Born in 2021 with a clear mission, the project reimagined the Secadero within the Las Cigarreras cultural center as a dynamic e-commerce and community hub—a permanent gathering space for nearby neighborhoods. This weekend marks the return of Shared Fictions, a festival dedicated to material experimentation and collaborative creation. Volume Four is organized and produced by the Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community in partnership with Las Cigarreras to continue this ongoing, place-based experiment in culture.
In its highly anticipated third edition, on Friday, September 29 and 30, the festival embraced the banner Unleash Nature, inviting attendees to explore ecosystems from their roots to their edges. The installations, workshops, and concerts underscore an art and architecture collective philosophy: bodies, landscapes, and technologies are not fixed; realities shift and can be repurposed. The aim is to reimagine technology as a tool for dreaming of a planet that supports diverse beings without erasing them.
“If nature is unfair, let’s change nature.” The Foreign Feminist Manifesto challenges the notion of the natural as a justifier of inequality. Faced with an uncertain future, Shared Fictions proposes releasing nature and crafting openings from within the system to foster new possibilities and relations.
Throughout the weekend, dreamlike autonomous landscapes come into focus, using technology to nurture ecological connections and care between species. The CC Las Cigarreras festival of material experimentation continues to map the region’s evolving futures through speculative design and communal celebration.
From start to finish, the program blends workshops, musical performances, screenings, and intergenerational gatherings. Shared Fictions 2023 unfolds over Friday, September 29 and Saturday, September 30, featuring contributions from Alicante artist Carlos Izquierdo, Valencian singer Bella Báguena, collective Wiwi, Sesisesina, Mane, Maka, Ruben Gomo, and Santiago Morilla, a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, along with Barcelona-based artist Sofia Montenegro. This lineup reflects a dedication to cross-disciplinary dialogue and local artistic leadership.
PROGRAM
Friday the 29th
6.30pm. Sonar Reefs with Carlos Izquierdo
In 2017, biologists from the universities of Bristol and Adelaide explored how playing audio recordings of healthy ecosystems could aid the recovery of coral reefs damaged by storms. The workshop invites participants to rethink landscape as a living system, imagining future regions through acoustic design. Attendees will learn to map soundscapes and envision autonomous ecosystems guided by listening and resonance.
8:30 p.m. concert Bella Báguena
Bella Báguena is a trans feminine artist whose performances emerge from an intuitive, emotionally driven process. Her voice serves as a hypnotic core, propelling improvisational compositions that dismiss prejudice. The Valencian musician has earned attention from the SHAPE Platform and has performed in institutions and festivals such as La Casa Encendida (Madrid) and CCCB (Barcelona), with a trajectory that has included Paris and Berlin venues.
Saturday 30
17:30 A totem for your totem With Wiwi, Sesisesina, Mane, Maka, RubenGomo
The workshop questions the link between sex, reproduction, and performance, challenging imposed ideas of pleasure. Participants explore materialities beyond conventional notions of intimacy, creating tangible works that test connection, pleasure, and interdependence. The aim is to offer fresh perspectives on love that resist hypersexualized expectations and encourage healthier social dynamics.
19:00 Plant-Centered Selfie with Santiago Morilla
Plant blindness, a term coined in 1999, refers to the tendency to overlook surrounding flora. This workshop invites participants to bridge human and plant worlds through three-dimensional self-portraits. Bring a pot from home and collaborate on not just physical forms but emotional connections with plants via 3D plant-centered selfies.
8:30 p.m. pigeon flight with Sofia Montenegro
An intervention of light and sound that overlays realities, creating multiple currents of perception. The festival promises a tapestry of concurrent happenings, where space, sound, and light continually reinvent the environment.