WHAT THE CELL! FAIR Remedies, stories and symbiotic art-health experiences
What The Cell! Fair is an event that brings to a close Teresa Rubio’s project What the Cell! A Macro Look at the Unit of Life, inspired by the smallest unit of life that exists, which forms the basis of the Barcelona Producció 2021-2022 education and mediation programme.
Free admission except workshop on Friday 13 May at 7.15 pm (prior registration required)
What The Cell! Fair is an event that brings to a close Teresa Rubio’s project What the Cell! A Macro Look at the Unit of Life, inspired by the smallest unit of life that exists, which forms the basis of the Barcelona Producció 2021-2022 education and mediation programme.
WHAT THE CELL! FAIR Remedies, stories and symbiotic art-health experiences
We will be holding the What the Cell! Fair on 12 and 13 May between 6.00 and 9.00 pm, two days of get-togethers given over to sharing remedies and stories and to exploring as a group symbiotic experiences in which a connection is drawn between art and health, thereby spreading and amplifying their effects. We are looking to find remedies and to come up with our own cures with a view to identifying solutions based on other logics of sharing and first-hand experiences, ‘other’ knowledges rooted in popular tradition, in what is hidden from sight and in women’s lives, as well as more holistic or systemic approaches that contribute more integrated visions of existence.
The fair is aimed at every artistic and health-related, social, educational or associative ecosystem with a connection to Barcelona Producció 2021-2022 and to the context of the Raval and the city of Barcelona, and an interest in exploring the relations between art and health from a perspective focused on healing, practice and the transformation of systems that generate life and the ways it works.
WHAT THE CELL! Fair structure and programme
Each day of the fair will be divided into two sessions: the first session in the format of a presentation and discussion panel; and the second more practical session that will include body-related experimentation or a creative workshop. Various professionals in the art ecosystem (artists, educators, mediators, curators, managers and cultural centres) and from the field of health (study on bacteria, Chinese medicine, bioenergy and traditional medicine) will showcase experiences and projects in Catalonia and elsewhere and are invited to answer, based on their own practices, the same questions that the What the Cell! project has raised from the outset. What is it that keeps us alive? How does life sustain itself? Can art improve the health of a place?
WHAT THE CELL! FAIR PROGRAMME 12 and 13 May
THURSDAY 12 MAY
From 6.00 to 7.00 pm
Caring for others and for oneself: liniments and remedies from the institution and the instituting initiative
Presentation and conversation with Roser Sanjuan (art historian, researcher and curator; lead for outreach programmes at the Centre d’Art la Panera) / Alba Colomo (cultural worker and co-founder of in(ter)dependiente la Sala; director of La Escocesa) / Nancy Garín and Linda Valdés from Equipo re (among other initiatives, they set in motion the Espantando el mal study group on pharmaceuticalisation and contemporary unease).
Free admission.
Break (15 minutes)
From 7.15 to 9.00 pm
The cell, the body and cosmologies in motion
Presentation on cellular origin, symbology and patterns from the broad and poetic perspective of medicine, with body practice and qigong to revitalise our energy, led by Carlota Guardino (traditional Chinese medicine and bioenergy therapist; Taoist qigong teacher) and Alba Cabellos (dancer, family and community doctor, bioenergy therapist and poet).
Free admission. Wear comfortable clothing and footwear.
FRIDAY 13 MAY
From 6.00 to 7.00 pm
Artistic unguents and elixirs to improve the health of a context, of an ecosystem
Presentation and conversation with José Antonio Delgado (performer, cultural and educational mediator; administrator of /Unzip Arts Visuals al Prat between 2016 and 2022) / Priscila Clementti, Lara García Díaz and Ángela Palacios are Larre (a proactive feminist and intersectional force that uses and facilitates thought and action-related tools for the purpose of collective articulation, and whose various proposals that they are working on include the Te(n) Cuidado [Be Careful] research project) / Josune Urrutia (artist, illustrator and communicator specialising in the relations between art and health).
Free admission.
Break (15 minutes)
From 7.15 to 9.00 pm
Cinematic and cellular community: Rock and roll for jellyfish
Intergenerational workshop to build a pedagogical artifact constructed around biology, animated film, music and collective creation, with final screening.
With Rafa Castañer (illustrator, artist and educator in a number of projects and cultural institutions).
Limited number of places: 20 people. Free registration in advance: lacapella@bcn.cat.
From 9.00 pm onwards
Celebration and close of the fair and of the What the Cell! mediation project
Bar Absenta. Carrer de l’Hospital 75, 08001 Barcelona
In parallel
Visual reporting: Josune Urrutia
Creation of ‘future remedies’: Equipo re (Linda Valdés, Nancy Garín)
Mediation process: gathering of participants’ descriptions of their health and construction of a collective definition
Ambient audio: Carla Palacios (scientist researching communication between bacteria.
The fair contents will be shared in the third What the Cell! notebook and publication.
