Akuna arrives with Zero, his van, to the train station Saguntum, in Valencia, with the motivation of someone who invites you on a trip of a few kilometers but to a place that seems somewhat further away. The van leaves the Valencian city behind, through the town of Gilet and is lost by mountain trails until you reach a hurdle gate. It is the input guards the Dragon of the Calderona, so sleepy these years under its shelter of pines, dreams and the Levantine breeze.
Upon entering the enclosure, the enormous mouth of a dragon lined with mosaics welcomes you. And there, under the shelter of its scales, Rhea Marmentini merges with the rays of the sun that illuminate its cosmic garden based on the principle of toroids, her new ceramic sculpture installation. Sometimes there are magical worlds waiting in the most unexpected corners.
The Calderona Dragon it is an atelier erected in the Sierra de Calderona Natural Park despite remaining closed for several years until its current awakening. Its mission is to promote art and nature research but, above all, nurturing one of the many muscles of the Earth through the awareness, the workshops and the graphic and visual arts.
A project with many layers.
THE SECRETS OF THE MOTHER BEAST
Find a land where to raise a sculpture park is not easy . Rhea Marmentini knows it well, Hungarian-Chilean sculptor based on Malaga she who in 2004 landed in a red rodeno quarry from the 60s with a concrete tool shed in the Sierra Calderona Natural Park. It was there where she visualized the wound, the bed of a dragon as the best example of land-art.
"The idea of the dragon was inspired by the legends of the area," Rhea tells Traveler.es. “If you are in the town and look towards the mountain you will see that the peaks form the silhouette of a dragon We also nurtured ourselves from the stories that came from the Sancti Spiritus monastery and what they talked about flying beings with a metallic voice. Also, my favorite animal as a child was a crocodile, and the dragon is a kind of crocodile with wings”.
Rhea with the sculpture exhibition of her.
Rhea promoted the sculptural value of the project together with Perico Sambeat, saxophonist, and Judit Nador, expert in energy rehabilitation. At that time El Dragon de la Calderona was part of the GAIA Project, association that promotes the correct coexistence with nature through art and daily actions.
During construction, the dragon became a refuge for artists and experts like the Russian-Estonian biologist Aleksei Zaitsev, who helped apply the concept of biodynamic agriculture under the principles of the philosopher Rudolf Steiner: “Biodynamics defends that the earth is like a muscle that increases or decreases.
Here we work under the conviction that the human being can foster a positive impact on that muscle. This was a quarry that had devoured the mountain and now we have strawberry trees, aubergines and fertile land. That experience is encoded in all the art that exists here,” she tells Rhea before we get to the heart of her creation.
Inside the dragon.
THE ORGANS OF THE DRAGON
A tongue of tesserae invites you to enter through the mouth of the dragon, whose organs evoke the different spaces of this artistic ecosystem. The muses dance on the beast's own head, where the silkscreen workshop, an artisan printing process in which color is applied by passing the ink through a silk screen after a photosensitive emulsion process. The engravings they are made in recycled paper from material contributed by friends of the project, offices and schools, although they are also used dried plants for your creation.
The next space is closed to the public and is located on the top floor, under the dragon's back. It's about a "dark room" only illuminated by a red bulb, an essential element to make cyanotypes, a monochrome photographic process that achieves a negative copy of the original in a Prussian blue color. It is the room where Akuna, Italian photographer and one of the guardians of the Dragon, develops the art of her. “We use this dark room for cyanotypes, since the chemicals that we apply to the paper are photosensitive and the only light that is not annoying is red”, Akuna account.
Through an eye...
when descending, a door connects to the dragon's butt, formed by a painting workshop and a room natural air conditioning : “It is still closed, but this room is responsible for collecting cold air that slides down the mountain, accumulates it and then we use it when necessary, ”says Rhea before reaching the left wing, an area that encompasses the showroom , the engraving workshop, the Dragon Hall and a mosaic sculpted kitchen of colors whose creation involved two months of work. This is the operations center of Alex, cook and another of the guardians of the dragon who is also in charge of maintaining the ecological garden and the garden.
The artistic lung of the dragon It is complemented by its exterior surroundings, overlooking the mountains of the natural park, the sea and the towns of Sagunto and Gilet. However, it is only necessary to look up to check that the best projects are yet to come: on the roof of the dragon awaits the project of a bestiary, a set of sculptures drawn from each of the stones of the Sierra Calderona. And if you continue walking, among the pines you can glimpse Rhea's workshop, made up of wooden benches where you can work the stone and in view of rehabilitation after an infamous fire. Because the dragon wakes up, but its organs do so little by little.
The screen printing workshop.
THE NEW LIFE OF THE DRAGON
Despite his almost twenty years of life, the Dragon of the Calderona experienced a dark episode after an arson attack in 2014: "From that event we decided to rest from the dragon for seven years," says Rhea, who found in Akuna and Alex the best guardians to "awaken" her beast at the end of 2020. It began like this the new age of the dragon n based on three basic objectives: promote open house visits, the presentation of graphic and visual arts projects, and carry out Rhea's sculpture project.
Open days are held the last weekend of the month (the specific dates are announced on Facebook and Instagram and the reservation is made via email). The visit includes access to the hall and the exhibition room, in addition to two of the four workshops, the recycled paper workshop and the engraving workshop, since access to the cyanotype and screen printing workshops requires an invitation or reservation for a specific event. This opening to the public is carried out under donation: "We need help to be able to develop the entire project," says Rhea, who has also enabled the SAVE THE DRAGON! campaign, a collection of donations through GoFundMe.
Here you breathe another air.
While we drink tea, on the other side of the fence, the curious try to decipher the mysteries of the dragon. There is still some suspicion. During the years in which the dragon remained closed, Many weekenders used their scales as a base for picnicking and depositing heaps of trash, but the dragon is more than an Instagram spot or a recreation area: it is an art space who deserves the same respect as a real dragon.
“We do not recommend that anyone park next to the Dragon, since they can impose fines of up to 600 euros. There is a sign that also indicates that only neighbors are allowed access,” says Akuna. “The ideal is to park in the parking area from the Sancti Spiritu monastery, located 4.5 km away and go on a hiking trail of an hour to also enjoy the surroundings.”
A saw to walk it.
As the world keeps turning in the Dragon of the Calderona a timeless vibe is palpable. Her colorful tesserae shine even brighter at sunset, and Rhea is ready for visitors to behold. her work, to form part of the landscape, of positive impact to this muscle of the Earth upholstered in pine trees. A miracle capable of forgetting his sleeping past to give himself over to a fertile future. To change her molt and spread her wings. Because the Calderona Dragon is a mythological beast, but its guardians have a lot of phoenix.
To see photos:
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