Pharmacy is not just a project for the arts; It is a school of thought, artistic and pedagogical; also a school of friends that understands art as a healing process.
These days he teaches an animation workshop thanks to the collaboration of the artist and professor Eduardo Elgueta Strange from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
The initiative responds to the pedagogical strategy of this project, which has always aspired to have a laboratory of animated works. In addition, the group exhibition Mapri: a museum of the 21st century? opens its doors to the public, specifically with These walls know about the future, by the Chilean artist himself, an installation that will be available until November 14.
The idea is part of the Mapri exhibition cycle, Projection 21 squared, which celebrates the 21 years of the Pinar del Río Art Museum.
Pharmacy relies on collaboration to exist and expand knowledge. In 2018 Elgueta came to exhibit at the museum and was captivated by the idea of being able to teach workshops, which broadens the scope for students who could train in the area of animations.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez, director of Mapri and Pharmacy coordinator, said that the intention is that more students can train, with more teachers, even from other parts of the world and end with a festival as part of the project and the strategy that has been designed. .
The first sessions of the workshops took place this week and conclude tomorrow. “The themes revolved around basic animation techniques, to create with what they have here. For me it is essential that they can work with a mobile phone. Theory is given with practice, it is a very basic workshop that I have taught to very small people, to adults, with the best tools in the world and also with the simplest, and they always work,” explained the teacher.
“The second workshop has to do with the resolution of a project. They must conclude with one that they will develop little by little, we skip the technical part and we arrive at this moment of post-production, in which we ask ourselves the questions, what do we want to show? and how?. The idea is that they have a year of work.”
Elgueta pointed out that for him a paradigm shift in how animation is seen is very important, not only in Cuba but everywhere: “Animation is not just for children. Animation that is made in a contemporary way has an audience that saw animation as a child, therefore, it does not bother them to see it now, but with much more complex themes, which take from the spiritual, the psychological and all the day-to-day problems and what that means.”
He commented that animation in Latin America is different and as such it is shown, “in it I have the opportunity to say what I want to say.”
When referring to animation in the country and its relationship with the Farmacia project, he said: “There is an intellectuality in Cuba that is significant, but that views some forms of creation with disdain. And Pharmacy doesn’t have that. Farmacia invites everyone and believes that everything can enter the arts. It cannot be cancelled.
“Pharmacy aims to create an identity and love that identity. It does a lot with very little and that’s amazing. Therefore, what it has allowed is to build spaces with what you have. Furthermore, it is a space of openness to possibilities. Right now in the museum there are kids tattooing in a space designed for art, for example.”
In the Latin American context, animation is given an essential space. “It is a very kind and affectionate environment; It is a beautiful means to position ourselves as the Southern Hemisphere; Latin America has been looted more than the profits it has obtained, and through animation many things can be said that reach many people.
“It also allows us to build our identities, it does not mean that there is no transformation, but without forgetting the fundamental things; “It is adapting what comes to my reality.”
The artist and professor explains that in Cuba there is the vision of Icaic, which continues to be a great audiovisual and animation producer, but it is from its vision, not Pinar’s, and that is what we want to do here.
The dream of having a space for audiovisual production is closer today, says Juan Carlos Rodríguez, and has been cherished since the very beginnings of Farmacia. Today the premises are available and the equipment is being sought to finally set it up.
“We have a faculty of first-class teachers who will be guided and coordinated by Eduardo Elgueta. The possibility of having an animation school and an audiovisual laboratory project within Pharmacy, in general, will deeply enrich the project.”
For its director, Farmacia is a conception and a school that adjusts to 21st century thinking, which aims to go back to certain moments in humanity and tries to integrate everything. “I love the idea of life-art; I try to ensure that both are so merged that there is no separation and that is Pharmacy’s proposal.”
