Art born in the rural world becomes visible in Malaga

The rural world unites through art in Malaga. The Ministry of Culture, through the Andalusian Agency of Cultural Institutions, launches the first Andalusian Forum on Art and Rurality, a new space for meeting and reflection aimed at recognizing and strengthening artistic practices linked to the rural environment in Andalusia. The goal is twofold: to highlight the work being developed in Andalusian villages around plastic and visual arts and to foster synergies with leading initiatives from other regions of the country.

Curated by Juan Francisco Rueda, a professor of Art History at UMA, critic, and exhibition curator, the forum is set as the first meeting in the autonomous community that brings together pioneering projects that have emerged in the rural environment since the late 20th century, along with numerous proposals that have emerged during the first decades of the 21st century. The event will take place on November 28 and 29 at the Malaga Museum, structured around lectures, round tables, and case presentations.

Lorena Codes, the director of the Andalusian Institute of Plastic and Visual Arts, who coordinates the series, emphasizes the importance of decentralizing cultural management and giving voice to peripheral narratives as a strategy for empowering rural citizens. "From collective thinking and community action, we can achieve innovation goals that allow us to reach alternative and inclusive cultural models," she noted.

"These initiatives show the cultural emergence of the rural environment," highlights its curator, Juan Francisco Rueda

For his part, the forum's curator, Juan Francisco Rueda, points out that "these initiatives show the cultural emergence of the rural environment through projects that, in many cases, become exercises of resistance against depopulation and territorial imbalances, while opening exemplary ways of accessing contemporary culture in locations far from large cities."

In Andalusia, about 20% of the population lives in rural environments, which means that around two million people find it more difficult to directly access contemporary art experiences. In this context, the forum aspires to become a loudspeaker that claims the relevance of cultural ecosystems beyond cities and contributes to outlining a first state of affairs on art and rurality.

The program brings together initiatives that have stood out for their innovative nature or for their ability to connect artistic practice with areas such as sustainability, sociology, or local development. The meeting starts from a broad conception of the rural, understanding that it transcends geography to incorporate social, economic, and cultural dimensions.

Meeting point

The I Andalusian Forum on Art and Rurality also aims to become a professional meeting point, facilitating the presentation and exchange between top-level projects, as well as the incorporation of new methodologies by local Andalusian agents. This exchange will directly strengthen the cultural fabric of the villages.

Professionals from reference sectors—artists, cultural managers, curators, and university professors—who have developed projects with significant social impact or have researched the multiple dimensions of the rural will participate in the different thematic blocks. Among them, José Jurado (Centro Dados Negros), Miguel Ángel Herrera (Genalguacil Pueblo Museo), Juan López López (Aptitudes), Víctor Borrego (alRaso), Alegría y Piñero (Residencias Artísticas de La Puebla de Cazalla), Rafael Jiménez and Demetrio Salces (Z Jornadas de Arte), María Alcaide (Grotta Air), Laura Siles (Mutur Beltz), José María Luna, and Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco.

The contents of the forum are structured around fundamental axes that cross contemporary practices in the rural environment: the relationship between community and territory; craftsmanship; links with the agricultural sector; environmental sustainability; and the dual creative and managerial dimension of many of the agents involved.