Activación Rural mediante Festivales de Arte. Precariedad y Prestigio: XIX Edición de Arte En La Tierra (Santa Lucía de Ocón)

Abstract

This article analyses the processes of rural activation in the framework of the environmental art festival or Land Art «Arte en la Tierra», in Santa Lucía de Ocón (La Rioja), created by the artists Félix Reyes and Rosa Castellot in 2003. Since the 1960s, concepts of the neo-rural or prorural have emerged and have been reinforced by cultural and artistic actions such as festivals in localities with low population density. After tracing some of these examples inserted in the mapping of Culture and Ruralities of the Ministry of Culture (2023) we focus on the case study of the XIX edition of «Arte en la Tierra» where I was able to collaborate in the elaboration of a sound map of the intervention of the artist Carlos Ramírez de la Concepción «Zorromono». His project UMBRAL occupied seven heritage spaces in Santa Lucía de Ocón in the first week of August 2022. At the same time, I archived 49 testimonies from local residents, who accompanied the creative process during that summer week. As a collaborator, I collected the memories of the places intervened by the artist and posted them on the Bandcamp platform. Thanks to this compilation action, Carlos Zorromono’s production was able to open up to people interested in artistic festivals as activities linked to sustainable tourism with a focus on achieving rural development suited to the needs of the local people who, after all, activate Santa Lucía de Ocón all year round. This work proposes actions that use art and culture as mediating agents through citizen participation to achieve rootedness in the territories.