and cultural heritage and its inherent values, especially with regard to Nature.

Forest Floor
Robbie Synge, 2019, 04:45 min

In Abernethy Forest, artists and friends Julie and Robbie playfully investigate collaborative solutions to the issues of access to nature faced by people with physical disabilities.

Director and Editor: Robbie Synge; Performers: Julie Cleves & Robbie Synge; Chamber: Emma Dove; Sound Recording: Jonathon Mccloone; Color: Beth Woodruff; Photography: Scott Green; Special Thanks: Susan Christie. Commissioned by LUX Scotland and the BBC as part of “Now & Next”.

The Sense of  Place

Jordi Pigem

The sense of place in our experience of space and our understanding of the world.

Jordi Pigem (Barcelona, ​​Spain, 1964) holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Barcelona. He was a professor of Philosophy of Science at the Masters in Holistic Science at Schumacher College (United Kingdom) from 1998 to 2003. He is a professor of several courses at Spanish universities. He is the author, among others, of Àngels o robots: La condició humana a la societat hipertecnològica (Angels or robots: The human condition in hypertechnological society, 2018), Intel·ligència vital: Una visió postmaterialista de la vida i la consciència (Vital Intelligence: A Postmaterialist View of Life and Consciousness, 2016) and L’odissea d’Occident: Modernitat i ecosofia (The odyssey of the West: Modernity and ecosophy, 1994). He is also the author of Raimon Panikkar’s edition and introduction, Ecosofia: La saviesa de la Terra (Ecosofia: The Wisdom of the Earth, 2021). He has obtained the Philosophy Prize of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (1999), the Essay Prize of Resurgence and the Scientific and Medical Network (2006) and the Joan Maragall Prize (2016). In addition, he has published six books and numerous articles on protected spaces, especially on evaluation and conservation criteria for natural heritage.

Conversation between Rafael Aranda, Josep-Maria Mallarach and Jordi Pigem

How should the person cultivate himself to feel the place?

Aikué i Zepé (I still r-exist)
Zahy Guajajara and Mariana Villas-Bôas, 2021, 07:00

In Aikué, the earth symbolizes the origin of life and the strength of resistance of the indigenous culture that fights for survival.

Artist: Zahy Guajajara; Address. Mariana Villas-Bôas; Script: Zahy Guajajara and Mariana Villas-Bôas; Photography: Leandro Pagliaro; Editing: Raquel Couto. Colour correction: Juliana Muniz; Post-production assistant: Iván Ignacio. Thanks to the Aikué 2019 team.

Designing Regenerative Cultures

Daniel Wahl

The healing of places and bioregionalism as strategies to generate regenerative cultures.

Daniel Christian Wahl (Munich, Germany, 1971) holds degrees in Biology (BSc. Hons., Univ. of Edinburgh), Holistic Science (MSc., Schumacher College) and Natural Design (PhD., Univ. of Dundee). He was principal of Findhorn College between 2007 and 2010, is a member of the International Futures Forum and H3Uni, a promoting partner of r3.0, and sits on the advisory boards of Ecosystems Restoration Camps, Commonland, Ojai Foundation, Systems Change Alliance and the Overview Institute of Australia. Daniel lives in Mallorca, where he has collaborated in the creation of SMART UIB and works locally and internationally as a consultant, educator and activist. He was part of the academic working group of the Global Ecovillage Network and has been linked to GEN for almost 20 years. He has worked closely with Gaia Education since 2007. Daniel regularly teaches at the Masters in Ecological Design Thinking and Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College. His book Designing Regenerative Cultures (in English: Triarchy Press, 2016; in Spanish: EcoHabitar, 2021) has achieved international recognition.

A Gift to the Future: Tree Mountain by Agnes Denes,
The Shed, 2019, 04:15 min

In the short documentary video, Agnes Denes recalls the creation of “Tree Mountain: a living time capsule: 11,000 trees, 11,000 people, 400 years”, a collaborative bioremediation work of art. The video was produced by Agnes Denes for “Absolutes and Intermediates” held at The Shed in New York from October 9, 2019 to March 12, 2020.

Women, Landscape and Creation

Zaida Muxí

Women’s contribution since the s. XIX to the present in architecture and landscape.

Zaida Muxí Martínez (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1964) is a doctor of architecture and, since 2003, professor of Urbanism at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB-UPC), where she has been deputy director of (2009-2012) and co-director with Josep Maria Montaner of the 21st Century Housing Master’s Laboratory (2004-2014). She has been Director of Urban Planning, Housing, Environment, Urban Ecology, Public Space, Public Roads and Civics for the city of Santa Coloma de Gramenet (2015-2019). She is a specialist in urban planning, architecture and gender. She has been an advisor to the Secretary of Housing of Sao Paulo, Brazil (SEHAB) in favela urbanization and resettlement housing (2010-2012) and an advisor to the Secretary of Housing and Inclusion (SECHI) of the city of Buenos Aires in Urbanism and gender in the improvement of neighbourhoods (2013-2015). Her most recent book is Dones, cases i ciutats. Més enllà del llindar (2018) will be translated into English in 2021 Women, Homes and Cities. Beyond the Threshold (2021). She has given lectures and courses in numerous cities in America, Europe and Asia.

El viento de Paula (Paula’s Wind)
Nacho Arantegui, 2017, 05:30 min

El viento de la Paula is a video dance in the landscape of the banks of the Ebro with its spring flowers, a moment of special beauty when the cottony villain covers the ground forming a white mantle on the earth.

