News

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 will seek 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 will simultaneously take place on both sides of the border . The program, that includes performances, installations and conferences, will promote 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.

 

The Fronte[i]ras 07 Meeting

This event comprises a program of artistic residencies in Galicia and Portugal. Two simultaneous residencies will take 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 will gather during 10 days on each residency space for the development of artistic projects in close connection with social thinkers who will hold a critique observatory during the same period.

 

As a result of the work produced during the residencies, a final presentation of the developed projects will take place in the form of an itinerant exhibition, starting in Pontevedra and ending in Portugal.

 

A parallel round of conferences and audiovisual artistic talks related to the proposed theme will also take place.

 

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 can freely choose their artistic languages and tools (audio, video, performance, installation, intermedia, etc.).

The projects will be exhibited both in the original format and in documental format, in case it will not be possible its translocation to the exhibit room (for instance, site specific projects or projects with a considerable physical scale).

 

The invited social thinkers will develop, during the residency period, a fieldwork related to the concept of borders, which will be presented in a conference to be held during the final symposium.

 

Program of Activities

17 to 26 September 2007 - 10 days of residency for the development of artistic projects:

- Nodar, São Pedro do Sul (Portugal): 5 artists + social thinker (selected by Binaural)
- Pontevedra (Galiza): 5 artists + social thinker (selected by Alg-a)

 

27 to 30 September 2007 - Conferences and presentation of the developed projects:

- São Pedro do Sul (Portugal) - Termas de S. Pedro do Sul Auditorium
- Pontevedra (Galiza) - Sala X (Fine Arts Faculty of Pontevedra) / Casa das Campás (Vice-rectorship of University of Vigo)

 

1 October - 15 November 2007 - Exhibition of the developed projects:

- Pontevedra (Galiza) - Sala X (Fine Arts Faculty of Pontevedra)

 

20 November - 31 December 2007 - Exhibition of the developed projects:

- São Pedro do Sul (Portugal) - Termas de S. Pedro do Sul

 

Open call for Artistic Projects

1. Alg-a will award 5 Fronte[i]ras 07 grants for artistic projects to be developed during a residency in Pondevedra (Galicia).

Binaural will award 5 Fronte[i]ras 07 grants for artistic projects to be developed during a residency in Nodar (Portugal).

2. The amount of each grant will be 300 Euros (less the corresponding withholding tax). The organization of Encontro Fronte[i]ras 07 will bear housing and food costs during the residency and final presentations. The selected artists will bear their traveling costs from / to the place of origin to / from the residency.

3. This call is open to all artists without any restriction of age, gender, nationality, etc.

4. At least 4 of the 10 grants will be awarded to artists born or living in Galicia (2) and Portugal (2).

5. The call is open from May, 11 to June, 22, 2007.

6. The following documentation should be included:

- Application form (available here)
- A facsimile of the national identity card or passport
- A short artistic curriculum (max. 30 lines)
- The proposed artistic project to be developed in residency
- The proposed project schedule
- Technical needs of the project
- A description of previous developed projects or works (in digital and/or printed form)
- In case of audiovisual projects, a DVD may be annexed to the documentation.

7. Each candidate is free to include additional documentation that he/she finds useful for an accurate evaluation of the proposed artistic project.

8. The presented documents will not be returned to the candidates after the open call is finished.

9. All documentation should be sent to one of the following addresses:

 

For a residency in Nodar (Portugal)

ENCONTRO FRONTE[I]RAS 07
Binaural - Associação Cultural
A/C Rui Costa
Alameda Padre Álvaro Proença, 10 - 12º A
1500-475 Lisboa
Portugal

Additional Information :

info[a]binauralmedia.org

 

Para a residency in Pontevedra (Galiza)

ENCONTRO FRONTE[I]RAS 07
Alg-a. Asociación Cultural
r/ Baixada da Igrexa, 50 baixo
CP 36210
Vigo (Pontevedra)
España

Additional Information :

fronteiras[a]alg-a.org

 

 

Credits

<u>Co-organization</u>:

 

 

 

<u>Support (provisory list)</u>:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Useful Links:

 

ARTECH 2006 - Conferência Internacional de Arte Digital e Electrónica (ES / PT)

 

 

Centre for Cross Border Studies (IE)

 

 

Centro de Estudos Ibéricos (PT / ES)

 

 

Observatório da Imigração (PT)

 

 

Trans Portugal-Galicia Network (PT /ES)