Common Grounds

Three artist residencies exploring rural and urban regeneration

Common Grounds is a European project that brings together artists, researchers and local communities to collectively address issues related to urban and rural regeneration in areas affected by soil contamination.

Promoter

La Citadelle de Marseille

Fundación RIA
Gradoscope

Collaboration
Fundación Daniel y Nina Carasso

Europa Creativa

Year
2024-2026

Location

Marsella

Galicia

Sofia

Soil is a key resource for the ecosystems we inhabit, acting as a source of energy and nutrients, a carbon sink, and a supplier of raw materials. Despite this, it still lacks the legal recognition associated with other resources such as water or air, which makes it difficult to protect. In order to move towards more sustainable management models, it is essential to recognise both its economic value and the role it plays in the health of ecosystems.

Through three artist residencies, Common Grounds aims to help raise awareness of the importance of soil conservation, addressing today’s environmental challenges from new perspectives. By combining scientific research, engagement with the local community and diverse artistic practices, the initiative creates spaces for reflection centred on three sites of historical, cultural, and ecological significance.

Three sites with common issues

The three selected artists took part in three two-month residencies, hosted by each of the organising institutions: La Citadelle in Marseille (France), Fundación RIA (Galicia) and Gradoscope (Bulgaria).

The first residency, in Marseille, was centred on the Fort of Saint-Nicolas, a former 17th-century military structure surrounded by three hectares of partially contaminated green spaces. Since 2021, the association La Citadelle de Marseille has been managing the site and carrying out a process of restoration and gradual opening to the public, which highlighted the need to reconsider the future of these green spaces within a city centre marked by significant inequalities.

In Galicia, the artists studied the case of the Froxán common land community, focusing their research on the surroundings of the former San Fins mines. These mining sites, linked to the production of weaponry during the Second World War, ceased operations at the end of the last century, leaving behind a negative impact on soil health and the economic fabric. Nowadays, the local community stands out for its dynamism in promoting environmental regeneration and citizen participation initiatives, many of them developed in collaboration with the Barbanza Ecosocial Lab and Fundación RIA.

The last residency focused on Stochna Gara, in Sofia. This former railway station, located in the city centre, is now in a state of abandonment, with areas partially contaminated. Currently, professionals from various disciplines and local residents, together with Gradoscope, are developing a process to imagine new uses for this space, seeking to open it up to the public

A meeting place for science, art, and local communities

At each of the residencies, the artists engaged with a network of local stakeholders from various fields with the aim of enriching their research and creative process. In Galicia, the residency involved collaboration with the Uxafores-USC research group, which shared its expertise in soil analysis, as well as Fundación Montescola and the Froxán Common Land Community, which presented their work on environmental restoration, providing context regarding the surroundings of the San Fins mine.

As well as visiting the area of Froxán, the three artists also visited, amongst other, the FMJJ Contemporary Art Centre, OsCasares and Espazo Vilaseco, the studios of Alvaro Negro and Arturo Álvarez, Fundación CIEC, the factory of Cerámicas do Castro and the EASD Mestre Mateo, in which they developed part of their projects.

With the aim of sharing the results of the research conducted during their stay, a restitution event was organised at the end of each residency, at which they presented the progress of their projects.

Visit to the common land communities of Froxán. On the right, meeting with the Uxafores-USC research group.

The three artists

Virgile Haëck is a landscape architect and visual artist. Convinced that the climate crisis is linked to a crisis of sensitivity, he sees art as a means of rekindling our attention to our surroundings. Through writing and painting, his artistic approach engages with neglected landscapes, fragile environments, and gestures of care.

Mar Ramón Soriano is a visual artist and researcher. Her main line of research involves artistic processes through which she creates works from diverse perspectives: social, anthropological, philosophical, or material. The various stages of each project, from observation to production, are central to both her theoretical and practical work.

Andrea Popyordanova is an artist and graphic designer, holding an MA in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art. In her practice, she explores the ways in which we live and impact our surroundings, how we connect to land and the stories of the past embedded in it; how we are constantly shaping, and being shaped, by landscape.