Organized by EINA Obra in collaboration with INLAND Campo Adentro, the Sierra de Collserola Natural Park Consortium (CPNSC) and CREAF, Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, Collserola LAB is an experimental and interdisciplinary program focused on the Sierra de Collserola Natural Park, that seeks to show that the visual arts and design are tools capable of promoting environmental awareness and ecosocial transformation towards sustainability and resilience. The first call for this initiative has awarded the project Tornen les esquelles (The Sheep Bells Return) by Martina Manyà and Ana Vivero.
One of the main challenges of the Sierra de Collserola Natural Park is the prevention of fires in a territory made up of densely populated municipalities with a high influx of visitors. Being shepherding an efficient and sustainable tool to manage forests in an agroecological way and that contributes to the viability of the experiences of the territory, The Sheep Bells Return seeks to save and revitalize the vestiges of pastoral culture in Collserola.
Its structuring axis is the recovery of the wool from the herds that graze in the Natural Park. Every year tons of wool are buried or burned because there is no coordination for its processing. The project is an instance of research on how this material can model alternative futures in the Park with its environmental, artistic, material and ethical implications. Thus, it places the role of rural production and consumption models in the conservation of the Park at the center of the debate, and claims the need to develop new forms of territorial cooperation that capture and value rural, environmental and cultural facilities. It provides actions, a cultural and environmental vision and connection between shepherding and public policies.
The activities and actions were open to teachers and students from EINA and neighbourhood schools, designers, artists, shepherds and small farmers, artisans, curators and art critics, among other representatives of rural and urban areas.
- It kicked off on September 27th with the washing of the wool fleece at the courtyard of EINA Bosc.
- It continued October 7th with a Wool Day a technical conference that served as a starting point and provided a theoretical and contextual framework of the shepherding situation at the Natural Park. The format was a round table, with shepherds, artisans, and other invited speakers and was also streamed. You can see it at EINA's YouTube channel.
- It continued from October 10th to 21st with a Textile Lab where the wool from the Collserola herds were explored: untangling, carding, use of vegetable dyes, spinning, weaving, and felting. A manual work accompanied by conversations and research around wool from the artistic and design practices. The goal was to learn through experience, perform collectively, experiment and work manually.
- It closed with the making of a large tapestry that, from November 2nd to 8th, we was weaved between students, teachers, pastors, experts and interested citizens.
A part of this project, on Thursday 15 December, from 2 pm to 7 pm, a session-workshop of Sustainable ephemeral architecture: a shed for Collserola will be organized at EINA Bosc. On the occasion of the future construction of a sheep shed in Collserola, this activity is proposed to collectively think, prototype and design an ephemeral bio-construction that, in addition to serving as a shelter, can function as a didactic centre for approaching the rural world.
The activity will be open to students from EINA and other schools, designers, architects, artists and interested members of the public.
→ Registration is free and can be done through this link.
Tuesday 27 September, from 10am to 6pm: Wool Washing in the courtyard of EINA Bosc. Martina Manyà and Ana Vivero will share the project and invite all interested people to be part of the project. Since May they have been collecting wool that comes from the herds that graze in the Collserola Natural Park.
→ Registration open on this link
Friday 7 October, from 10am to 7pm: Wool Day, starting point that will provide a theoretical and contextual framework of the situation of wool in the Serra de Collserola Natural Park. The format will be a round table and we will broadcast it in streaming. It will then be available on EINA's YouTube channel.
→ Registration open on this link
Streaming (morning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0jpgUjrdTA
Streaming (afternoon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vROhOtAQQE
From 10 to 22 October: Textile Laboratory, where we will explore the wool of the Collserola herds, which will become raw material for artistic practice and design. The aim is to learn through experience, work collectively and work manually. It ends with the creation of a large-scale tapestry which, from 3 to 5 October, will be woven by students, teachers, shepherds, experts and interested members of the public.
From November 2nd to 3rd: Tapestry Making, where we will make a large tapestry with the wool that we have processed.
→ Registration open on this link
Sustainable ephemeral architecture: a shed for Collserola is a session-workshop that will take place on Thursday 15 December, from 2pm to 7pm, at EINA Bosc as part of Tornen les esquelles, the research project on how wool can shape alternative futures in the Collserola Natural Park.
On the occasion of the future construction of a sheep shed in Collserola, this activity aims to collectively think, prototype and design an ephemeral bio-construction that, in addition to serving as a shelter, can function as a didactic centre for approaching the rural world. The results of the workshop will form part of the publication and exhibition at the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona that will conclude the Tornen les esquelles project.
→ Registration is free and can be done through this link.
The session will be facilitated by EINA teachers Anna Alcubierre and Anna Bach and will include the participation of Idoia Martin, architect and head of the territory office of the Consorci del Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola; Erik Hobbelink, representing the cooperative Arran de Terra; the artists Martina Manya and Ana Vivero; and the architect Giorgia Filipelli.
Also participating will be Fernando García-Dory, founder of INLAND Campo Adentro, a social and cultural production collective that works on the interrelation between art, agro-ecology and territory and which has collectively built the Majada Rurbana in the Casa de Campo in Madrid. Inland has shown projects at the Serpentine Gallery, Centre Pompidou, Savvy, Cittadelarte, Casa do Povo, and documenta 15 among other spaces.
Tickets are free but limited. Reserve yours.