"Forte imaxinación produce acontecemento".
"Strong imagination produces an event" is a phrase I chose from the artist Idoia Zabaleta that always comes back to my mind when I take part in a mediation process.
To read the text in English click here.
Spending time together, imagining collectively and producing common desires are social and political processes, that produce community, future and event.
Terra Common is xerating a context, through the mediation process,so that the citizens of Couso, through the monthly meetings, can coñecerse e fortalecer a comunidade ng ties through the composition of new knowledge e da ideation of possible futures for the work of art that we are imagining together.
In the month of June, and after an international meeting that allowed us to take perspective and get to know the projects that are being developed within the European framework. ‘Art Living for Sustainability’.’, we are holding two meetings. The first, with the educational community of the CRA Antía Cal (Escola Infantil de Couso) and the second with the Couso community.
A Escola Infantil de Couso Antía Cal is a public school of the Council of Gondomar that is part of a group of nursery schools that apply the method Montessori- from the public school in different parishes of Gondomar. In the CRA of Couso there are eleven families and eleven children, of which only three are from Couso and the rest come from other parishes of Gondomar.
Families are betting on bringing their farms to Couso for the metodoloxía da escola, Montessori pero, sobre todo, pola súa location aos pes dos Montes de Couso e a súa immersion in nature and the values it produces, They hope that this will not be the case in the future. imaxinario futuro das nenas e os nenos.
There is concern among families about the future of the school, as it requires a minimum of seven families for its continuity. Este é un tema que se debe ter en conta á hora de imaxinar a obra de arte para os Montes de Couso, o relevo xeracional e a fixación da poboación no territorio; tema que tamén puxo sobre a mesa a Comunidade de Montes. This translates into the need to value the Couso Mountains, their project as common mountains, their value as a community and their goal of self-sufficiency.
The families propose that the Comunidade de Montes sign an annual collaboration agreement with CRA de Couso. The idea is to give more value to the school project, making its privileged situation more visible and better, and to give it the singularity of the collaboration with the Community of Mountains through programmes such as planting or monitoring of animal reproduction cycles such as the cabezolos.
At present, families use the Couso mountains for walks and to visit existing projects such as the Forest of Memory. For the future, they imagine that Montes de Couso could be a productive source for the region in terms of productivity and they attach great importance to its cultural value.
A second meeting, that same afternoon, with a group of Couso's neighbours, begins to reach the most committed decisions with the commissioning of this mediation process. Let us ask ourselves two questions, the first one is to imagine For whom? we want to make the piece, the work of art, the artistic intervention etc. who we want to address and the second one What for? What are we looking for? What problem, of all the ones you have detected, do you want to tackle through the artistic commission?
There has been a long debate, through the methodology of world café, that is to say, small discussion groups. This debate concluded that they need to make the Montes de Couso project visible outside the community itself, in the territory of the region, but also outside while strengthening community and community self-esteem.
Couso is a world-renowned forest community, receiving regular visits from different countries around the world. However, these are visits from people linked to the theme of the commons, forest communities, etc., academics, researchers, other community members, etc. They feel that they must reach the general public, to put in the centre the value of the commons, of community forests, of community management and all the values that go through this project. In a time of decline, like the one we are living, we need to value and place on the map this type of resources for the future of interspecies life.
They imagine a piece of art for the people of Couso, both for its youth and for the elderly and those close to the mountain, which allows them to feel proud of belonging to this community and gives it visibility in the world. They imagine a piece that values their project, the Couso Mountains themselves and the community that manages them.
They want to produce pride to avoid exile and encourage rootedness.
Two ideas come together: one is to complete, through an artistic solution based on nature, the Bosque da Lingua and the other, with much more power and autonomy, to produce a documentary that collects the memory, the present but also the future potential of the Couso Mountains.
They imagine a meeting place, a space for debate, a space for vindictive expression and a space for the enhancement of the Montes Comunais that collects the changes in the geography, the social and economic changes, the lost knowledge, etc. An artistic project linked to the memory, to the productivity of the forest in an attempt to maintain its presence and prestige as a Community of Mountains.
They imagine a unique and singular proposal, mobile, that allows to take Couso around the world, with an educational, leisure and leisure component, but also thinking about tourism and the knowledge of the Couso Mountains.
Let's meet again in September, after the summer, we will take the opportunity to select several examples of inspiring artistic works and to make the artist's proposal so that, in October, we could write the commission letter.
