Fronte[i]ras 07 – International Meeting of Transdisciplinary Arts
Organization: Binaural (Portugal) and Alg-a (Galicia, Spain)
Format: Artist Residencies + Symposium + Itinerant Exhibition
Dates: 17 – 30 Setember 2007 (artist residencies + symposium) | 2 October 2007 – 29 February 2008 (itinerant exhibition)
1. Presentation
The concept of border is actually one of the most debated themes in contemporary arts, which might be related to the present tendency of several artistic practices in questioning its own limits (crossing / hybridization of arts, art vs. life, art vs. science, etc.).
On the one hand, the border is a space of multiple readings. More than just a division line it is a zone of flux and interaction. It’s a fluid space where we confront ourselves with our identity. The observation of the “slightly different” allows us to recognize ourselves, and at the same time to create a distancing regarding us that helps to re-settle thinking. In that way, the border can potentially be a place of “illumination”.
On the other hand, the border, viewed as a division line of political, social and cultural differentiations, exerts a centripetal force towards a territorial harmonization, that is, the inscription of the “centers” in each and every one of the territory parcels, as distant they might be.
The specific case of Portugal and Galicia is a good evidence of those two concepts of border. If, one the one hand, exists a common history of easily identifiable affinities and an effort of building “dialog bridges”, on the other hand, some resistances are observable at different levels, motivated by a sometimes excessive zeal in preserving the identity of each sides of the border.
The Fronte[i]ras 07 Meeting will seek to establish several lines of creative reflextion on some of the following issues:
* In the contemporary context, do we still need stable collective identities that provide principles of belonging and protection for individuals, societies and nations?
* Can these identities be potentially dangerous in the sense of contributing to the diffusion of several forms of arrogance and discrimination?
* Could the inverse attitude (we = them) incorporate the risk of another degeneration, the one of absolute fusion? If we all share the same values, the same habits in a big magma of references, can that possibly generate individual psychological effects of absence of identity? To which place we still belong?
The ambivalent tension between location and the necessity of vinculation, an inherent characteristic of borders, assumes a key role in the specific case of the Northern Portuguese / Galician border.
Both Galicia and the North of Portugal are regions made of borders. From the “marco” (boundary marker) that divides the “leiras” (agricultural lands), to the border villages along the Minho river (that separates both regions), we co-habit the same country made with boundary mater.
In an age we confirm the end of distance, to travel from Oporto to Vigo by train (150 km) takes almost the same time as crossing Portugal by car (700 km). The Atlantic axis is, in many domains, more a myth than a reality.
The Fronte[i]ras 07 Meeting seeks to establish itself as an opportunity for vinculation, both communicative and open, in the cross-border relationship. A relationship recently analyzed in the digital aspect (Artech 2006 conference), but totally neglected in the physical aspect: even if the connection is an historic reality, the necessity of real vinculation must turn itself in a central theme of reflection.
An effective way of overcoming this void can be through the collaboration between cultural netwroks from both sides of the border. The co-organizators of the Fronte[i]ras 07 Meeting, Binaural (Portugal) and Alg-a (Galicia), are good examples of an idea of collective creation of culture, of a cross-border node mesh.
Following the profound tradition of cross-border smuggling, to share culture still is today a sub-official reality, minoritarian, but vitally necessary.
The Fronte[i]ras 07 Meeting simultaneously took place on both sides of the border . The program, that included performances, installations and conferences, promoted the discussion of ideas and projects, between artists and social thinkers, seeking to encourage collaborative processes of discovery and experience exchanges between some of the most dynamic and innovating artists operating in the areas of intermedia, transdisciplinary, anthropologic, theatre and hybrid performance arts, some of the artistic expressions that incorporate in their praxis the notion of border, in the most abstract sense of the word.
The meeting is organized by two cultural organizations, Binaural and Alg-a, that have strong affinities on their objectives and methodologies, combining an intervention on digital / intermedia arts with an artistic research on location and life.
2. The Fronte[i]ras 07 Meeting
This event comprised a program of artistic residencies in Galicia and Portugal. Two simultaneous residencies took place, one in Nodar (a small rural village in Portugal) and another on the outskirts of Pontevedra (Galicia).
