Four artists tackle four environmental challenges with Concomitants

In a world where environmental challenges are intertwined with societal challenges, art emerges as a powerful means to explore, confront, and reimagine our environment. That is why, through the accompaniment of Concomitentes, the Foundation seeks to generate spaces that allow civil society and artists to unite in the creation of works that not only embellish, but also generate a profound impact on the communities that host them. This year, four women artists are showing the fruits resulting from the challenge of transforming environmental conflicts into opportunities for dialogue and renewal.

Concomitentes, by inviting civil society to become promoters of works of art, focuses on the environmental concerns that directly affect these communities. Among them, the preservation of cultural heritage, the management of natural resources and adaptation to the energy transition. The artists Carme Nogueira, Laia Estruch, María Auxiliadora Gálvez and Asunción Molinos Gordo have responded to these challenges with proposals that, in addition to being aesthetically striking, seek to be agents of change.

In the Parque do Pasatempo, in Betanzos (Galicia), the project has been developed Legacy Care. Since 2018, the mediator and current coordinator of Concomitentes Fran Quiroga has worked with the neighbors to preserve and enhance the legacy of the García Naviera brothers. As a result, the artist Carme Nogueira has developed an artistic intervention that not only respects, but revitalizes the environment. The project resulting from the process was presented last May and is a set of seven modular pieces of recycled cement that emulate an old canal, offering a new landscaping proposal in an area of the park that had been degraded. This initiative is not only a physical restoration, but also a symbolic gesture that reaffirms the community’s connection to its cultural and natural heritage.

On the other hand, in Llanos de Penagos (Cantabria), Laia Estruch addresses the relationship between water and the local community with her work, resulting from the concomitance of Living Waters. The process with the community, which began in April 2022 through mediation carried out by Alejandro Alonso and Sören Meschede, culminated in a work that was inaugurated in July and explores the vitality of water through a combination of sculpture and sound. By restoring three historic fountains that are at the same time bodies of water, instruments and hinges that connect the act of listening with the territory, Estruch revives an essential element of the landscape and invites the community to rediscover its link with the river and to participate in a process of collective listening in which oral traditions linked to water resources are celebrated. It’s a reminder that water, like art, is a living resource that connects people.

In La Sobarriba (León), the installation of a macro-solar plant has generated tensions and contradictions in the community. To make this problem visible, both eco-social and on a personal and emotional level, the Solar Narratives project arises, a concomitance that has Alfredo Escapa Presa as a mediator. The architect María Auxiliadora Gálvez has been in charge of physically materializing the process and, after working with the local inhabitants through workshops and collective activities, she has created the piece that will be inaugurated in March and that gives voice to the sun as a political agent. His work challenges extractivist patterns of renewable energy, highlighting the need for a more balanced and fair approach to the energy transition. It is not an object, but has also created a space made up of sebes, natural fences, whose governance will be a challenge for the community itself, which will have to decide what value it should give it in the future.

The Tierra Común project has been carried out in the communal forests of O Couso (Galicia), in which the importance of self-management of natural resources has been worked on together with the mediator Natalia Balseiro. To culminate the process, the artist Asunción Molinos Gordo has been chosen to intervene in the environment in which this initiative of Art Living Lab for Sustainability has been developed, a programme funded by Creative Europe to facilitate innovation ecosystems and obtain nature-based artistic solutions in France, Belgium and Spain. A large group of 84 community members are part of the concomitants who began this process by imagining together the desires and needs for the forest. The resulting work of Tierra Común, which will see the light of day in October and is currently being generated, will seek to ensure generational renewal in the management of these mountains, highlighting the present and future life of the community.

All these proposals, framed in the “Ecological Agency” line of research and action of Concomitentes, are an example of how art can serve as a bridge between nature and society, helping us to reflect on the important changes we must make to ensure a sustainable future. With the support of the Foundation, these works not only bring new perspectives, but also promote a re-enchantment with our environment. At a time when environmental challenges are more pressing than ever, these four women show us that art can be a powerful tool for change.