Dance improvisation: Paula Gelpi; Being of the wind: Nacho Arantegui; Direction, script, production, photography, camera and sound: Nacho Arantegi; Collaboration: Gonzalo Catalinas; Editing: Yago de Mateo; Locations: Ignacio Falcón; Location: Alcalá de Ebro, Zaragoza. A production by Nacho Arantegui with the support of Zaragoza City Council and Etopia – Zaragoza Art and Technology Center.

Pragmatism and instability in landscape construction

Gustavo Utrabo

Architecture is a means to connect people and imagine the future through sustainable and inclusive approaches.

Gustavo Utrabo (Curitiba, Brazil, 1984) graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Paraná in 2010. Based in São Paulo, Gustavo Utrabo co-founded Aleph Zero in 2012, a 2018 RIBA International Award-winning studio and of the RIBA Emerging Architect Award. Now on his own, Utrabo sees his work as a means of connecting people and imagining the future through sustainable and inclusive approaches. Recently, Utrabo published his first monograph in El Croquis. He has given lectures and courses in numerous cities in America, Europe and Asia.

Conversation between Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Gustavo Utrabo

Understanding the site.

Good Things to Come
Krystal S. Lowe & Alexander Wharton, 2021, 2:00 min

Good Things to Come, by Krystal S. Lowe and Alexander Wharton, is a dance and voice duet that explores solitude in green spaces; how the unity between humanity and nature leads to the sustainability of life.

Director & Performer: Krystal S. Lowe; Poet: Alexander Wharton; Film: Gundija Zandersona; Editing: Jonathan Dunn; Costume: Emma-Jane Weeks.

The Hisao Suzuki Fund

Hisao Suzuki

In 2021, RCR Bunka Foundation will host photographer Hisao Suzuki’s legacy of more than 45,000 photographs of the world’s best contemporary architecture.

Hisao Suzuki (Yamagata, Japan, 1957) graduated from the Tokyo School of Photography in 1979. Fascinated by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, he arrived in Barcelona in 1982, where he settled. In 1986 he began to collaborate with the magazine El Croquis. He became its main photographer, contributing to the publication’s recognition as the means of disseminating contemporary architecture with the most prestige worldwide. His photographs have been published in almost all international architecture and design magazines and numerous books.

Vertical Structure Attempts V, VI and VII. Attempts Series
Román Corbato, 2020, 09:21 min

The Attempts video series is part of a research project that focuses on landscape and territory and how these two concepts have evolved up to the present day—the process and value of physical work in contact with nature matter.

Architecture, according to Carme Pinós

Carme Pinós

Carme Pinós explains her vision of architecture from her beginnings at architecture school, international recognition alongside Enric Miralles, the foundation of her studio in 1991 to the present day.

Carme Pinós (Barcelona, ​​1954) is an architect from the Escola Técnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB-UPC). After achieving international recognition together with Enric Miralles with projects such as the Igualada Cemetery, Carme Pinós founded her studio in 1991, combining it with teaching at universities such as UC Berkeley, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne or Columbia University. Recent projects include Plaça de la Gardunya, the Caixaforum Cultural Center in Zaragoza and the Cube I and Cube II Office Towers in Guadalajara, Mexico. She has received numerous awards and mentions, including the Richard J. Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence (2016), the Sant Jordi Cross from the Generalitat de Catalunya (2015) and the CSCAE Spanish Architecture Award (1995). In 2012 she was named an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and, in 2011, an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects.

Competing for Sunlight: Ash
Dagmar Dachauer, 2018, 4:30 min

Ash is the second part of Dagmar Dachauer’s Competing for the Sun trilogy dedicated to trees. In Ash, which translates as Ash but also ash, Dagmar pays tribute to the ash trees of the excelsior species (Fraxinus excelsior), which are in danger of extinction due to a fungus that has been infecting the European continent since the 1990s.

Director: Dagmar Dachauer; Choreography and dance: Dagmar Dachauer, Knut Vikström Precht; Cinematography, Post-production: Kilian Immervoll; Assistant Director: David Mair; Lighting: Benjamin Lachower; Music: Green Grass by Tom Waits; Producer: Dagmar Dachauer; Co-producer: Bert De Somviele; Co-production: C-TAKT; Dommelhof, BOS+; Produced by: UMFUG; with the support of Federal Chancellery Austria, State of Upper Austria.

The City of Care

Izaskun Chinchilla

Rethinking architectural and urban planning models prioritizing not so much the technical, formal and abstract knowledge of their professionals as the public and civic dimension of their activity.

Izaskun Chinchilla Moreno (Madrid, Spain, 1975) is an architect from the Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM-UPM) and founded her studio in 2001 in Madrid. She is a professor and researcher at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL London, United Kingdom) and has also taught at the École Special in Paris and HEAD University in Geneva. She has been a study professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Alicante from 2002 to 2007 and is currently teaching at ETSAM and the Madrid Business Institute. She has participated in forums, conferences and debates in more than 80 international destinations, and more than 90 magazines have published her work, which has been part of exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, V Architecture and Design Biennale of Sao Paulo and travelling exhibitions such as New Trends Europe-Asia and Panorama Emergent Iberoamericano or Europan. She has won more than 20 awards in professional competitions.

Conversation between Carme Pigem, Assumpció Puig, Carme Pinós and Izaskun Chinchilla

Architecture and city: history, memory, experience, transcendental, and collective meaning.