Visual culture as an instrument for the enhancement of the Spanish rural landscape at the beginning of the 21st century. La Vall de Boí as a case study

Abstract

The artistic and visual expressions produced in relation to the rural world in the different areas that make up visual culture result in cultural manifestations with contents closely related to the rural landscape and its natural spaces. In this way, they contribute to the perception of the aesthetic richness of the rural environment, thus promoting its enhancement and interest in these less populated territories and far from the areas of power. However, it is likely that each discipline related to visual culture contributes in a specific way to this enhancement of the rural landscape, from those that do so in a more poetic way —with an aesthetic aspect— to those that develop in a pragmatic way —with a systematic and functional background. From this line of research, we try to elucidate these aspects with the aim of defining and classifying how each of the artistic and visual disciplines uses the rural landscape to apply it to dissemination and artistic education projects. Thus, we will try to understand the possibilities offered by visual culture when it comes to capturing the aesthetic values of the rural landscape and see how it contributes to the achievement of sustainable development models for the XXI century.  We will seek to do so through artistic education as a tool for mediation and visual culture as an instrument of enhancement.