Screening of the animated films of "Fairy Tales and Fables" by Lotte Reiniger.

Visit the Kara Walker exhibition with a silhouette workshop aimed at exploring how images shape our perception of the world and history, while reflecting on our own identity within that context and creating a work that dialogues between the personal and the collective, between the individual and the historical.

Organized by Explicarte Association.

Imagining the FUTURE with SEMPERE

We were coming from the previous session, MutaPlantas, very pleased with the feeling of having discovered the concept of "myths of the future", "Fed up already with past mythologies, we propose a future mythology, to dream with…" we said in the previous report. And that pushed us to continue in this session with that idea, because talking about desirable futures is a proactive attitude towards change, and if the fabulation of the mythical origin of things helps us understand the present, imagining retroactively the path towards the future from a myth created within 500 years, which looks at the past (our present) and mythically fabulates its present (our future)… it can be a very powerful tool of speculative fiction!

–But how do we do it? –we asked ourselves.

The "hall of mirrors" and kinetic art

This session was going to be special, because it coincided with the DIM – International Museum Day. And to hold a session focused on the interior of the museum, we decided at the time that it would be on its 3rd floor, where the kinetic sculptures of Eusebio Sempere rest. "The hall of mirrors", we said. We had already talked about the oval that floats in the museum's vestibule in the Arborescent session, fabulating its changing reflections and its geometry of rods repeated in space. So on this occasion we decided that the attendees would create myths that look towards the future using the qualities of kinetic art as a creative activator. Kinetic art or kineticism is an artistic movement that integrates physical-spatial movement as a compositional element: the real physical movement of the work, the movement of the eye over the piece and the physical movement of the spectator cause the works to transform, change their appearance and their relationship with space. They also use light as a plastic element, transform it and use it to create spatial effects and transform the surrounding space, and the phenomenon of optical perception creating visual rhythms, the superposition of ambiguous geometric forms and dynamic luminous perception. Furthermore, Eusebio Sempere has a very special relationship with the museum: his donation of a contemporary art collection was the trigger for converting the old Casa de la Asegurada into the current Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante. Sempere almost made the museum appear with the works he brought with him, he placed them in a place and around them a Museum grew (with architectural reforms and later expansions). That image of the power of a work of art not only to transform the surrounding space, but to create it! was wonderful, so we began there!

In the previous session of Arborescentes we were left wanting to talk about the small plants that emerge freely from cracks and hard-to-clean corners. So much monumental ficus and so little brave weeds drove us to dedicate the following session to them, to the VIP plants! (very important plants). We tell you how we went about it.

Why are plants that grow in asphalt cracks important?

Plants that grow in asphalt cracks in cities are not only symbols of biological resistance, but also key agents within new approaches to urban biodiversity.

To rethink urban plants not as "green waste" but as living agents that claim their place, we must understand that preserving the wild is not just about protecting distant forests, but also respecting a crack where life springs forth.

They constitute spontaneous laboratories of life and evolution. They are "zones of freedom," where vegetation grows without direct human intervention.

They play an essential role as green micro-corridors. They act as connectors between fragments of dispersed urban habitats, allowing the flow of species—from pollinating insects to soil microorganisms.

Urban biodiversity depends on these unplanned spaces. The biodiversity that these plants provide increases ecological resilience.

"VIP Plants" as cultural and social mediators: A novel reading of these plants is to understand them as cultural and social mediators. Their presence challenges the traditional narrative of human control over urban nature and proposes an aesthetic of disorder that invites us to rethink city design. Rather than eradicating these spontaneous manifestations, we could integrate them into a new model of urbanism that accepts the unplanned, fostering a more flexible and ethical relationship between the built and the living. This approach can be connected with recent concepts such as the right to the wild in the city.

In charge of the Asombras company. Narration in theatrical shadows for all audiences and participatory workshop. This workshop offers participants a creative journey through the encounter with shadow and play with light. We will create a character starting from our own silhouette that will come to life in imagined spaces. We will experience the creative flow that the work with shadow makes possible in a poetic as well as playful way.

