Gonzalo Vicci

Mediating Wool: A Small-scale Collective Conversation

Gonzalo Vicci – University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay

& Karen de los Santos, Yohnattan Mignot, Fernando Miranda, Guadalupe Pérez

Abstract:

A public action is presented from the R&D project Site-specific: production of collaborative interventions and public mediation from arts-based research, focused on exploring contemporary artistic practices through public mediation. Although the concepts of site-specific actions (Kwoun, 2002; Expósito, 1998) and mediation (Alonso and Miranda, 2021; Fontdevila, 2018; Sánchez de Serdio, 2009) are familiar in the field of visual arts, our aim is to update them as contemporary alternatives of artistic creation with pedagogical implications. To this end, we rely on arts-based research, with the aim of orienting ourselves towards forms of knowledge specific to the arts in general, recognising a notable methodological affinity in the qualitative approach. We understand that research in the arts offers a necessary and sensitive perspective for both academia and society in general, by promoting alternative and diverse modes of production and relationship with knowledge and the world. This workshop arises from a practice situated in the rural context of the department of Canelones (Uruguay), in which we address the relationship of rural women weavers with wool and with the territory, exploring the intertwining of the human and the non-human, the material and the narrative. We do this through performative practices in situ, the collection of sensitive data and conversations with those who make up the local community. Collaborating with a collective of rural women, whose skill in working with wool and weaving represents an economic opportunity and social cohesion, we have embarked on a learning process that will take us from shearing to the creation of handcrafted pieces and to situated public mediation actions that reflect this process.

Art and Landscape: Possible Views from an Interdisciplinary Perspective

Gonzalo Vicci – University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay

(with Lucía Bernardi)

Abstract:

This paper explores the relationship between art and landscape in the context of Uruguay, highlighting how national artists have reflected and transformed the natural environment in their visual production over time. From the first landscape artists of the nineteenth century, such as Juan Manuel Blanes and Pedro Figari, to the avant-garde movements of the twentieth century, landscape has become a central theme in the construction of a cultural and national identity. Uruguayan art has gone beyond the simple representation of landscape, integrating reflections on the country’s social, political and ecological tensions. Today, contemporary artists continue to use landscape as a means to explore the interaction between nature, urbanization and collective memory. This approach allows us to analyse the role of art as a pedagogical tool in art education, promoting reflection on the relationship between the natural, the cultural and the social in the formation of students. In this sense, art and landscape in Uruguay offer a rich perspective to address issues of identity, environmental change and social context in education. This proposal is based on an interdisciplinary approach where art education and landscape as specific disciplines, converge in an integrative look with the aim of deepening the links, relationships and challenges that are present in the education of students.