Have a good summer!!!
“Strong imagination produces event”.” is a phrase I heard from the artist Idoia Zabaleta that always comes back to me when I am involved in a mediation process.
Spending time together, imagining collectively, and producing common desires are social and political processes, which produce community, future and event.
Common Land is generating a context, through the mediation process, The Couso neighbourhood, through the monthly meetings, will be able to getting to know each other and strengthening the community weaving links through the composition of new knowledge and the ideation of possible futures for the work of art we are imagining together.
In June, after an international meeting space that allowed us to gain perspective and learn about the projects that are being developed within the European framework ‘...'.‘Art Living for Sustainability’We held two meetings. The first one, with the educational community of the CRA Antía Cal (Couso Nursery School) and the second with the Couso neighbourhood.
The Escola Infantil de Couso Antía Cal is a public school belonging to the Gondomar Town Council and is part of a group of nursery schools that apply the method Montessori -from the public school- in different parishes of Gondomar. In the CRA of Couso there are eleven families and eleven children, of which only three are from Couso and the rest come from other parishes of Gondomar.
The families are committed to bringing the children to Couso because of the methodology of the Montessori school but, above all, because of its location at the foot of the Couso Mountains and their immersion in nature and the values it produces, They hope that this will continue in the future. children's imagined futures.
There is concern among the families about the future of the school, as it requires a minimum of seven families for its continuity. This is an issue that must be taken into account when imagining the work of art for the Couso Mountains, the generational replacement and the fixation of the population in the territory; an issue that was also put on the table by the Community of Mountains. This translates into the need to enhance the value of the Couso Mountains, their project as common forests, their value as a community and their goal of self-sufficiency.
The families propose that the Community of Montes sign an annual collaboration agreement with the CRA of Couso. The idea is to give greater value to the school's project, making its privileged location more and better visible, and to provide it with the uniqueness of the collaboration with the Community of Montes through programmes such as planting or monitoring of animal reproduction cycles such as tadpoles.
At present, families use the Couso Mountains for walks and to visit existing projects such as the Forest of Memory. For the future, they imagine that Montes de Couso could be a productive source for the region in terms of productivity and they attach great importance to its cultural value.
A second meeting, that same afternoon, with a group of neighbours from Couso begins to move towards more committed decisions with the commissioning of this mediation process. We ask ourselves two questions, the first is to imagine for whom we want to make the piece, the work of art, the artistic intervention. Who do we want to address? And, the second, What for? What problem, of all the ones you have detected, do you want to address through the artistic commission?
There is a long debate, using the ‘world café’ methodology, i.e. small discussion groups. This debate concludes that they need to make the Montes de Couso project visible outside the community itself, in the territory of the region, but also outside, while strengthening community and neighbourhood self-esteem.
Couso is a world-renowned community of montes, receiving regular visits from different countries around the world. However, these are visits from people linked to the theme of the commons, forest communities, academics, researchers, other community members, among others. They feel that they must reach the general public, to put the value of the commons, of community forests, of community management and all the values that are at the heart of this project. In a time of decrease, such as the one we are living in, we need to value and place on the map this type of resources for the future of interspecies life.
They imagine a piece of art for the Couso neighbourhood, both for its youth and for the elderly and people close to the mountain, which allows them to feel proud of belonging to this community and to give it visibility in the world. They imagine a piece of art that values their project, the Couso Mountains themselves and the community that manages them.
They want to produce pride in order to avoid exile and encourage rootedness.
Two ideas arise, one to complete, through an artistic solution based on nature, the Bosque de la Lengua and the other, with much more power and autonomy, to produce a documentary that collects the memory, the present but also the future powers of the Couso Mountains.
They imagine a meeting place, a space for debate, a space for the expression of demands and the enhancement of the Montes Comunales that reflects the changes in the geography, the social and economic changes, the lost knowledge, etc. An artistic project linked to the memory, to the productivity of the forest in an attempt to continue to maintain its presence and prestige as a Community of Mountains.
They imagine a unique and singular proposal, mobile, that allows Couso to be taken around the world, with an educational, leisure and recreational component, but also with tourism and knowledge of the Couso Mountains in mind.
We will meet again in September, after the summer, we will take the opportunity to select several examples of inspiring artistic works to make the artist's proposal so that, in October, we can write the commission letter.
Have a great summer!
Consult the photo gallery of the communal route here.
