Youth, remembrance and creativity in face of society’s identity crisis - the role of memorial sites in Europe
Institut Monturiol, Figueres
LOST OBJECTS
Nuria Bouziane, Denisa Cornea,
Fran Almendra, Diego Ramírez
Our artwork is composed of two boxes which are connected to each other like puzzle pieces. The two puzzle pieces represent two fragments of refugee stories which may have taken place in the past but could also represent the refugees topic of our present times. People fleeing because of wars, illness, famine, ....On one box you see an „island of refuge“ which symbolizes the place where the refugees managed to escape with their ships. The CD with the numbers represents the time which has elapsed during this journey. On the smaller box you may perceive different objects which represent different kind of loss which the refugees have suffered during their journey.
broken dreams
Marta Marquez
The first day my group and I worked together on the theme of exile, from there I came up with the idea of representing in my work how people ended up breaking their dreams. My work represents, in part, the exile of the people who had to go to the Argelès-sur-Mer concentration camp. There are three different paths that join and end in a broken bulb, which represents different people with different lives that end up breaking their dreams due to the exile that was interpreted in the MUME.
THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
Fatima Zahra Khachach
This work represents all the problems and concerns of an exiled. The boxes represent the problems, with these I have formed a person, showing how those in exile are formed by worries and problems. The hand hanging symbolizes hope, a possibility to be free and the fact they should not lose hope of being free again. I put the mouth in both directions, to say that there are sad times on the way, but not everything is sadness in suffering. Then with the box I wanted to symbolize the identification card people carried in some concentration camps. My work is inspired by an object from MUME: a box of memories. With the rope, I wanted to present the long and difficult path that the exiles have to make to achieve their freedom.
TRAGIC JOURNEY
Saray Caler Cuesta
I put a dome shaped object in order to represent the protection of a home. Going out of the home I put a string which represents the path of exile of a woman. The string leads from her home to the city where she was taken. Towards the end, the string starts taking a red colour representing that her death is close. At the end of the « journey » there is a tissue box which symbolizes her bad experiences and struggles. Next to the tissue box I put a little beach which represents the final phase of her exile and the place where she died. Inside of the beach there are pieces of CDs with numbers that represent, firstly, hours which she has been loosing during her journey of exile and, secondly, the time which the aggressors stole from her life-and the opportunity for her to live the life in the way she would have desired.
without age
Anna Reglà Carbó
I had the idea to build a footprint that I saw on the at the museum of exile (MUME), because I noticed that the footprints were of different sizes: neither small nor large. Also, the army in times of war, has no mercy for children or for adults, only the smallest children are left with their mothers. The title "Without age" means that the army forcing people to be in concentration camps did not care if they were 12 years old or 30.
In my work, to represent the field of exiles, I have put a thread to symbolize the inability of getting out of there and the footprints in the work symbolize children in the fields.
the resistance
Raúl Blanquez Puig
Víctor Fernández Márquez
Arnau Oliveres Ferrer
The resistance is a work that reflects the idea of the exiles, Civil War and Nazis. It consists of a computer monitor, a car part, computer keys, a vacuum cleaner, a projector, two hard drives, several light bulbs and a wire. The vacuum represents a pistol used by Franco and the Nazis. The monitor simulates the territories in which the exiled took refuge and the bulbs, different shots of the gun.
the prisoners
Ude Balde
My work represents the journey of prisoners who are trying to escape. I represented the refugees using computer keyboard – their different age, gender and origins and refugee histories, skin colour, are symbolized by different colours. Their journey starts in a prison camp which is represented with the cage. They succeed to escape through the open door and managed to do so by helping each other. This is represented with a solidarity-chain. The Wall which before held them prisoners was torn down by the ships on the sea. The inspiration came to me because Roman had shown us images of his country (Germany) when they were divided into East and West and people tried to escape over the Berlin Wall.
the refugees
the refugees
Ude Balde
I was thinking about the wars of our present time and about the refugees. The people do not want to suffer. This artwork shows a concentration camp, the prisoners are represented by black and white computer keys. Colored computer keys represent jail guards. Some prisoners have managed to escape from the field forming human chains that lead to the walls.
