Vida Hurdana. Lo que escriben los niños

The research project “Vida Hurdana. Lo que escriben los niños” presents a simulated dialogue between Buñuel and students from two schools in Las Hurdes.

Buñuel’s texts belong to a fragment from “Las Hurdes, tierrra sin pan” (1933) the famous documentary in which the author makes a portrait of this mountainous region and its people. This documentary was fundamental to show a certain image of Spain in the 30s, but it also contributed to a controversial popularity of the region, which receptions are still at stake.
The two teachers (José Vargas and Maximino Cano) worked in Las Hurdes using the Freinet pedagogy during 1932 - 1933, at the same the documentary was being done. This methodology is based on Celestin Freinet’s techniques (b.1896 - d.1966) that works with students’ potentialities without impositions or domestications. The learning process was a continuation from day to day life and milieu with its problems and realities. An example of these methodologies is that the students made their own books with a scholar printing.

The formalization of this research project in the exhibition room is composed by three elements: (1) a engravings collection, showing the dialogue thanks to a double print (an offset print with Buñuel’s voice and a typographic print with children’s voices, reproduced exactly as they did) and later printed with a third layer made of images after children’s drawings found in the books; (2) the original offset plate and (3) a video reflecting about the work process and the relation of the documentary with territory. A first presentation of this project I have edited a notebook (50 items Hors Commerce). It brings together the 14 engravings with the offset printing, the typography and the images reproduced with a riso print.

English translation of the notebook here