Across a reflection of images and a collage, the margins become a meeting point where natural and artificial elements converge. This is the guiding idea behind the interdisciplinary work of the Country/City exposure and the artistic research group from the Miguel Hernández University, specifically the Faculty of Fine Arts. The project is part of the International Festival of Minimal Urban Performances in Body in Action, a program that explores how urban life dialogues with rural spaces through moving image and performative practice.
That same spirit of inquiry is carried by a group of UMH researchers and artists—Imma Mengual, Amparo Alepuz, María José Zanón, Lourdes Santamaría, Pilar Viviente, and Elia Torrecilla—who originate from Albacete and have brought their approach to Montanejos, a location in Castellón, for a focused exhibition this week at the Montanejos Tourist Office.
Materia is an interdisciplinary collective that presents a range of pieces offering a visual narrative on how rural and urban realities intersect. The works include imagery drawn from the broader Alicante region, assembled in a wall painting that blends collage and photography. Each member contributes a distinct perspective to form a shared concept of what might be called “rurban” life, a term that captures the tension and harmony between natural landscapes and human presence in small towns. The work intentionally refrains from presenting a single narrative; instead, it invites viewers to trace the linkages between landscapes and the people who inhabit them, including intergenerational portraits of residents who shape the town’s memory.
The show also brings to life landscapes that feel newly uncertain, igniting the imagination while preserving memory. Roadways are depicted as looping journeys, suggesting movement back and forth between past and present. The installation reads as a declaration of affinity for space, a return to origins, and a poetic engagement with place. It invites audiences to hold an urban viewpoint while keeping a rural heart, encouraging reflection on how cities influence country life and vice versa.
UMH presents a exploration into the passenger’s life within airport spaces, a contemporary subject that reflects how mobility reshapes everyday experiences. The countryside, as a landscape element, now appears less as a fixed backdrop and more as a dynamic context that blends with urban settings. This exhibition in Montanejos seeks to provoke dialogue between rural and urban bodies, using site-specific considerations to reveal how travel, memory, and place intersect. The setting itself becomes a part of the artwork, inviting visitors to consider how movement through airports and regions mediates relationships with land and community.
The exhibition remains open for visitors through the Sunday closing date, offering an opportunity to engage with the artists’ exploration of space, transit, and memory as it plays out in a natural setting that also hosts urban activity.