Artist residencies to keep the culture of esparto grass alive
"Esparto grass died when plastic was born". In 2018 we promoted philosophical discussions about beauty in Villarejo de Salvanés, where the imaginary of esparto, almost lost, was again considered.
So, we launched HABITAR EL ESPARTO to recover this Intangible Cultural Heritage through artistic residences in an informative space that links artisans, artists, designers, schools...A community collaborative pathway has been followed with relevant results. An opportunity for naturocultural change.
Local
Spain
Villarejo de Salvanés, Madrid
Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): AL FRESCO - MUSEOS EFÍMEROS Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Esther Last name of representative: San Vicente Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Function: CEO Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Avda. de los Deportes, 15 Town: Villarejo de Salvanés Postal code: 28590 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 610 57 34 28 E-mail:esthersanvicente@yahoo.es Website:http://alfrescomuseos.com/
In 2018, the Al Fresco-Museos Efímeros collective promoted a series of philosophical dialogues on beauty for the creation of an ephemeral museum in Villarejo de Salvanés. In the conversations with the elderly, the work with esparto grass, associated with their childhood and youth experiences but almost completely lost today, was repeated as the imaginary of the locality. "Esparto died when plastic was born", they explained.
In 2019 we are developing #HabitarElEsparo with the aim of disseminating and keeping alive this Manifestation Representative of the Intangible Cultural Heritage**, which is the identity of this town at a time when the economy is much more sustainable than it is today.
Born from the call for artistic residencies and developed with participatory methodologies, the project proposes the link between local artisans, artists, designers, schools, technology centres... with the aim of broadening the horizons of the esparto landscape. A landscape that is drawn away from the local institution, which, due to a lack of training and an antiquated conception of power, has turned out to be the perfect coadjuvant for the loss of these artisan and vital practices.
It is essential to link the project to the academic institutions where knowledge of the world is questioned, produced, disseminated and advanced from a contemporary sensibility rooted in the strong crisis of social values and environmental exhaustion.
With a view to the immense contribution made by ancestral processes and knowledge, the work focuses on community learning models directed from the civil sphere. #HabitarElEsparto has managed to mobilise and give visibility to an intergenerational community of artisans at risk of extinction. Models that, consciously or unconsciously, offer new social imaginaries that go beyond the stereotypical and folkloric vision of craftsmanship and are free of dualisms and hierarchies between species, sexes and classes.
esparto
natural fibers
rurality
intangible heritage
bearer community
-To recover and promote the transmission of knowledge of the esparto culture, involving other traditions of the rural environment
These works became residual with the industrial development. The hard life of the countryside was transformed into working life in the cities, where people worked and lived disconnected from the territory and the rural logics. The environmental crisis has called this system into question and the solution proposed is to reduce production and consumption, directly linked to the rural world
-To offer training to artisans to recover the name of Villarejo as a reference of the industry in a sustainable future
Villarejo was very important during the post-war period because it knew how to take advantage of the natural resources within its reach. Most families lived from esparto, and their ropes and nets were distributed throughout Europe. This is a reference of innovation and natural fiber nets could replace synthetic materials in fishing gear
-To value the symbiosis between man and nature, knowing that the esparto plant renews itself when it is harvested in a rational way.
