FiR Conversations in Farrera
Quelic Berga in conversation with Tracey Warr
Interviewed by Tracey Warr at Centre d’Art i Natura, Farrera, Catalan Pyrenees, 2015 [33 mins]
From a series of conversations by Tracey Warr with Frontiers in Retreat artists in residence in Farrera and the Centre d’Art i Natura curator, Lluis Llobet. The conversations considered the work that the artists were developing in Farrera, experiences of artists’ residencies, and notions of ecology, frontiers, and retreat.
‘Ecology by itself is a mistake. There shouldn’t be separation between technology, humans and nature. We are using nature as if it were meant for giants. I’m against oversizing our impact on nature. I believe in nostalgia. Can we allow ourselves to love nature? Are we brave enough to look at it again with love - and by doing that we solve the problem.
I’m using digital technology as a technique or tool but I don’t think it’s unnatural. Cities are organic and natural, made by a species of animal called humans. Why should beehives be natural but cities artificial? I’m critical of those dichotomies. Cities, technology, urban spaces can be based on ecological and organic principles. We need to change the way we understand technology, to use it with organic and ecological intelligence.
A frontier is a membrane – something inbetween. Interfaces are the frontier between the inner process of a machine and the human, a communication bridge. Instead of being a contested border, a frontier can be a bridge, a way to get past dichotomies, to connect. I’m looking to touch diverse audiences, to be accessible, to melt the frontiers. It’s an Occidental mistake to try to make everything homogenous. Difference is valuable.
In supermarkets it’s hard to see what is polluting and what is not, what are the real production processes and the ecological impacts of food we buy and eat.
Art creates symbols and experiences for new imaginaries and reflections, and has subconscious impacts that stay longer than rational understandings. FIR is a clumsy community of different approaches and experiences that I really value.’