Update 2025-01-16

Today the benches were handed over to the village. They will initially be kept in the community warehouse. The mayor suggested finding a suitable setting in which the benches could be presented to the public and then inaugurated in special locations.

Meanwhile, the completion of the remaining pieces of work continues.

As is often the case in January, the setting sun bathes the landscape in a warm sunset glow. This too is #BUENAVISTACERVERA.

The Banco de Verdad hangs on a hook and hovers over Calle Las Parras.

The Banco de verdad is on its way to the municipality’s warehouse. As soon as we know the date of the official inauguration of the benches, we will publish it on the website.

…

over 20 people
over 300 hours of work
over 3000 screws

as a sign of friendship, love and happiness for the residents of this beautiful village
Happy New Year

At the end we also collected the bad pallet wood and made firewood out of it. The nails are sifted out of the ashes and taken to the scrap dealer.

We will rework some of the nails and use them for a work of art.

We have not yet been able to process all of the subframes. Today, Tuesday, after the workshop, we were able to complete the shell of another bench. This bench will have a connection to Saxony-Anhalt, the partner region of the Pais Valenciano.

The finished benches are waiting in Calle Las Parras to be transported to the place where they will be handed over to the municipality. The St. Antonie festival was cancelled due to strong winds and will be rescheduled at short notice. The new branch of the MUARCO museum is ready. We don’t yet know where the municipality will put it. We will report back.

For the duration of the workshop, several workstations had to be improvised. We used all the terraces, as well as parts of the gallery and the living room of CASAdelDRAGON.

In order to make it easier to address the children of the village, we decided to speak to them in their native language, Valenciano, at some of the benches.

The LED laser worked for more than 50 hours to produce all the signs and lettering.

Dirk is working on attaching the horse’s head.

SPAX screws have accompanied us in this project from the very beginning.

A total of 6 child seats were produced. These will be handed over to the municipality of Cervera del Maestre tomorrow, together with the benches.

As always, shortly before the event, everyone works late into the night. “The last few hours before an event seem like an explosion in slow motion, only backwards. Until shortly before, it looks very chaotic, then at the end all the pieces fall into place in an orderly fashion. The guest enjoys the perfect event, and the people behind the stage smile knowingly.

What remains is the beauty of the moment. What we all experienced together in this workshop cannot be described. These articles here in the blog are also just a small excerpt of what happened.

Tomorrow we will hand over the social sculptures as a result of this workshop to the municipality of Cervera del Maestre. We are delighted. And we can only thank all the people who made this project possible.

#BUENAVISTACERVERA is a hashtag. But it is also a digital anchor that will remind us of a unique experience in January 2025 in a beautiful place in the mountains of the Maestrazgo.

What can people move when they are moved? Art creates space, builds bridges, brings people together, draws attention to the good and the beautiful.

We thank the residents of this wonderful place for allowing us to live here together. And as a sign of gratitude, we hand over these benches to you, on which we will enjoy this wonderful view together: Happy New Year! Feliç any nou a tots els cerverins!

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

The eighth day of the workshop was attended by Jess and Maria-Isabel. Jess devoted the entire day to painting the benches. We had set this day as the last day to be used for waterproofing. The last ninth day was to be reserved exclusively for remaining work and improvements to the finished objects.

The children’s stools assembled the day before could also be waterproofed.

Jess continued working tirelessly on the benches all day.

The impregnation is always carried out after the boards for the seats have been dismantled. This prevents the dark impregnation from seeping into the mostly untreated wood of the seats.

The MUARCO bench has a seating surface and a flap to protect the works of art in the exhibition space.

Marie-Isabel is working on her fossil swap bench and adjusting the newly designed drawer.

In the foreground is Tina and Dirk’s special bench. Without the boards for the seats, it looks almost like a “normal bench”. Tomorrow this secret will be revealed.

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

The seats for the benches are sanded and polished. At the same time, sharp edges and splinters are removed. The edges are slightly rounded so that users are not at risk of injuring themselves on chips later.
We use special discs for the angle grinder. The discs are actually intended for metalworking, but they allow us to use the wide pallet wood for longer and – particularly important – they tolerate individual nails or screws that stick out and are then sanded down at the same time.

Marie-Isabel is building a special bank for exchanging fossils – which can be found in many places in the fields here in the Cervera del Maestre area. The archaeologist will also offer rare semi-precious stones for exchange in the bench.

Another bench is prepared for painting. The seating area has already been pre-sorted.

The MUARCO art project is also getting a bench. The new branch will serve the purpose of exchange, just like the wooden box that was inaugurated on January 1, 2025. This branch is already enjoying interested and committed visitors.

There will be special seating for the children. The cubes were made from small special pallets. Today they were cleaned and sharp edges were rounded off with an angle grinder. In the next step, the substructures will be impregnated and the seats will be painted with clear varnish.

Dirk is working on a special children’s toy.

Marie-Isabel makes compartments in the drawer.

The casino has been sanded and is being prepared for painting.

Another bench gets its design.

This piece of equipment will later be mounted on the toy bench, any idea what it could be?

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

On day 6 of the workshop, some small cubes were put together that will later serve as seats for the “little ones”. The blocks are very stable but still light and can then be easily pushed across the floor. The blocks are also suitable for building a makeshift table or other work surface. They could also be used as side tables, for example.