In the past the countryside was conceived as a resource limited only by private property. The scientific advances make us advise the craftsmen so that the esparto grasslands are not depleted by the excess or the defect of human intervention
-Reconciling citizens with their semi-arid landscape, a necessary and valuable ecosystem for their sovereignty, the reduction of consumption and the circular economy
This area is the most economically and culturally depressed in the region. Although its landscape has not enjoyed environmental or tourist recognition, current research highlights the importance of these habitats for biodiversity in contexts of rising temperatures and desertification. Espartoi s a grass well adapted to high temperatures and drought, which coexists in harmony with other shrubs and provides shelter to a multitude of insects, reptiles and small mammals
-Recovering a community heritage asset, providing a present and future point of view through art and exploratory thinking
The declaration of the Spanish Government as an Intangible Cultural Heritage Manifestation has not led to the administrations protecting the carrier communities. Despite this formal recognition, the relationship with artists and designers has been what has awakened the enthusiasm of the people of Villarejo
-Working on creativity as a tool for symbolic transformation and social innovation that empowers the knowledge-bearing community, both for collective action and individual initiative
Bearing in mind that artisans are people of little recognition, the approach and interest of socially valued people such as artists, who carry behind them a research background and propose new imaginaries, has meant a notable improvement in their self-esteem
-Create a network of knowledge, synergies and communicative insertions to safeguard the intangible heritage of the esparto grasses, which is in danger of disappearing because it has been passed on exclusively orally
It is essential to support these elderly farmers and craftsmen so that they can become protagonists in fairs, conferences, publications, exhibitions, artistic creations and educational centres
-Bringing local cultural policies and dynamics closer to citizens' needs through citizen participation
Constant dialogue and active listening are fundamental tools for 21st century democracy. Our project is a sample of what life in towns can be again, governed for well-being and good living
-To make citizens an active part of the cultural agenda and the protagonist of an Ethnographic Museum that is transformed into a dynamic space thanks to collective activities
Esparto grass has been present in the Museum since it opened in 2011. Its collection of inert objects has become a place of creation that arouses the interest of residents and visitors alike
-Facilitating group-based poetics that generate a collective political awareness by recovering rural lifestyles, in connection with the territory and the natural landscape
As an independent project, it is also an emancipatory proposal that shows the potential of organized citizenship to claim their rights and aspirations. One example is the work we are carrying out to clarify and record in writing the ownership of the machinery, which despite being deposited in a municipal building, is ceded exclusively for the use of the craftsmen's collective, being in reality the heritage of the beared community
-The community bearing this Representative Manifestation of Intangible Heritage was non-existent. In Villarejo de Salvanés, they were resigned to losing the value of this knowledge, which only seemed to concern the elderly, although from a nostalgic perspective.
-The arrival of artists and researchers has greatly improved the older artisans’ self-esteem. They now understand that it is urgent to recover the values of the way of life they had before industrial development and that they are true masters in that field
-Those who were forced to leave their homeland, that was no longer seen as a source of resources, lead this initiative. Those who lost that knowledge due to illiteracy, are now surrounded by researchers taking notes and recording all they can transmit. A knowledge not much appreciated until shortly ago that now fills them with pride
-The visibility of the mural in honor of the spinners was their first public recognition in the town. As a result of a collective force, these artisans participated in the speech celebrating the New Year from the balcony of the Town Hall and were invited to the FITUR fair by the Community of Madrid.
-All this promotion has led these artisans to receive purchase orders and begin to obtain some income, which makes us imagine a future filled with opportunities for this craft
-In addition, the work of the workshop within the Ethnographic Museum makes public spaces to be considered as meeting spaces, where a citizen participation laboratory can be carried out and where it is possible to teach and learn freely. Within this framework, we have been joined by other crafts such as bobbin lace makers
-Lastly, the esparto tours and harvesting encourage physical activity and a relationship with nature. The fact that the meetings are intergenerational fosters family ties and allows the elderly to recover their former occupation and a sense of well-being by becoming a source of wisdom to their community
Different actors involved are as follows:
-Institutional actors
María Pía & Pascal Janin, relevant researchers from the Cultural Heritage Institute of the Ministry of Culture in charge of drafting the Plan for the Safeguarding of the Esparto Culture and the research aimed at declaring esparto as a Representative Manifestation of Intangible Heritage
We´re promoting the recognition as an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Cataloguing Area of Madrid
We are in touch with the General Director of Tourism of the Community of Madrid, who´s interested in handicrafts in order to sustainable tourism.
The ARACOVE Local Action Group, which brings together 30 municipalities, invites us to events such as FITUR where 50 of our artisans participated, this being a historical landmark
The Town Hall of Villarejo finances part of the activity and donated space and machinery in the Ethnographic Museum
-Academic actors:
By collaborating in micro-residences with Professor Lucía Loren (Univ.of Nebrija) & the European Institute of Design
Among the panel of experts with whom we maintain a close collaboration are Bartolomé Palazón (Univ. of Teruel and Seville), Antonio Muñoz Carrión (Univ. Complutense), Verónica Perales (Univ. of Murcia), Isabel Carralero (Univ. of Salamanca) and Gema Pastor (Univ.Rey Juan Carlos)
-Artists & artisans:
We´re in El Cubo Verde network, AMECUM (a cultural mediators association) FADEMUR & HISPANIA NOSTRA
We´ve organized a School of Esparteras in Madrid and designed a board game with INLAND-CAMPO ADENTRO
We´re part of a working group in MEDIALAB-MATADERO
We presented our work at the conference Esparto, Nature & Culture of the Pop. Univ. of Albacete & at the European Conference on Heritage in Navarra
We learned how to handcraft esparto grass paper and cardboard thanks to Juan Barbé
-Social:
Our activity mobilizes 30 participants of all ages every workshop. A total of 150 neighbors support us as partners. We´re known by artisans from all over Spain
The nature of this project is based on the imbrication of community knowledge, as an ethical-political principle; situated knowledge, as Donna Haraway states, promoting non-hegemonic, non-universalist and decolonial epistemologies. Namely, subaltern voices that have been silenced by globalist cultures and economies that verticalise practices and institutionalisations over the local experiences that each community has, as De Sousa Santos affirms.
