The community woodlands' value enhancement, visibility and generational replacement will be the seed for the Land Commons artistic production
From the collective desire that was defined through a mediation process in 2023, an artwork commission has been elaborated to inspire the work of artist Asunción Molinos Gordo.
Since January 2023 'Land Commons' has been working with mediator Natalia Balseiro together with the 84 joint landowners of the Montes de Couso community (Pontevedra, Galicia) in a mediation process that included strolls around the territory, debate, discussion, and participatory processes, as well as public activities. The mediation process concluded with the invite of Asunción Molinos Gordo to take part as the artist who will bring about the artistic production of the project.
The participatory and mediation process placed value on the woodlands' present and future life, the attachment to the territory and a unique way of life that finds in this setting not just a place for leisure and recreation, but also a source of wealth. Far from picturing and planning the land exploitation, the community's desire aims at creating a sustainable, multifunctional, and self-sufficient model, from both an economic and social perspective. Above all, the model intends to be attractive for the new generations to take over and give continuity to the legacy of community management.
From mediation to artistic production
The collective desire of legacy continuity resulted in the drafting of an artistic commission that will serve as inspiration for the artist's work. Thus, for the generational replacement to take place, the value of the community woodlands management and everything it may provide Nature, the landscape, and the environment with, as well as the Couso community itself and society as a whole, needs to be rendered visible.
This mediation process moves onto a second phase led by the artistic production, in which Asunción Molinos Gordo will seek to grasp the joint landholders' motives through a series of workshops that will serve as a tool to meditate and connect the artist to the community, as well as to other researchers and experts on the field.
These meetings between the Montes de Couso community, the artist and the mediator will put into play different methodological tools for research, territory exploration, the understanding of the Montes de Couso, the establishment of links with the local community and the opening of discussions among the different people involved and others who might come into the process.
The process will culminate in 2024. At the end of the year the result will be inaugurated and publicly presented. The artwork will give priority to Nature-based elements, and it will serve to stress the value of the woodlands as an intergenerational meeting place and to resignify the social recognition of this environment and its memory.