At 1 p.m. everyone in the team takes a break of about an hour. This social time is the most important hour in the workshop because it is the time for establishing and deepening contact. People exchange phone numbers and emails, arrange to meet later, tell each other how it went and what motivated them to take part, and invite each other to visit. New constellations arise again and again and the turnover of information is high, binding and helpful.

There were people who were invited to take part and who declined because they felt that it was not “their village” and that taking part in such a project would not make sense for them. Others, like Ulrike and Inge, drove an hour to take part. Even though they came from another Spanish province, they thought it was good and worthwhile.

This is where the “fossil exchange” bench is being set up, and not by chance. Maria-Isabel is an archaeologist and fossils often provide important information for the classification and classification of a site. The fields of the municipality of Cervera del Maestre are rich in fossils. Visitors often flock out after rainy days to find fossils. Now there will be a bench that will encourage the exchange.

The “Cartas de Amor” bench received its seat cover today. After impregnating the substructure, cover boards were selected and screwed on. Thanks to Dirk and Martina’s professional tools, this cover could be sawn to fit perfectly.

Four benches are now almost finished in the CASAdelDRAGON and this evening they were painted with highly resistant water-based paint (a tip from Wilma! – THANK YOU!). There will be pictures of this tomorrow.

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

All objects will be provided with a reference to the name of the art project. The first signs will be lasered, impregnated and painted.

So far, 12 base frames have been manufactured. There is still a lot to be painted and impregnated.

Francesca continued working on the “Bank of Truth”.

Another substructure is being completed with a box underneath the seat. This will house the “new” library of Alexandria. The book box will later invite people to exchange books and will be registered online.

The substructures are impregnated and then stored until it is decided which “social interaction” is to be offered there. This substructure is then adapted, extended and then pre-painted and impregnated again. All of this happens before the seats are designed and manufactured.

The game of Nine Men’s Morris is over 3500 years old. There are many variations. The first bench #buenavistacervera No. 01 in this project invites you to play Nine Men’s Morris (instructions in ESP, EN and DE).

#buenavistacervera bench No. 10 from this project is called “cartas de amor”. It allows lovers in the area to hide love letters for their loved ones and then lure them to the place where this bench will later be installed by the municipality of Cervera del Maestre…

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

Art is a means of communication. As such, it conveys personal messages. These often find their way into public spaces. This message is aimed at those who know about their love.

On the fourth day, the first seating surfaces were completed and pre-assembled. In this step, the wood is arranged and aligned according to the design and then sawn to the desired length. After pre-assembly, the cover boards are unscrewed again and the substructure is impregnated.

Marie – Isabel is working at her bench.

Marie – Isabel is painting the substructure. She will assemble and sand the seat surface in the next few days.

Francesca and Monica design a bench as a tile mosaic. The two sisters have chosen a very special social sculpture: the bench of truth! – More on this in the next few days.

A laser cutter is used in the project. This is used to create inscriptions and burn them onto the wood. These plaques will be attached to the social sculpture “Bench for Love Letters”.

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

On the third day we had a visit from three families with lots of children. We were able to prime and waterproof the first benches.

The guests took the opportunity to implement their own design ideas. This is social art as it should be.

Jess came on the third day and chose her own tasks and worked autonomously. Knowing that life in FamiliaFeliz is simple and uncomplicated makes things much easier. The level of self-organization is high and should not be slowed down at any time if possible.

Fidel and Monica build another substructure.

At the “Table of Orientation” Anke is building a social sculpture within the social sculpture.

New teams are constantly forming spontaneously to work together to build a bench.

Miet and Zoe impregnate further substructures.

Nick decides on the design for the surface of his bench.

Rent impregnates a substructure.

The third day brought many new faces to the House of the Dragon. As always, the lunch break was an important social moment for exchanging ideas and getting to know each other. Thanks to Jordi for the treats for the children, thanks to Antje and Corinna for the secret organization and the catering.

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

On the second day of the workshop, a few new participants arrived. In order to further clean up the work environment and prepare more material for the next few days, even more pallets were dismantled.

Pre-cut boards were stored in a suitable location. This makes it easier to select them when the seats for the pallet benches are later made. The boards are sorted according to thickness, length, wood quality and type of wood.

Further panels were dismantled and particularly thick boards were prepared for later static tasks in the substructure of the benches.

Particularly good pallets are split in the middle. The two side parts are later screwed together to form a bench.

Dilan was still keen to continue until late into the night. So it was decided to convert one of the benches into a “trencadis” bench and that same evening a concrete slab was poured into a previously built frame. The concrete slab is reinforced and strengthened with wire and fabric. Tomorrow it will be covered with tile mosaics.

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath

2025-01-02 we started the workshop #buenavistacervera in the CASAdelDRAGON in Cervera del Maestre.

First, we laid out many pallets, pre-sorted the wood, removed the nails from the boards and cut pieces that were no longer usable to size ready for the oven.

As always, a temporary workplace had to be built first.

In order to knock out crooked nails, we use pliers.

When dismantling the pallets, the wood is pre-sorted. We use long crowbars and long squared timbers with good leverage.

The squared timbers are particularly suitable because they offer a larger support when lifting the boards. Nevertheless, some boards break through. But that’s not a bad thing. The wood shows us in this first step which parts are to be used later for the static construction and which are not.

The very good work result for the first day, 6 base frames for benches are already pre-assembled.
We are looking forward to the next few days.

Timeline Day 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | aftermath