This project has been designed from disciplines that have been interested in rescuing the aforementioned ethical and practical approaches. For example, for the training of personnel who conserve esparto grass material, the custody and transmission of knowledge related to the Esparto Culture, archaeological, anthropological and other social science work has been of great contribution to propose dialogues for the teaching of esparto grass techniques and the conservation of material and invisible heritage.
On the other hand, Fine Arts Studies and the interaction with Visual Design, for investigating technological devices as tools that bring us closer to the natural world and help us to amplify our senses to be more aware of what we are in relation to the planetary body that we share with other living beings. The additional value of thinking about the social sciences, studies in Art/Aesthetics and Design has been to propose ways of weaving knowledge that design different communicative tools and materialities, that can identify new possibilities of positioning esparto, proposing valuations of the human practices that sustain this floral species, and at the same time support the community of Villarejo in its economy and identity.
This combination of disciplines was materialised through round tables, held during the artistic residencies at the beginning of the project, in which different experts discussed and weaved their research processes, methodologies and aims for the conservation and prospection of the esparto culture.
It offered the opportunity to imagine a future in relation to the use of a fiber that floods the landscape . This meant a return to a prosperous past (when resources were obtained in proximity, neighbors related to solve problems and Villarejo was a national reference) and sustainable (when there was no plastic and the economy was circular).
In the mapping of esparto culture conservation initiatives we found that many of them were limited to individual. Many others offered group integration in esparto corridors, but without support and funding from an entity they couldnt go beyond the community level. Our proposal transcends all these limits by accompanying the needs of the artisans, capturing the proposals of other neighbors and mediating with other actors .
This approach and care has allowed us to reach the esparto movement through dialogue and trust, creating a horizontal community where responsibilities are shared and where any member feels free to create and invite other creators.
Although in Villarejo for decades there have been reports in the local magazine, exhibitions of antiques and spinning exhibitions, there has never been a commitment to active and meaningful learning. The arrival of foreign agents and the creation of the craftsmen's workshop have regenerated what until then was only a glimpse into the past.
Through constant dialogue with the artisans, with whom we analyze all the factors involved in the consolidation of this culture, it is they themselves who are so involved in the project that they add other people they know so that the active group and the techniques being worked on continue to grow. This networking is giving a lot of strength and recognition.
There are many replicable aspects:
-The first, the methodology based on philosophical dialogues to deepen the identity and reconnection of peoples. The problem of depopulation in Spain is due not only to the difficulty in accessing employment and other resources such as education and healthcare. A great weight comes from the invisibility of the emotional needs of its inhabitants caused by an individualistic and extractivist capitalist system that only values the economy. Listening to what other aspects the inhabitants of the villages value and working to achieve these aspirations would favour the rooting of the territory.
-Artistic residencies, with their invasion of artists and creative people, are transformative learning, challenging perspectives, beliefs and behaviours and injecting optimism.
-The proximity to academia endorses, recognises and raises the self-esteem of the people participating in the project.
-The relationship with the political sphere allows visibility in key events for local dynamics.
-The publication of the booklet represents a new form of transmission.
-The creation of a board game for children is a very useful tool for educators that adapts to the objectives, contents and competences of different academic levels.
-The legal coverage of the activities of an incipient community is the only way to go down the road to entrepreneurship as a regularised collective.
-The approach to forestry agents is a reflection on the agrarian activism.
-Working in public spaces is a demand for citizen ownership.
The work in open-air public spaces is a claim for the use of squares and benches for meeting, creation and growth and not only for consumption.
-The research for the recognition as BIC is a step forward to really protect and finance this community. It will also provide a decalogue of recommendations for good practice and clarify administrative competences and responsibilities, which until now have been negotiated at a personal level.
-The philosophical discussions were the starting point. Esparto is part of the identity of our elders. A source of wealth during the Spanish post-civil war period that doesn´t exist for our children, who are disconnected from this tradition. This questions were essential decided to carry out this project to recover the esparto culture, included in a Safeguard Plan.
-Then, we mapped conservation initiatives throughout Spain and visited the only existent esparto workshop in Madrid, 11 km away
-The artistic residencies included a socialization plan with multicultural dinners, tours, “corros”, philosophical discussions, projection of documentary films, conferences, a mural painting, and the exhibition of works made by the residents.
