The granary’s reinterpretation, given its importance in the municipality of Ribera de Arriba, is the main concept of Line C’s idea, winner of first edition of the “Public Art” contest, that has been presented today in the Social Center “La Caballería”, in Soto de Ribera, with the participation of Tomás Fernández, mayor of Ribera de Arriba; Vanda Martins, EDP Foundation’s director, and Melania Álvarez, counselor of Social Rights and Wellbeing.

The objective of the EDP Foundation's project “Public Art” is the realization of an artistic action carried out by students, that, combining art and architectonic design, transforms the territory. The first edition, launched in 2020, focused on the town council of Ribera de Arriba and suggested 3 interventions, one of them, which we know today, consisted of acting on the house of the Prieto family in Bueño to make of it a polyvalent space.

The innovation, creativity and excitement of this suggestion, presented by the architects Marta Molins Laín, Jorge Abad Martínez, Diego Catena Nieto and Claudia Gadea Milián, of the University of Zaragoza, turned them in the Line C winners of the Public Art Contest 2020, with 33 candidatures received, and 59 participants from 20 universities in Spain. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to make their work a reality, taking part in the whole project’s execution process.

The future cultural equipment of Bueño, of more than 3 000 m2, consists of a large roof that rises above the ground as if it were floating. Under the roof there is a multipurpose hall and, above it, an outdoor stage.

For the students responsible of the winner project, who have already graduated, “the idea, winner of the project, is the creation of an Artistic Center in Bueño, a polyvalent space dedicated to art and culture in a unique ethnographic environment.”

In words of the EDP Foundation’s director, Vanda Martins, “with this project we strengthen one of our most important commitments, that is, to perform an active role in the communities through the local development. In addition, the realization of a theoretical work in a practical and tangible reality for the community is a source of learning, as well as a fundamental professional experience for the students.”

For his part, the municipality’s mayor, Tomás Fernández, highlights that “Public Art is alive, and the Line B winners – Ferreros – are already knocking on our door to begin the same process that we are explaining today.”

It is expected that the construction site starts at the beginning of 2022 and that Bueño’s new cultural equipment may be opened the last trimester of 2022.

For the EDP Foundation it is essential to maintain a connection with those territories in which EDP is present, involving the community and stimulating the development of those places, transforming them. At the same time, an opportunity is created for young inventors from all over Spain to see their first major project come to fruition and a legacy that will last in the territory.

Social inclusion, culture and education are three of the main EDP Foundation engagements, with which it is aimed to contribute to construct a more conciliatory society and a better future. Public Art is a social inclusion instrument, a space for dialogue, collaboration and construction of an environment of innovation and generation of social value in the rural area.