[ISEA2022] Institutional Presentation: Juliana España Keller — Bajo el Olivo (International Creative Artist Residency)

Institutional Presentation Statement 

CCCB, June 15th. Session: Art centers and art residencies

Keywords: Critical Posthuman Knowledge, Environmental Humanities, Ecophilosophy, Feminist Materialism, Deep Ecology

“Bajo el Olivo” is an international creative artist residency that emerged through the pandemic lockdown as a platform that emphasizes a more embodied connection with our posthuman future; in that we (the human species), are endangering our coexistence with other species entangled in the political, economic, and cultural systems we have initiated.

The creative arts residency, “Bajo el Olivo” is an emerging platform designed to foster the theoretical and creative ways that a radical entanglement is intra-connected with a situated perspective—one that flourishes as a transversal site for artistic events and research, building resilience in ecological continuity, community building and storytelling. Most importantly, bringing other forms of life into light to suggest that we have become ‘post-human’, since our mode of being is dependent on complex entanglements with animals, ecosystems, and technology.

The creative resident protagonists, visitors who are mapping the terrain with other multi-species (human and non-human in nature) are the collaborators. In this context, they are contributing to the artistic, philosophical, methodological, and sociocultural matter that takes place in a transformative site for creative practice. This method of thinking suggests that (re)working the relational thought of working with other(s) in performative field work, can produce unexpected ruptures in dominant thinking about nature and culture. Besides being non-human, ‘creatures’ can be regarded as parts of society that move past questions of representation and abide with us in multi-species worlds. https://www.bajo-de-olivo.es

  • Juliana España Keller, PhD, is a Canadian, Swiss, British sound performance and electronic artist presently living and working remotely in Alhaurín el Grande (Malaga), (Andalusia) Spain. Juliana takes a lead in producing multi/trans/interdisciplinary works to a listening public. Her ‘Sonic Public Kitchen’ works have been exhibited in site-specific spaces globally and contribute to participatory practices in feminist materialist and posthuman theory. Juliana completed her practice-led PhD doctoral research at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (2020) and currently teaches remotely as a Professor/Lecturer in the Studio Arts Program of Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Juliana owns and directs “Bajo El Olivo” International Creative Arts Residency in the heart of the province of Malaga, Andalusia, Spain. This artist retreat sustains and develops a collaborative deep ecology dedicated to a platform of transdisciplinary art practices, Ecophilosophy and social community engagement.