-In the past there had been only exhibitions with elderly esparto spinners. Our actions awakened great interest in creating a municipal crafts workshop with a teacher from a nearby town. It was her first-time teaching to work with esparto out of her home environment
-Following participatory methodology we incorporated the spinners into this workshop, and later we launch our workshops in the town square. Based on these meetings, a new workshop emerged, led by local masters. Designed with a community perspective, i´s an open space where people of all ages continue to join and welcome frequent micro-residencies for artists. We advised artisans on product marketing, tax and insurance management, and provide legal coverage
-We have placed craft objects in public and tourist spaces in order to make esparto visible
-We designed a board game that is played in the classrooms to introduce children to this initiative
-We organize Intensive training workshops to inspire our artisans and attract other people
-We pursue working closely with the City Council since we are bearers of this intangible heritage
-We are in the process of being granted the CAM artisan card, as well as the recognition of the esparto as a BIEN DE INTERÉS CULTURAL in 2023
Among the most complex challenges we face in the global societies are those related to the climate crisis associated with local sustainability, as well as community belonging and identity.
The latter has been heightened by the rise of media self-communications, as Manuel Castells argues, to digital media as social networks and platforms. The hegemonisation of visual cultures and technologies has left little room for the recognition of belonging to trends outside that virtual spaces, both for age groups that were guided by what was dictated on television and radio by big-city cultures.
Today the difficulty of rescuing cultural heritage outside of the effervescence of mass visual culture, the challenge of how to attract and generate social fabric that highlights naturocultures as the most viable possibilities for sustaining ourselves, communicating and creating communities with memories and future.
The identities that the practices with esparto grass generate for the community of Villarejo, as affective spaces of living memory, give account of the rescue of who they´ve been and which tools serve to join with our nature, recovering ancient practices that the new generations also feel as their own.
Identity is a mixture and the heritage of esparto grass enables new, collective and subjectivising weavings. The global challenges surrounding this issue refer to the capacity of the communities that inhabit the territories to weave with our local chores, and those that have been shared in the cultures of globalisation.
This project functions as a prelude and scenario for future socio-economic approaches that reinvent - outside of plastic policies and bodies - processes, as Jennifer Gnabrys states; materialities and cultures of biodegradability through the implementation of subaltern traditions and communities. The global problems of climate crisis are the result of forgetfulness, exploitation and neglect of rural localities like Villarejo, its ecosystems and people.
-Our first achievement was the mural painting together with an audioguide explaining the importance of the esparto in our locality that was created to honor spinners. This month, it will be included in the Sounds of The World map
-Moreover, we edited an artist book whose covers are made of esparto paper, containing sketches and drawings. Its free distribution allows us to reach a wide audience and make the project and Villarejo well known
-We designed a board game for schools with environmental and cultural information. We´re working on a new edition made of esparto cardboard to be presented at AMECUM and PLANEA ART&SCHOOL
-We work at the Ethnographic Museum, visited by tourists and artists. There´s about 30 participants, therefore ensuring a generational relay. Participants learn varied techniques as ropes and nets, seats, scouring pads, brooms, baskets, carpets...The customer orders are increasing
-We have achieved full autonomy to obtain raw materials by registering lands donated to ensure that harvesting is done in a controlled fashion
-On the other hand, we started a catalog containing decorative objects that could be used in restaurants, events, or during the village festivals that will be donated to the City Council
-We continue to support the training. The paper workshop will be followed by a dye-house and a beehive-building workshop
-At the moment, we are defining, together with the Town Council, the policy that must be followed in relation to the use of the machinery housed in the Ethnographic Museum, and a crowdfunding is launched to build portable machinery
-In addition, we´re working so that the Crafts section of the Trade Department of the Community will grant the artisan card to the people who have kept this tradition alive
-We´re also organizing to provide the Municipal Library with specialized literature
-Finally, together with the Community of Madrid we´re involved to get spinning recognized as a Asset of Cultural Interest in 2023
#HabitarElEsparto follows the framework of European Commission:
-Equiping learners and educators with the knowledge of esparto culture to provide skills and attitudes needed for a greener and more sustainable economy and society
-Creating a shared understanding on the deep and transformative changes needed for sustainability and the green transition, based on esparto culture, its environments and relevant to local contexts
-Activating involved people of all ages for developing a innovation community with critical thinking, connected to public authorities, open to individual initiative and organised to collective action
-Supporting fairness for people disadvantaged by age or socio-cultural status
-Promoting nature and rural lifestyle