the refugees
Ude Balde
The inspiration came because I was thinking of the wars of our present time and thinking about the refugees. The relationship I have with MUME is the people who do not want to suffer. The works of art show a penitentiary camp, the prisoners represented by black and white computer keys. Colored computer keys represent jail guards. Some prisoners have managed to escape from the field forming human chains that lead to the walls. The relationship I have with my story is that the family of my mother lived in my father's house. Because my grandfather died and did not have enough money to pay for his house.
the end
Ainhoa Serrano
I got the idea from the mural that we did on the first day of the workshop, I noticed the importance of time in our lives and how we only value the worst moments. What I wanted to represent in this work is how time is very important in our lives, the clock represents the thread of time, that is, the end of everything. I have used the metaphor of the falling numbers of the clock. The broken bulb represents how our goals, dreams, hopes are broken or lost if they do not fear time, as life is not finished, so the small cuts of glass are painted yellow to black to demonstrate the loss of the desire to live. This work represents that time is everything.
the refugees
Ude Balde
The inspiration came because I was thinking of the wars of our present time and thinking about the refugees. The relationship I have with MUME is the people who do not want to suffer. The works of art show a penitentiary camp, the prisoners represented by black and white computer keys. Colored computer keys represent jail guards. Some prisoners have managed to escape from the field forming human chains that lead to the walls. The relationship I have with my story is that the family of my mother lived in my father's house. Because my grandfather died and did not have enough money to pay for his house.
consumption of time
Maria Reglà Carbó
The main idea of my project is the time in a concentration camp. I wanted to represent a concentration camp, seeing how mothers (red keys) with children (yellow keys) are separated from men (blue keys). I have also painted the board in black to show that it is hard emotionally and physically to be there because, apart from separating you from your family, you have to move on and fight for your life day by day. The main element is the clock because it symbolizes time. While all these people were within the concentration camp, life was still there and they were locked up without being able to live a free life.
the refugees
Ude Balde
The inspiration came because I was thinking of the wars of our present time and thinking about the refugees. The relationship I have with MUME is the people who do not want to suffer. The works of art show a penitentiary camp, the prisoners represented by black and white computer keys. Colored computer keys represent jail guards. Some prisoners have managed to escape from the field forming human chains that lead to the walls. The relationship I have with my story is that the family of my mother lived in my father's house. Because my grandfather died and did not have enough money to pay for his house.
my grandfather
Eva Illa
My robot is made of cardboard because everyone is weak. I've made a big head because the character I want to represent – my grandfather – was a very big person. Compared to the size of the body, a heart is much larger. With this I want to express that my grandfather was a lovely, generous person who helped many people. I decided to place the heart not in the chest but to hide it under his body. Firstly, because his heart was too “big” to fit into the chest. And, secondly, because I believe that you can only know about a person’s heart if you pass time with that person. These inner qualities are hidden from the eye and can only be discovered by experience.
the refugees
Ude Balde
The inspiration came because I was thinking of the wars of our present time and thinking about the refugees. The relationship I have with MUME is the people who do not want to suffer. The works of art show a penitentiary camp, the prisoners represented by black and white computer keys. Colored computer keys represent jail guards. Some prisoners have managed to escape from the field forming human chains that lead to the walls. The relationship I have with my story is that the family of my mother lived in my father's house. Because my grandfather died and did not have enough money to pay for his house.
what we want and what we have
Laimonas Urbonas
The words which you can see in my artwork represent, on the one hand, the reality of people who find themselves in a situation of exile (“what they have”). On the other hand, mixed with these words, you also find some words which reflect their dreams and desires (“what they want”).
