COVA is an artistic collective formed by Aida Alonso, Antía Sánchez, Lucía Romaní, Neru Herreros and Silvia Sánchez. It was born in 2017 due to a common need to share, experience and reflect on the relationship between art and nature. In its actions, COVA creates dialogues with the environment from a deep respect for it and an ethical questioning about the ways of doing in current art.
Polku_2018
Polku, “path” in Finnish, is the proposal made by COVA in the framework of the first Landart Lapinjärvi Festival held in Finland between 21 and 29 July 2018, together with other Finnish artists. The project, designed and curated by Antonio Arosa, has funding from the Ministry of Culture.
COVA unites Galician-Finnish tradition and mythology with the construction of a labyrinth inspired by the swan of Karelia (Finnish rock painting) and the petroglyph of Mogor located in the town of Marín, Pontevedra. The preparation consisted of the group collecting materials from the forest followed by, ordering, offering or weaving in a greatly symbolic space located on a plain. It first served as a church and then became a windmill. Now the property belongs to descendants of Finnish composer Sibelius.
On the opening day the group showed a performance that outreaches and gave the piece meaning and in which each member of the group established an internal dialogue with it; In other words, made their own path.
Intervention, conceived as a work of living art that will transform over time, it is meant to be walked on barefoot, enhancing sensory and immersive perception of nature and self.
Corriente_2019
“Corriente” is one of the 8 projects presented in Caldas de Reis July 12th. These works have been developed in 5 days working in this artistic laboratory hand in hand with the rest of the selected artists.
The engine of Kaldarte is Juanjo Fuentes Alegría, XXII editions of the festival support it, being Kaldarte a festival of reference in Spain of urban and ephemeral art.
Cova collective presented a denunciation work this time, making visible a problem generated by the current consumption system that forgets the ecosystem generating a problem on a larger scale. “Corriente” is an irreverent piece, annoying and unsightly. A ball of 2 meters in diameter, made of steel and mesh that has travelled through the streets of Caldas, housing all the garbage found inside.
Cova developed different parallel actions, such as picking up garbage in the river, talking with the inhabitants of Caldas to learn about the local problems surrounding the waste or hand out pamphlets with some ideas to take care of our immediate responsibility when it comes to consuming and recycling.
“Corriente” talks about the everyday, the common, and how we have become accustomed to throwing or seeing waste in any corner. Through this piece Cova also refers to the citizen movement, that inertia with which we move and continue with the established, the current, and can change towards more ecological and responsible places. Cova is committed to making us relearn, generate awareness and action to stop, reinvent ourselves from the personal, local to the universal.
