Two exhibitions in Tenerife and Opava close the STARS EU programme on Heritage and Creativity

The international art exhibition Voices of [h] eritage, displayed in the La Capilla room at the University of La Laguna (Spain), and Pedagogy as Art, Art as Pedagogy, recently held at the Silesian University in Opava (Czechia), are final results of the work developed within the framework of the combined intensive program (BIP) Heritage and Creativity for Inclusion, driven by the European alliance STARS EU through its Thematic Interest Group (TIG) in Arts and Creative Industries.

This program, aimed at teachers, researchers, and professionals in the arts, held its in-person meeting in Tenerife. Coordinated by Noemí Peña (ULL) co-leader of the Thematic Interest Group (TIG) Art and Creative Industries and Vice Dean of University of La Laguna’s Faculty of Fine Arts, it brought together participants from various countries in a hybrid work environment that combined online sessions with an intensive week of collaboration. The meeting allowed participants to explore the potential of cultural heritage and creativity as tools for fostering inclusion, particularly regarding the exchange of methodologies, experiences, and artistic practices.

In this context, Voices [ h]eritage is presented as the culmination of this collective process: an exhibition showcasing artistic results and highlighting the research-creation processes developed during the BIP. The works exhibited at La Capilla are the direct result of the projects and working dynamics developed during the meeting in Tenerife, and reflect diverse approaches to the concept of heritage, understood not only as a living space for interpretation, dialogue, and critical intervention.

The exhibition features projects that emerged from workshops, collaborative sessions, and cultural activities held during the program, addressing issues such as memory, identity, territory, and forms of cultural transmission. Furthermore, it serves as a space where artistic practice and pedagogy converge, demonstrating how learning can unfold through shared creative processes.

From Tenerife to Opava

As a continuation of the work developed within the framework of the TIG, the experience has led to a second exhibition, Pedagogy as Art, Art as Pedagogy, recently held at the Silesian University in Opava (Czechia), as part of the STARS EU Annual Conference.

The exhibition featured works from Albania, Brazil, France, Portugal, Spain, and the Czechia. The multimedia works were presented by Uendi Çerma from Aleksandër Moisiu University in Durrës (UAMD) in Albania; Marcus Ramusyo de Almeida Brasil from the Brazilian Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Maranhão (IFMA); Dominique Soucy from Université Marie et Louis Pasteur (UMLP) in Besançon; and from the Portuguese Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB), the creative duo Carlos Casimiro Costa & Jacinta Costa, together with their colleague Tiago Fernandes. Noemí Peña Sánchez from Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) in Tenerife will also present her work.

The audiovisual pieces will be complemented by a collaborative photographic-poetic project by Jana Orlová from Silesian University in Opava (SUO) and Ana Lúcia Pinto from Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB).

This exhibition presents the artistic work of teachers and researchers involved in the group, with works from different countries and institutional contexts, but this time from a perspective more focused on the relationship between pedagogy and artistic practice. Although both exhibitions are two interconnected manifestations of the same process—a pedagogical and artistic laboratory, and education in a space of critical experimentation—it is, in Voices of [h] eritage, where this process finds its first public materialization.