As part of the International Women’s Day this year, the EUROM presents the multimedia installation “Franchises Postales“, by Carolina Astudillo. She will be accompanied by Marta López Izquierdo, a professor of the University Paris 8 and the coordinator of the research project Letters from Spanish Republican Refugees and Exiles in France (Carexil). The event will be introduced by an itinerant dance performance proposed for the occasion by the Slovak choreographer Kat Rampackova in collaboration with the memory activist Ana Maria Batalla.
Prior registration is recommended.
About the installation
“Franchises Postales” concludes the research project Carexil, the acronym in Spanish for “Letters from Spanish Republican Refugees and Exiles in France”. Led by the Laboratory of Romanesque Studies of Paris 8 University, the project focuses on the digital, sociolinguistic, and historical editing of letters written mainly by women from the French concentration camps at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
Produced by Isolda Films with the collaboration of the EUROM, the installation aims at promoting this heritage of recent European history. It highlights the landscapes and testimonies of former refugee camps, factories, and work camps inhabited by Spanish refugees and exiles, accompanied by linguistic and historical notes collected during the research. The work will be concluded and presented to the public in 2025.
About Carexil
The Carexil project commenced in 2019, initiated by the Laboratory of Romanesque Studies of Paris 8 University, the Romanesque Studies department at the University of Nanterre, the National Archives in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, and Paris Lumière University. It is coordinated by Marta López Izquierdo, with historical management by Mercedes Yusta Rodrigo, both from Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Dennis University. Filmmaker Carolina Astudillo is also a member of the research team.
Previously unpublished, the letters recovered by the Carexil project were preserved in the archives of the Commission for Aid to Spanish Refugee Children in France, housed in the National Archives. Primarily authored by women, these letters date from February 1939, coinciding with la Retirada (the Withdrawal), when approximately 500,000 people fled Spain escaping the Franco’s army repression, until the summer of 1940.
About the participants
Anna Maria Batalla is a music teacher and an activist on history and memory associations. Since 2016 she collaborates with the Wikiproject “Wikidones de les Corts”, focusing on the role of women in political activism. Her publications within this project highlight biographies of women who have been persecuted for their ideas.
Kat Rampackova is a choreographer, performer and dance activist currently based in Barcelona. Since 2016 she has been collaborating in the international interdisciplinary project Sound in the Silence, promoted by the ENRS. Together with Michaela Sabolova, they lead PST – Space of Contemporary Dance in Kosice, which, in addition to educational activities, produces performances and organizes an annual festival called MOVE Fest.
Carolina Astudillo Muñoz (Santiago de Chile) is a filmmaker, journalist, researcher and teacher. She has developed her work in research, documentary creation and writing, with women and historical memory as the articulating axis. Her works range between experimental cinema and documentary. Since 2016 she is a member of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AACCE).
Marta López Izquierdo is a professor of the Department of Hispanic and Hispanic American Studies Laboratory of Romance Studies of the University of Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis. Since 2019 she coordinates the research project Carexil.
Survey
This activity is co-financed by the European Commission and for its evaluation we kindly ask your collaboration in filling out this survey. It will take about 10 minutes, and you will need the information indicated below. Thank you very much!
- Reference of the Project: 101140481
- Type of activity: Mutual learning
- Title: International Women’s Day 2024
- Duration of the event in days: 1
- In person
- Barcelona