The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, presented this Thursday the fourteen popular initiatives selected, from among almost 100 proposals, for the commemoration of the centenary of César Manrique. However, San Ginés stated that "it is very possible" that some more projects will be added, pending documentation for their final approval.
The president had words of gratitude to the two juries that participated in this selection, the first composed of Nayra Sanz (filmmaker, head of Rinoceronte Films), Estefanía Camejo (Art Historian), Bruno Mesa (poet, winner of the Loewe Foundation International Poetry Prize for Young Creation) and Marina Romero (architect, editor of the BASA magazine and collaborator of the Mies Van Der Rohe Foundation), who independently assessed each of the proposals taking into account the creative, conceptual content and its degree of contribution to the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of César Manrique.
A second committee was composed of Sebastiana de La Hoz (Culture Technician of the Teguise City Council), José Carlos Márquez (Coordinator of the Culture and Education Areas of the Cabildo of Lanzarote), Alejandro Krawietz (Poet and cultural manager), Rubén Acosta (Coordinator of the activities of celebration of the Centenary of César Manrique), Óscar Pérez (Culture Councilor of the Cabildo of Lanzarote), Marcial Martín (President of the Honorary Advisory Committee of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers and Toñín Ramos (member of the Honorary Advisory Committee of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers).
Also attending the presentation was the councilor responsible for the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers of the Cabildo, Echedey Eugenio; as well as the coordinator of the events of the Manrique100 Centenary, Rubén Acosta, who stated "the great quality of all the works presented and the complexity of choosing only fourteen."
Proposals for urban interventions, books and didactic material
Among the selected proposals are two presented by Rafael Díaz, one of them 'Unpublished Solar', which is an urban intervention in Arrecife; and the other 'Manrique was born here', which proposes an urban intervention in the house and area of birth of César Manrique in Arrecife with the aim of making it visible.
'Pop-Up Book', by Mayte Pozo, which will involve the creation of a Pop Up book, for all ages, in which the works and life of the artist will be shown "in another dimension" has been another of the approved proposals. Also selected has been 'Taro, album book and didactic proposal' by Isabel Cabrera Betancort, Nareme Melián and Carmen Corujo, and 'My playful seagull', by Mariola Acosta, an illustrated story with César Manrique's Wind Toys as protagonists.
'Manrique among children', from the company Cultania is the name of other selected initiatives, which involves the development of a digital didactic kit adapted to all levels of Primary and Secondary Education, so that the Cabildo of Lanzarote contributes to the dissemination and valorization of his work in collaboration with educational entities.
The project 'The playful child', by Trivo Local Solutions, has also been selected, which aims to create a guide designed to work with the little ones, which will be articulated in several itineraries around the island, each of them dedicated to one of the most outstanding dimensions of the author.
Political action, theater, short film and artistic projects
Among the approved proposals is also 'Questions for Manrique', by Jazabel Mejías, Sara Robayna and Jorge García, a project of political and citizen action that, through the question as a method of approaching the inhabitant of Lanzarote, seeks to invite reflection and debate on the values promoted by the artist.
Also selected has been 'The animated story of César Manrique', by Gianluca Lagrotta, a project that is based on the creation of an animated cartoon in the form of a short film that narrates the main stages of the history of the great artist from Lanzarote César Manrique from his birth on the island of Lanzarote until his return.
The family theater play 'César's dream', by the company 2RC Teatro and the artistic project 'Las Cosas', by Carlos Álvarez and Saray Ossorio, have been two other selected proposals. The latter consists of the production of a series of sculptural furniture inspired by the work of Cesar Manrique from a contemporary perspective that will materialize in the form of an exhibition and that has also been selected.
Likewise, the show 'Taro', by Isabel Cabrera Betancort, Acoraida Cabrera and Alejandro Cabrera, has also been selected, in which oral narration and vernacular music from Lanzarote are fused in a tribute to César Manrique. The realization in the Tahíche Penitentiary Center by the inmates in the 'Retopía' Project inspired by Manrique's mural work and the theatrical project 'César, battle and fire', by Pedro Ayoze, José Martret, Kira Miró and Raquel Melián, have been the other two selected citizen initiatives.
Agenda of events
Regarding the program of events planned on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of César Manrique in the areas of citizen participation, editions, performing arts and audiovisual projects, San Ginés added that "it is very possible" that other activities of a tourist, educational and environmental nature will be integrated into this program.
San Ginés detailed one by one the calendar planned from this March 4 until the end of this year, with exhibitions (where Almacén74 by Alejandro Krawietz and José Betancor and 100 years of Lanzarote and César by Krawietz and Juan Gopar stand out), musical activities (including Jameos Festival on March 23 and the presentation of the poster for the next Visual Music Festival next October), publishing projects (with the volume by the botanist Pascal Garbe on the Cactus Garden and other works by Violeta Izquierdo, Alejandro Krawietz, Alejandro Scarpa and a volume on the 25 years of the World Biosphere Reserve).
Other events highlighted by the president were the photographs of Linus G.Jauslin and the audiovisual project of Ildefonso Aguilar, together with the Lanzarote Art Biennial. Likewise, in the performing arts section, he highlighted the videomapping project 'Unpublished City' and the Performing Arts Festival, where the participation of the theater director Lluís Pasqual is confirmed, according to Echedey Eugenio, CEO of the CACT. From the hand of Quino Falero, the Performing Arts Festival will feature Nuria Espert and her Romancero gitano on May 10, where there will also be a tribute to César with the recitation of the poem 'Shepherd of winds and volcanoes', a text by Rafael Alberti dedicated to Manrique.
The president of the Cabildo highlighted the "high educational component" of all the events planned for the centenary. Specifically, in the section for schoolchildren and youth, he stopped at the one planned for May 10 by Dean Mac Cannell, father of the anthropology of tourism, professor at the University of California, and in a series of educational activities for children from 3 to 16 years of dissemination of the legacy of Manrique.
"Every tourist who arrives in Lanzarote has to know that we are celebrating the centenary of Manrique and be informed of our agenda of events," concluded San Ginés. The entire agenda of events confirmed to date can be consulted on the website www.manrique100.org.