AZALA
Azala is a two-headed project that combines a cultural project and a rural accommodation project. At the origin of its definition, a creation space.
Located in a geobotanical enclave of Mediterranean oak forests and wheat fields, Azala is both a space for artistic practice and cultural creation, as well as a space for group stays that require time and space in contact with nature, the sky, the air, the land, the fields, the forest... Likewise, it is an ideal place to stay for the traveler who wants to get to know the territory.
Azala is in Lasierra, a small town in Álava, Ribera Alta, Añana district. It has 12 inhabitants, who among other things form an Energy Community. It is a land of wheat and pinto beans, also of potatoes and beets. Located at 649 meters high, you can see the Sierra de Tuyo to the northwest, San Formerio to the south and the Sierra de Cantabria behind. When there is a south wind, you can hear Miranda de Ebro and otherwise it is close to everything, Gasteiz, Bilbao, Donostia, La Rioja, Valderejo, Salinas de Añana...
Azala means skin in Basque, a permeable membrane that allows the body to keep its structures intact while communicating with the environment.
Azala also means surface in Basque, which refers to the extent of a territory.
PROJECTS IN WHICH I PARTICIPATE
RIBERA #5
THE MEMORY OF BIDASOA THROUGH ART
Ribera is held in the public space, along the banks of Bidasoa river, a core part of the region's identity, and offers new perspectives of this memory space from the point of view of art. This programme values the memory of the Bidasoa river through practices linked to contemporary art, as a tool to recover the river bank and strengthen its link with the citizens, recalling its role as a revitalizing factor of society.
“Possible futures, imagined futures” was the theme which drove this year’s event, inviting both artists and the public to reflect on the memory of the future in these uncertain times. The coronavirus pandemic forced us to reshape some activities. For instance, we used a pier as a stage in order to maintain social distancing and a theater company performed a piece with no attendees but a “sold out” poster. Guided tours in smaller groups made them more participatory and meaningful to the people.”
Invited Artistes
Maldita Lettering / Mikel Remak / Maite Eizmendi / Christian García del Campo / Jaime de los Ríos (Arteklab) / Oier Gil / Iker Eizagirre / Cia. La Máquina de Hacer Pingüinos (Anaïs Sindera - Luis Alberto Rodriguez - Emmanuelle Thomé) / Bitamine Faktoria / Idoia Zabaleta / Bertha Bermúdez
The 5th edition was held on 19 September 2020. This program is promoted by the Irun City Council and managed by Bitamine Faktoria.
RIBERA #6
THE MEMORY OF THE BIDASOA THROUGH ART.
The aim of this programme is to combine contemporary art proposals with historical memory, as well as the culture of water and its influence on social relations in the city. It is based on artistic processes from multiple disciplines in a commitment to co-creation, participation, research and experimentation. The sixth edition will be held on Saturday 18 September 2021 on the banks of the Bidasoa River. Subsequently, in October, a day of presentation of results will be held at the CBA.
CHECKPOINT
Information point
WALLS OF MEMORY
Mural intervention
MAIALEN AROCENA
JABIER RODRIGUEZ
RIBERA GRANTS
The aim of this call is to activate a permanent framework for research-action projects in the field of human sciences and art. The tandem artist + anthropologist work in the border area and especially in the Bidasoa River and its surroundings.
Cross-border cultural meanings
Amaia Molinet and Olesya Dronyak
Installation, photography and video (general dimensions variable)
Artistic intervention based on the research carried out in the project of the same name developed with one of the Ribera grants.
Larreaundi, documentary of a working-class neighbourhood
Tamara Cuéllar and Félix Martín Cámara
Installation (photographs)
Visual memory of a young working-class neighbourhood. Documentary based on testimonies and memories of the residents of the Larreaundi neighbourhood.
10:00h
ABERE BA
BIGARA
Palindrome Workshop / Materials included
We will approach the palindrome by playing with the names of animals: word, image and voice.
Duration: 1 hour
11:00h
SHORES
INKO MARTIN
Radioperformance
"Orillas" is a work of sound fiction in which, by means of voice, sound effects created live and sound backgrounds, it proposes a sonorous journey to the audience. The guiding thread will be the experience of an anthropologist in the Peruvian Amazon, an experience of connection, exploration and rediscovery with what we are and what surrounds us.
Script and editing: Inko Martín. Actress: Saioa Royo. Sound technicians: Mikel Cerezo and Eneko Yaben.
Duration: 40 minutes
12:00
NATURE AND ITS TREMBLING
IDOIA ZABALETA, SOFÍA ASENCIO, CHUS DOMINGUEZ Y TOMÁS ARAGAY
Guided walk
"Nature and its tremor" proposes a leisurely walk along the banks of the river Bidasoa on its way to the sea, inviting walkers to watch and listen to these currents through different voices and points of view".
Duration: 1 hour
Recommended for people over 7 years old
Starting point: Checkpoint. Please be there 10 minutes beforehand for capacity control.
13:00
BELARRIZ SU(S)MATU
MAITE ARROITAJAUREGI (MURSEGO)
Workshop
The soundscape is a piece of music in constant expansion around us and we are at the same time listeners, musicians and composers of it.
Duration: 1 hour and a half.
Recommended for people over 10 years old.
Research project
Artistic residencies / New approaches
The initiative to review the programmes of aid for creation organised by Bitamine Faktoria over the last 10 years arose shortly after the period of pandemics, confinements and limitations on many of the freedoms we had enjoyed until then.
It is true that the new present had changed as a consequence of the events. The economy had been affected, many families had lost loved ones, the routine and changing restrictions we faced on a daily basis made us feel lost and hopeless. But also, people had changed. Many of us have taken advantage of this hiatus to slow down, reflect, analyse, blame ourselves, accept that sometimes we lose and even take away burdensome duties. To question our objectives and look for answers.
Continuing with the model we had proposed until then in our structure was irresponsible. And the answers would not appear on their own, they had to be sought.
Within this framework, a long task was planned, with concrete phases, articulated with each other and consecutive in time.
A research project was launched in November 2021 to find out the state of the artistic and cultural sector in the Basque Country, and it was carried out throughout 2022.
Many people have been involved in the work process, which has been an invaluable source of knowledge, and it is thanks to all of them that we can now share these results, which I sincerely hope will be useful and fruitful for the sector.
Download the research
Design: Estudio Moriskette