Alicante has 36 specimens of monumental ficus trees considered part of its heritage. They are living monuments that leave us amazed with their majestic canopies and impressive columns made of roots.

In this session of the Mitolatorio we reclaim the city's arboreal heritage, we highlight its value through the invention of contemporary myths and performative games that build experiences and awaken love for these magical beings that coexist with us. Shall we create an arborescent route?.

We will explore the work of Esther Ferrer, with special attention to her self-portraits. Through the embroidery technique we will use threads to intervene in our photographs by creating self-portraits full of creativity and personal meaning. Together we will explore themes such as identity, self-expression, and the connection between art and the body.

It is a family experience in which both adults and children will enjoy an experience that you don't expect to find in a museum: it is a journey that some will have almost forgotten and others have yet to experience.

We will visit the museum, but we will also encounter our inner child or the person we would like to become. We will do this through a workshop for some and a visit for others, in which everyone will have to make a decision. But be careful, not many people dare to peek into The Other Side. You need to have at least a minimum of adventurous spirit!

Come and discover contemporary art in a way that perhaps no one has ever told you about before. The only thing we want to guarantee you is that both adults and children will enjoy, remember, dream, share and, as we always like to say, be moved.

Idea and realization: Ester García Guixot, Extrarradio.

The MACA proposes workshops around Bruno Munari's exhibition that aim to experiment and work freely with materials. The workshop becomes a celebration and the work becomes a whole discovery. The idea is that the free and creative spirit endures after the workshops.

It is an activity to enjoy as a family (+ 6 years old), or adults alone. It is free and will take place on Saturdays in July, and Saturdays in September at 11 o'clock.

BRUNO MUNARI'S WORKSHOPS

Bruno Munari proposed in 1977 for the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan some workshops titled Giocare con l'arte (Playing with Art) where he encouraged children to observe different artistic movements and experiment with techniques and materials. Color, shape and textures became work tools and made children show greater predisposition to observe the displayed works. Later, Munari repeated the experience by conducting workshops that he called Laboratories, in which greater relevance was given to the process rather than the final result.

Just about everyone has found themselves in front of a Snakes and Ladders board at some point. And yes, it's that traditional game, very simple and fun, that two or more players can enjoy. It may not be necessary to explain, but we'll tell you what it's about: each player must advance their piece across a board made up of 63 squares that form a spiral. Each square has a meaning and some are more special than others. For example, there are squares where you must move backward, others where you lose a turn, and others where you advance squares. The player who manages to get their piece to the last square first wins, known as "the goose garden."

Currently, this game is in practically every home and is considered a classic. But, if we're characterized by something, it's because we love to 'transform' things to make the world a little bit better.

That's why, from Daguten. Escuela Gráfica de Barrio, in collaboration with the MACA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante), we had an idea. And we wanted to call that idea: The Game of "The Goose of Diverse Beings." Written like that, it might sound too complicated. But it absolutely isn't. On the contrary, it actually makes much more sense than one might think at first. Because, isn't our society diverse?

So we set out to create an alternative version of this board game classic. To do this, of course, we wanted to work with artists who would conceive and design both the text and the drawings of the squares that our new game would have. But not just any artists, of course not. We wanted them to be artists who truly brought a vision of what diversity is. And boy, did they bring it!

The participating people are users of different centers, classrooms, and groups from Spain and Cameroon who know firsthand what it is to live diversity. They also know what it's like to suffer, sometimes and unfortunately, when another person doesn't accept or tolerate diversity. But, above all, they know that all people, without exception, are diverse. Diverse beings. And that's what makes us equal.

So smile, because you have in your hands a game with diverse characters and alternative squares, designed by and for diverse people. Like you. Like me.

With this Game of "The Goose of Diverse Beings," all we're trying to do is, on one hand, turn one of the most fun and famous games in history on its head with a different, totally creative and fun design. And, on the other hand, make visible and assert that diversity is what enriches us as human beings.

Enjoy it!