Biennial of Art and Science in Concepción
UCSC Extension Center Room, Av. Alonso de Ribera 2850, Concepción.
From Monday, October 17 to Friday, October 21.
More information here.
Works from Chile, Argentina and Brazil and projects from all over the country will be the protagonists of the first Concepción, Arte & Ciencia Biennial, which will be held in the capital of Bío-Bío.
The unprecedented experience, which mixes art, science and community, is the result of the joint work of the main universities of the capital of the Bío-Bío region: Universidad de Concepción (UdeC), Universidad del Bío-Bío (UBB) and Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC).
The origin was in Concepción, the city that hosts this Biennial and conceives it as a meeting point, of dialogue, of connection.
Going back in time was in April 2019 when the desire to give body and life to the Biennial 0 came true. At that time the dream of holding a biannual meeting of conversation, dissemination and joint creation, of projects that crossed the arts and science, taking charge of the new challenges of society and the environment. And that, at the service of a given territory, allowing to generate knowledge from different spheres.
“We come from the academy and we know that it is often criticized for being isolated from society. With the Biennial we are interested in getting closer to listening to the different voices, especially those loaded with local wisdom. We want to contribute to building spaces for dialogue and collaborative work with the community, which this time happened with the inhabitants of Coliumo, with a focus on their children. In addition, it is relevant to have the institutional support of three universities, united in a collaborative gesture, “says Nicolás Sáez (UBB), general director of the Biennial and manager of the original idea together with Fernanda Oyarzún Dunlop (UCSC), content director, and Marianela Camaño Saavedra (UdeC), artistic director of the event.
“We began to co-create with the community of Coliumo just over 2 years ago, and for us that joint learning is the axis of the biennial,” says Oyarzún, who relieves the meeting “Crossing to the sea”, held on September 29 on the coasts and in the sea of Coliumo. More than 300 people, scientists, artists, community members, students, parents, children of the school participated in this activity, who were deployed a whole day with land and sea activities, including a boat trip with all the students of the school, and significant exchanges that intersected the arts and sciences and that included the outstanding poet Rosabetty Muñoz.
Precisely the water, the coasts of seas and rivers, and their interrelation with communities and nature, was the focus of the call that the organizers of the Biennial made earlier this year. “For this first version, we made a call that was a success: we received 92 applications from all over Latin America,” explains Marianela Camaño, who highlights that the interdisciplinary curatorial team, composed of three outstanding professionals in the arts and sciences, selected 7 works and 9 projects.
The curators were Sara Adlerstein González (Ecologist and Visual Artist, Professor at the University of Michigan), Leslie Fernández Barrera (Visual Artist, Researcher and Professor at the University of Concepción) and Catalina Valdés Echenique (Art Historian and Curator).
The public will be able to know the selected works in person and online. The works will be mounted in a collective exhibition in the Extension Center Room of the UCSC, which will remain open between October 17 and 31. Meanwhile, the projects will be disseminated through audiovisual capsules that will open dialogue tables, on October 18 in the Aula Magna of the UBB and through the platforms of the three partner universities.
Among the works that will attract attention in this first Biennial is “Cleaning oil, in motion”, by Mattia Carenini (Italy) and Álvaro Asalgado (Chile), which uses booms, cleaning devices made of human hair that the public manipulates and transforms.
The small terracotta sculptures of “De navegantes”, by the Chilean Braulio Díaz, invite us to reflect on the impact of people in coastal areas.
From Argentina comes “Paraná, the river as a sea”, by the Chilean Camila Bardehle and the trans-Andean María Bressanello, which records an exciting journey through the waters of the second longest river in South America and its artistic intervention.
Seaweed inspires two works, both from Chile: “Alga luga: States of transition”, ceramic exploration by Agustín Contreras, and “Algarium: shapes, colors, textures and movements”, by Eliseo Fica that began from his scientific research.
The Brazilian Sabina Simón arrives with “Manifesto-Fitoplankton” and, from the north of Chile, the camanchaca is the protagonist of the audiovisual experience of “Nébula”, by Mauricio Lacrampette and Sebastián Arriagada.
The Concepción, Art & Science Biennial Week, to be held from October 17 to 21, 2022, is possible thanks to the Fondart Nacional 2022, Festival Line of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. In addition, it has the interuniversity sponsorship of the U. de Concepción, U. del Bío-Bío and U. Católica de la Santísima Concepción, the Millennium Institute in Coastal Socio-Ecology (SECOS) and other sources of financing.
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