Call Summer School – Cultivamos Cultura
Dear friends of Schmiede and Rewilding Cultures take a look what our Portuguese partners Cultivamos Cultura’s summer school program.
In most contexts, revolution implies a circular or cyclical change around a central idea, concept, or system. It often suggests a departure from the existing order and the emergence of something new and transformative. The term “revolution” is versatile, and its interpretation depends on the specific domain or context in which it is used.
In physics, a revolution can describe the circular motion of an object around a central point. In the realm of technology and innovation, a revolution can signify a significant and often radical change or advancement in a particular field. In the context of social and political movements, a revolution involves a profound and often rapid change in the structure or organization of a society, government, or system. Economic revolutions involve transformative changes in economic systems and structures.
Thomas Kuhn introduced the concept of “paradigm shift” to describe major changes in scientific thought. Scientific revolutions occur when there’s a fundamental shift in the understanding of the natural world, leading to the adoption of new theories and methodologies. Cultural revolutions involve significant changes in the cultural and artistic expressions of a society.
In this year’s Summer School, we will focus and reflect on the context and how it may promote, hinder, or just generally Induce transformation: a “RE(volution)”. It is the year that we celebrate, in Portugal, the 50th anniversary of our political revolution against a totalitarian regime. While we will not focus on politics we will try to understand and explore all the revolutions taking place at many scales within our natural environment. How can they expand our horizons, challenge our perception, transform our perspective, and make us reflect on our actions? Allowing the creation of new and meaningful artworks relevant to our own revolutions.
The intersection of Art, Biology, and the Environment offers unique opportunities to visual artists. This innovative summer course, which is already on its eleventh edition, will allow non-specialists to acquire theoretical and practical skills in biological and environmental sciences in connection to the visual arts.
The Summer School explores the interdisciplinary relationship between art, life and environmental sciences through hands-on exercises, combining theory and practice in an informal environment, e.g.: seminars, debates, visits, and the creation of artworks with biological media. The activities in the Summer School at Cultivamos Cultura will address issues such as the cultural representations of technology and science, ethical concerns and the evolution of bioart as a cultural phenomenon. One week program with the opportunity to extend the stay for one or two additional weeks to develop an art project in a collaborative environment.
The practical component will focus on hands-on exercises in the laboratory, workshops, and within the natural environment. The possibility of transforming abstract concepts into art objects, the collection and selection of organisms for artistic purposes will be highlighted, and, finally, visits to different parts of the natural park, will take place.
The course will leave plenty of room for informal activities and a cultural and social program.
The cost will be 800€ for the first week and 650€ for the optional 2 weeks after. The price includes shared accommodation at Cultivamos Cultura (a farmhouse), meals, tuition, and general consumables for the course; from 1th July to 5th July for the first week, 8-12 July for the second week, and 15-19 July for the third week (weekends are included between course weeks and will be dedicated to socializing and leisure activities).
2024 Faculty:
Marta de Menezes, artist, curator, art director of Cultivamos Cultura
Luis Graca, MD, PhD, Head of Cellular Immunology Unit and Professor at the University of Lisbon Medical School.
Anna Isaak-Ross, US
Diana Aires, PT
Other Faculty and Artists in Residence are still to be announced.
The second week of this Summer School is part of the Rewilding Cultures project, co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program.