Several artists from different origins and backgrounds gathered during 10 days on each residency space for the development of artistic projects in close connection with social thinkers who held a critique observatory during the same period.
As a result of the work produced during the residencies, a final presentation of the developed projects took place in the form of an itinerant exhibition, starting in Pontevedra and ending in S. Pedro do Sul, Portugal.
A parallel round of conferences and audiovisual artistic talks related to the proposed theme also took place.
3. Artistic and Theoretical Projects
The central theme for the open call will be the concept of border (“fronteira”) in all its possible variants, a reflection on its multiple interpretations with a focus not only on the physical / geographical borders but also on their dissolution in ideological, cultural, virtual, and ability borders.
The artists could freely choose their artistic languages and tools (audio, video, performance, installation, intermedia, etc.).
The projects were exhibited both in the original format and in documental format, in case it wasn’t possible its translocation to the exhibit room (for instance, site specific projects or projects with a considerable physical scale).
The invited social thinkers developed, during the residency period, a fieldwork related to the concept of borders, which was presented in a conference during the final symposium.
4. Program of Activities, Artists & Projects
a) Parallel Art residencies
17 – 26 de Setember 2007
Artist residency in Nodar, Portugal, coordinated by Binaural and Associação Cultural de Nodar:
Vered Dror (Israel) – Souvenirs
Maria Idília Martins (Portugal, living in Venezuela) – Zapatos de Mi pueblo
Amaya González Reyes (Galicia, Spain) – Transgresión
António Pedro (Portugal) – Eu só quero ser (aquilo que sou)
Maksims Shentelevs (Latvia) – Soundscape Mapping
A critique observatory of this residency was coordinated by Bojana Bauer (Serbia)
Artist residency San Simón Island, Spain, coordinated by Alg-a.org: Carlos Suárez (Galicia, Spain) – A morte como Fronteira Richard Lerman (USA) – Border / Algae / Acqua Azul Blaseotto (Argentina) – Ardiente Árbol Genealógico Leila Durán & Arturo Reboiras (Galicia, Spain) – Tempo Linear. Tempo Cíclico Mona Higuchi (USA) – Ghost Planes A critique observatory of this residency was coordinated by Mona Higuchi (USA) b) Conferences | Artist Talks 27 and 28 Setember 2007 Casa das Campás, Pontevedra (ES) 30 Setember 2007 Barcelos Pottery Museum (PT) Participants: all the resident artists In the conferences at Casa das Campás, were invited the following additional speakers: Pedro Jiménez (Spain) Isabel Valverde (Portugal) Mona Higuchi (USA) Bojana Bauer (Serbia) Ibrahim Niang (Mauritania) Xavier Fernández (Galicia, Spain)
c) Live performances 29 Setember 2007, 9.30 p.m. Barcelos Municipal Library Auditorium (collaboration: Zoom and Amimuola) Artists: Maksims Shentelevs (Latvia) Carlos Suárez (Galicia, Spain) António Pedro (Portugal) Final joint performance Alg-a + Binaural: Madamme Cell (Galicia, Espanha) Rui Costa and Manuela Barile (Portugal/Italy) Audio from the concerts:
d) Itinerant exhibition of the art projects 2 October – 13 November 2007 Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain) – Sala X (Fine Arts Faculty of Pontevedra) | Casa das Campás (Pontevedra) 15 December 2007 – 29 February 2008 São Pedro do Sul (Portugal) – Social Center of Carvalhais | Rural Museum of Carvalhais 5. Credits Funding: Ministério da Cultura – Instituto das Artes (PT) | Câmara Municipal de S. Pedro do Sul (PT) | Xunta de Galicia (ES) | Concello de Pontevedra (ES) | Universidade de Vigo (ES) | Instituto Cervantes em Lisboa (ES) | Embaixada de Israel em Portugal (IL) | Arizona Commission on the Arts (US) Collaboration: Zoom – Associação Cultural (PT) | Associação dos Amigos do Museu de Olaria de Barcelos (PT) | Rádio Universitária do Minho (PT) | Fundación Illa de San Simón (ES) | Centro Social de Carvalhais (PT) 
