The Office of Cultural Activities of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) will open the exhibition “Doble retorno: arte y enfermedad en diálogo” (“Double return: art and diseases in dialogue”) on Tuesday January 13, 2015, at 8 pm, in the Exhibition Hall of the Rectorate building (3A).

Curated by the visual artist and professor at the Paint Department of the UPV Pepe Miralles, the exhibition is the result of successive and isolated narrative activities between patients and 48 artists, intended to produce areas for exchanging experiences and descriptions about different ways of understanding life from the diseases.

The exhibition includes 48 works using several techniques (audiovisual, sculpture, photography, etc.) by artists from different European universities within the project Perspectives, Art, Inflammation and Me. It can be visited until March 10, 2015, from 11 am to 8 pm, from Monday to Friday (free admission, bank holidays closed).

I International Short Film Festival “Art and Diseases”

In parallel with the exhibition, the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UPV will hold the I International Short Film Festival “Art and Diseases” (FICAE, in Spanish) on January 14, 15 and 16, 2015.

Through a cinematographic view, the festival aims to raise awareness and social consciousness of disease as a life process, as well as de-stigmatize treatable diseases, such as Hepatitis C, through positive visions.

FICAE will open with the award-winning documentary E agora? Lembra-me (And now? Remember me) by the Portuguese filmmaker Joaquim Pinto. Moreover, during the closing day an awards ceremony for different categories will be held. Participants in the event will watch short fiction films, documentaries, animations and several experimental proposals related to the world of disease.

The aim of the Chair: knowledge of disease through art

Both initiatives originate from the Chair of Art and Diseases (Proddigi Films SL also collaborates with FICAE), based at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UPV and formalized through an arrangement signed by the UPV and the company AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company committed to helping communities of people affected by different diseases.

The Chair was created with the aim of increasing knowledge of diseases through art and it has designed and organized several initiatives together with the university community to great effect. Through this communication with the public, the results are transferred to the social context.                                                     

Finally, it may be noted that the website of the Chair will host the section ‘FICAE en línea’ (FICAE on line), that will include the results of the Vimeo selection of 200 audiovisual productions divided in several categories –The medical class, A good life, The carers, Social diseases, etc.– available to anyone interested