CIGaRhReRaS

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PDF (Spanish)
Published: 2025-09-30
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21134/nqvpav58
Keywords:
Feminism, Collective Memory, Tobacco Workers, Poetry, Interaction, Video Installation, Material Experimentation

Main Article Content

Emma Esplá Oliver
Independent Researcher, SP.
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4259-9726 (unauthenticated)

Abstract

This article presents an artistic research project that resulted in the multimedia installation CIGaRhReRaS, focused on the memory of the women workers of the former Tobacco Factory of Alicante. Starting from a poetic hypothesis that articulates matter, language, and experience, seven pieces inspired by elements from the periodic table, the poetry of María Cegarra, and materials related to industrial labor were developed. The intermedia methodology combines documentary exploration in historical archives, active listening to oral testimonies, and plastic and technological experimentation. This approach enables the construction of an interactive artistic device that invites public participation in the activation of bodily and territorial memories. The project is situated within a feminist paradigm aimed at recovering silenced memories and fostering the collective construction of knowledge. Finally, it reflects on the new questions raised by this artistic practice, especially regarding the interrelations between body, labor, language, and territory.

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Article Details

Issue

No. 2 (2025): RAW MATTER. Artistic researchs and discourses on the states of matter: liquid, solid, ephemeral, immaterial

Section

MONOGRÁFICO
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Emma Esplá Oliver, Independent Researcher, SP.

(she) Holds a degree in History from the University of Alicante and a degree in Fine Arts from the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Altea. Her training includes an Erasmus stay in Italy and certification in Valencian. Since 2008, she has worked as a civil servant in secondary and high school education for the Generalitat Valenciana, specializing in History, Art History, and Geography. She has coordinated seminars at CEFIRE and supervised teaching practices at the University of Alicante.
In the artistic field, in March 2025 she received the UMH First Prize for TFG in Equality. Her latest group exhibition was Matter in Making 2024, where she presented the work “CiGaRhReRaS” at the Palau de Altea. She also participated in the I CIMIC (UMH, 2024) with a scientific poster, in the performance (el) ARTE es ARTE (VIII) by Yolanda Herranz Pascual, and in a performance course with Fermín Jiménez Landa. Her career integrates art, history, and pedagogy.

How to Cite

Esplá Oliver, E. (2025). CIGaRhReRaS. ReCIA - Journal of the Arts Research Centre , 2, 327-345. https://doi.org/10.21134/nqvpav58

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