PERMANÈNCIA, OBLIT, CANVI, REGRESSIÓ [PERMANENCE, CHANGE, OBLIVION, AND REGRESSION]

There are two realities of southern Catalonia that border on oblivion: the Delta de l’Ebre [Ebro Delta], threatened by the physical regression of its coasts, underestimated at all levels for decades, and the cultural legacy of this area, represented by the literary work of Sebastià Juan Arbó, a writer marginalized within the framework of Catalan literature, and part of whose work is unpublished in drafts, manuscripts and scripts composed mechanically at the Arxiu Comarcal del Montsià [Comarcal Archive of Montsià].

The proposal presented has its origins in the archival research of the literary creation materials of a frustrated project by this author, Noves Narracions del Delta [New Narratives of the Delta]. From these recently discovered working documents, the aim is to link a critical discourse on the current situation of the territory, which connects the word and the geographies in regression. The frustrated, discarded and unborn textuality is the raw material for an ephemeral artistic proposal based on posters. It will consist of seven panels with seven different posters, corresponding to the seven unpublished stories by Sebastià Juan Arbó, situated in seven different locations in the Ebro Delta. The originals of these stories will be digitised and treated graphically with computer image editing tools using the superimposition technique, to produce posters with overexposed and decomposed textualities.

Each poster will represent various phases of physical and memory regression, in parallel with the situation of the Delta and the legacy of its most emblematic author: permanence, oblivion, change and regression. For twelve months, these posters will be exposed to the open air, to the weather and to foreseeable human action. The process of degradation of the support systems will be documented photographically, with the intention of establishing a symbolic correlation between the physical deterioration of the artistic proposal and the action of the agents causing the destruction of the memory of the Delta and, at the same time, of the author: public institutions, the indifference of the local population, tourism and human action subjected to global warming.

The project was accompanied by Alfred Porras.

Permanència, oblit, canvi, regressió is a collaboration between l’ACVic, Centre d’Arts Contemporànies, and Sala d’Art Jove.