The inspiration for this work came from a photo which we analyzed during the first phase of the workshop: It showed an entirely black puzzle with one missing piece in the middle. As the puzzle was placed on a white background, the missing piece gave the impression of a “spot of light”.
the refugees
Ude Balde
The inspiration came because I was thinking of the wars of our present time and thinking about the refugees. The relationship I have with MUME is the people who do not want to suffer. The works of art show a penitentiary camp, the prisoners represented by black and white computer keys. Colored computer keys represent jail guards. Some prisoners have managed to escape from the field forming human chains that lead to the walls. The relationship I have with my story is that the family of my mother lived in my father's house. Because my grandfather died and did not have enough money to pay for his house.
the road of life
Alba Torrelles
My work represents, from the bottom to the top, the different stages in the life of a man. A man who, in the beginning is trapped in life and who in the course of time, continuously opens up to a life of liberty. At the bottom of the sculpture, representing the first stage of his life, you can see broken glass and nails representing the pain, suffering and insecurity which the man holds in his inside world. Then we see a square silver piece. It represents a labyrinth which has an exit. But for a long time the man stays within this labyrinth because he does not feel free and strong enough to leave it. It’s not until he gets really tired of this way of life that he finally has the courage to leave the
labyrinth in order to live for ---his dreams.
the refugees
Ude Balde
The inspiration came because I was thinking of the wars of our present time and thinking about the refugees. The relationship I have with MUME is the people who do not want to suffer. The works of art show a penitentiary camp, the prisoners represented by black and white computer keys. Colored computer keys represent jail guards. Some prisoners have managed to escape from the field forming human chains that lead to the walls. The relationship I have with my story is that the family of my mother lived in my father's house. Because my grandfather died and did not have enough money to pay for his house.
united we can face our enemies
Hade Maldonado
My work represents the strength and the union of the people who try to fight against our greatest enemis and fears. The two central parts of my work are the white ladder made of dice and the screen with a tank shooting flowers. The unfinished ladder made by dice symbolises the union, strength, greatness and alliance of the people if they decide to work together and help each other. In front of the ladder we can see nails which represent the condemnations and evils which people used to carry alone when everyone was still fighting for themselves, before forming the alliance. The alliance symbolizes a liberation from this state of isolation. But we can see that there is one special dice which is exiled from the union.
the refugees
choose your
way
Ainoa Currás Tadeo
What my work represents are the different paths you can follow in your life. On the one hand, there are the „easy roads“, on the left and right side. These are the roads which you choose because that's what people expect from you, no matter of what you actually desire to do yourself. The path in the middle, I have represented it as a labyrinth because it is more difficult to complete. You do not know what you can find along the way, nor the time it may take to finish it.
the refugees
present past
Sara Ruz Balsera
The central element of my artwork is a TV. It respresents the power which the media have to condition our opinions about the refugee topic. The news which you can watch on the TV screen are never able to show the entire reality. I therefore took the TV screen out of its shell in order to build inside of it my personal view on the topic: I used computer keys to write the word "exile". Next to this word, I placed a clock, representing that there has been no progress in time. The small batteries represent people living in exile and they don't know what's going to happen in a future – people without orientation. I put the sand because for me it represents a heavy, difficult path.
the refugees
the new life
Irian Padullés Majó
My project begins with the idea of „domino“ which for me is a symbol of connecting different pieces. The inspiration came from the first phase of the workshop where I had worked on an object of a refugee which is exhibited in MUME. Integrating this idea into my artwork therefore is also a „hommage“ to this person. For me, the metaphor of the domino could represent how the exiles try to fit into their new life, their new city. This work represents three things: first, the darkness and the sadness of exile which is represented with the black box. In the middle of this box we find an electronic plaque which represents the city; different individuals living in exile are represented by a yellow bulb, a red key, a
letter and a golden key.
the refugees
source of souls
Aura Valencia, Salma Essadek
Our artwork represents the journey of a group of refugees travelling to camp of Argeles sur Mer. The black computer keys symbolize the path of their journey, the white keys the individual refugees. They had left their home country hoping that they would find a safer, better place abroad. But when arriving at the beach-camp of Argeles they understood that this was the place of hunger and despair which dominated the everyday life. The individuals represented in our artwork all died in Argeles sur Mer. Their souls fusioned with the water of the source.
