2021 Stays: Scenic Mudejar

Scenic Mudejar.
Exploring performing arts culture in the medieval period: music, dance, and minstrelsy

This study has focused on developing strategies in the region that promote Mudejar identity and strengthen professional networks through research, creation, and artistic dissemination in the fields of musical and performance art. It has also designed initiatives to facilitate the programming of future performances in the region. The project is based on a concept of heritage that encompasses traditions, customs, and other artistic expressions that are part of the collective memory.

The project is based on the idea that the performing arts—arts of time and space, of memory and celebration—have the potential to connect the past with the present, develop the contemporary imagination of a territory, and, at the same time, nourish myths, figures, and motifs of local tradition.

Its contribution to local, economic and sustainable development has been studied in the following areas:

  • Economic benefits derived from greater territorial attractiveness (the entire cultural sector) and innovative drive (creative industries);
  • Strengthening social cohesion through expressive forms in keeping with the cultural diversity of the population;
  • Education and awareness-raising of the population on social and environmental issues (e.g., sustainability and nature preservation) through the performing arts in all their creative forms;
  • Control and reduction of your own environmental footprint.

The study has focused on fieldwork and the study of a vast amount of archival material and bibliography on scenic Mudejar to outline four operational objectives:

  1. To examine, in the local history of three towns in the Mudejar Territory, the events that could give rise to a commemorative project of a scenic nature;
  2. To highlight, within the tangible local heritage of these three towns, the material elements that can serve as a stage for a musical, theatrical, choreographic or hybrid program with reference to Andalusian and Mudejar culture;
  3. To examine, within the intangible local heritage of these three peoples, the material elements that can be related to the surviving Andalusian culture, with a view to proposing their recovery or revitalization;
  4. To identify, within the local political, educational, and cultural fabric, the dynamics and difficulties that must be taken into account when proposing performing arts projects related to the “Mudejar identity” of these three communities.

From the analysis carried out, a series of conclusions have been drawn about the aspects of Andalusian art that are manifested in the Mudejar scene, taking as a reference the data obtained from Islamic and Andalusian sources and those obtained later within the framework of the Mudejar and Moorish minority.

The research proposes that Mudejar performing arts be recognized as a category within the history of the performing arts, and that there will be no differences between the performing arts carried out by Mudejars and Moriscos.

The visit concludes with a comprehensive bibliography and iconography of the performing arts associated with the Mudéjar Territory, as well as a proposal for several solutions that involve a tangential and mixed repertoire, a symbiosis between the medieval and the contemporary as a way of highlighting this lost but not irretrievable tradition and of investing in new techniques to develop new Mudéjar performing arts projects. The aim is to enhance the possibilities for managing the use of heritage spaces in the Mudéjar Territory.

LINE OF RESEARCH: Social function

AUTHORS: María Amor Borque and Serge Dambrine

2021 Stays: Mudejar and Euclidean geometry or plane geometry.

The Mudejar and Euclidean geometry or plane geometry

This stay addresses the visual study of Aragonese Mudejar architecture in the Mudejar Territory and, by extension, in the province of Zaragoza. The project has allowed us to collect and study Mudejar architecture, studying it in depth and with geometric rigor. It has also established parallels between them and with others developed outside the scope of the project.

In total, around 50 graphic works were created, combining technical exercises in gramophones, ribbons, lacework, and oculi with interior and exterior architectural views. The result is a graphic archive never before developed, allowing Territorio Mudéjar to possess a collection of Mudejar images for future publication.

The Mudejar and Euclidean Geometry or Plane Geometry project is essential for compiling all the artistic wealth present in this artistic manifestation, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and unique in the world.

The working methodology was based on the analysis of photographs, from which measurements and execution systems were extracted. Connecting points, centers, parallel lines, and layouts were deduced. An attempt was made to recover the geometric solutions used by the Mudejar masters and their sources of inspiration.

The objectives of the project have been the following:

  • To study the use of plane geometry in Aragonese Mudejar solutions.
  • Interrelate these solutions between different architectural buildings.
  • To address the gap in the constructive and compilation study of the various ties, latticework, plasterwork, oculi, etc.
  • To promote awareness of the richness of Mudejar art.
  • To bring together a collection of artistic creations that will serve as Territorio Mudéjar’s own artistic archive.

The rich graphic work produced during this stay studies geometric motifs from the church of Santa María de Tobed, the church of Saints Justa and Rufina and the church of Santa María de Maluenda, the church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Utebo, the church of San Martín de Tours in Morata de Jiloca, the church of Santa Tecla in Cervera de la Cañada, the church of San Félix in Torralba de Ribota, the collegiate church of Santa María and the churches of San Andrés and San Benito in Calatayud, the Luna palace in Daroca, and the church of Nuestra Señora del Castillo in Aniñón, and relates them to others in the province, the peninsula and the Near East.

The results, plastic objects in themselves, will be the subject of various exhibition projects and special editions over the coming months.

LINE OF RESEARCH: New perspectives on Mudejar art.

AUTHOR: Chema Agustín.