Central Saint Martins MA in Art and Science in partnership with Joya: arte + ecología / AiR
supported by the LVMH Maison/0 challenge fund
Holding Rain in the Headwater is an art and environment educational residency involving students and staff from MA Art and Science working in partnership with Joya: arte + ecología / AiR, contributing to a unique hydrorestoration project in the most arid part of Europe.
Residency dates: 8-18 February 2024
Over 10 days in February 2024 students and staff from MA Art and science travelled to Almería, home to Europe’s driest region, to help restore an ancient Spanish water capture system, building check dams and planting native vegetation, designed to hold the rain and reduce erosion. They contributed to this hydrorestoration project by collectively sculpting the land and responded individually to their experience of being immersed in a remote mountainous environment by creating artworks and interventions in and with the landscape of Almería.
Bringing their experiences back to London, in the run-up to Earth Day 2024, the artists share the environmental issues they encountered in Spain in a very different landscape around the locality of Central Saint Martins, Kings Cross, finding synergies between the two sites. As London becomes increasingly dry and global warming affects seasonal growth, shared concerns arise around water preservation and the need to nurture and protect biodiversity.
Holding Rain in the Headwater is organised by Heather Barnett (Central Saint Martins) and Simon and Donna Beckmann (Joya: AiR).
Participating students are Sigrid Bannenberg, Charlotte Bassadone, Katreena Dee, Mariia Korneeva, Silvina Maestro, Fawziyah Rahman, Jane Scobie, Julian Udine, and Juliet Williams.
The project is supported by the LVMH Maison/0 Challenge Fund, which aims to develop creative collaborations through student and graduate-led engagement. Over the past few years they have produced a wide range of projects with LVMH Maisons working across fashion, jewellery, industrial design, textile design and biodesign. These collaborations are designed around a specific brief or challenge, this year related to ‘Water’.
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Overview:
With support from the LVMH Maison/0 Challenge Fund we are offering students on MA Art and Science the opportunity to participate in this unique 10-day residency at Joya: arte + ecología / AiR, Spain to work on a live water-capture project and related vegetation planting, whilst also granting time and space to make site-responsive land works.
Students will also have the opportunity to create artworks in response to the environment and the water related issues encountered.
Outcomes from the residency will be exhibited in London after a two-month period of reflection and further creation.
Guest Speakers include:
Alba Rodríguez Rodriguez, graduate in Environmental Science from the University of Almería and a research technician at the Andalucían Center for the evaluation and monitoring of global change at the University of Almería.
Maite Frade García, graduate in Environmental Sciences from the University of Almería and works as an Environmental Education technician for the Parque Matural Sierra Maria - Los Vélez with her company Haz y Envés.
Heather Barnett Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Pathway Leader MA Art and Science Convenor Art/Design and Science Research Group (CSM) National Teaching Fellow Higher Education Academy
Simon Beckmann, graduate Fine Art Manchester Metropolitan University, MA The Royal Academy Schools London, co-founder and curator Joya: arte + ecología / AiR.
Site:
Joya: arte + ecología / AiR are the inheritors of an old and unique water catchment system located in the dry Mediterranean steppe lands of southern Spain. Called a 'cañada y boquera' the system is designed to interrupt the hydrologic flow of water from the mountains to the sea. Retaining rainfall in the headwaters historically facilitated sustainable subsistence agriculture in what was a co-evolutive process benefitting both smallholder and the local flora and fauna. This novel system has fallen into disrepair in recent times due to land abandonment, a consequence of climate change and shifts in the economy. Joya: AiR has initiated a long-term project to restore the water catchment system once again, providing a sustainable water source for the use of perennial agriculture (a food forest) and restoring habitat loss for nature. For Joya: AiR cultural and sustainable activities in abandoned rural places are key to the restoration of land and peoples counter to the consequences of our changing climate.
Info about Joya: arte + ecología / AiR: https://joya-air.org/home https://joya-air.org/joyaecologysystems
Info about the ongoing water restoration project: https://www.simonbeckmann.com/deposition-wip-restore-brief
For more information about the LVMH Maison/0 Challenge fund visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/central-saint-martins/sustainability/maison0/challenge-fund
For more information about the innovation interdisciplinary MA Art and Science course at Central Saint Martins https://linktr.ee/MAArtandScienceCSM
