TOUR AROUND MY CAMPUS (E-TASK 3, ENGLISH 2)

Students:
- Mariana Bolívar Montoya.
- Sebastián García Florez.

Hello everyone, we are Mariana and Sebastián. This time we want to talk about the main
campus of the University of Antioquia, a cultural event and some artistic artifacts that can be
found at the University .

First of all, we would like to tell you in general about the University's main campus known as
Ciudad Universitaria. It is located in the municipality of Medellín, between Parque de Los
Deseos and Avenida Regional, near Norte Park, Explora Park and the Jardín Botánico.
Besides, about a century ago, the land of the Ciudad Universitaria was occupied by the
Medellín River. The campus has 4 entrances, 29 blocks and several remarkable architectural
structures such as the central library, the museum, the university theater and the sports unit.
Also, the vegetation surrounding the campus gives it a fresh and natural air, accompanied by
its animal species' biodiversity such as squirrels, birds, iguanas, marmosets, insects and other
animals. Moreover, the campus is home to a variety of places that complement the daily
activities of the people who frequent it, such as swimming pools, sports fields, gyms,
restaurants and food stalls. In addition, there are artistic works that add a personal touch to
the University.

Now, we want to introduce a very important cultural event, the film club Latin American
Lights and Shadows: Cineforum of Social Conscience.

This film club is intended to promote Latin American audiovisual content that portrays the
realities experienced in our continent in order to make visible the problems that affect its
inhabitants. In this cinematic experience we explore the authentic and moving narratives of
Latin American films. It emerges as a space to highlight the cultural and social richness of
Latin America through films, while addressing deep issues such as the armed conflict,
poverty, homophobia, chauvinism and much more, which affect millions of people every day.
This event is more than just a screening; it is a call for reflection and action, and to the
visibility of realities that arise in the context of the continent's history.

This film forum has been designed for the entire academic community and for anyone who is
interested in exploring and discussing the complexities of Latin America. For students, young
professionals and activists, all of them are welcome. In this space, your perspectives are
fundamental to enrich it. It is a place open to dialogue, knowledge and learning. Besides, to
ensure that this experience is inclusive and accessible to all, we have a sign translator and
descriptive subtitles for deaf-mute people. The cineforum will start on June 1st and will be
available until the end of the year.

These activities take place in different places and at different times each week throughout the
year. On Mondays there will be films at 4:00 pm. On Tuesday there will be two cineclubs,
where some films are screened with the intention of viewing cinema as a cultural product. On
Wednesday and Thursday after each screening, there will be an open space for the exchange
of ideas and reflections, facilitated by experts in the field. We will have special guests to
discuss testimonies or provide other perspectives on social issues. In addition, on Fridays at
the university there will be the ‘soundieclub’, in order to promote the diversity and cultural
heritage of Latin America. This is a film club that celebrates the creativity of the video clip
and emphasizes the qualities of its language through videography that focuses on directors,
styles and musical groups., portraying rural life, the dreams of Latin American people and the
overflowing talent of its inhabitants.

This film cycle will be carried out every day at 4:00 pm at the Luis Alberto Álvarez Movie
Theater (10-217) and will offer a great schedule of entertaining activities addressed to all
kinds of cinema lovers entailing topics around a lot of subjects and themes that have to do
with intercultural issues in order to have all the community captivated. In addition, we have
two other sites with cineclubs; the first is in Bajo Cauca University Site, and the other site is
in the San Ignacio building, which is also in Medellin. We hope to have your presence and
participation in this event, and we are looking forward you to have a lot of fun and increase
your knowledge and culture with this event. So, You are all welcome.

Now let's talk about some of its most remarkable artifacts. We want to highlight two murals
that tell a little story about the Colombian humanity, from the agricultural to the science field.

1. “La Epopeya del Café'' is a work of art created by Horacio Longas in 1943,
located in the Ciudad Universitaria, near Camilo Torres Theatre. This mural
was created with a technique of ceramic enamel on tile by the Federación
Nacional de Cafeteros (National Federation of Coffee Growers). This mural
was stored in a warehouse for 50 years where it suffered damage and
deterioration. In 1998 Clemencia Wolff recovered the affected parts and
restored 10 modules of the original 14 that depicted the process of coffee
production. The modules represent the coffee process, from the preparation of
the nursery, sowing and harvesting to packaging and export. This work
highlights the regional customs, the work, the love of the land and the identity
of the people of Antioquia and the peasants involved in the monoculture of
coffee, who play a very important cultural and economic role today.

2. Our second artifact is called “El Hombre Ante los Grandes Descubrimientos
de la Ciencia y la Naturaleza” , it is a mural made by the professor Pedro Nel
Gomez and it is located in Ciudad Universitaria on the north side of the Carlos
Gaviria Díaz Library. This mural was painted completely by hand by the
master Pedro Nel, which represented a great challenge for being a 40 meters
artwork, the paint had to be prepared on different occasions, In which special
care had to be taken with the color of the paintings and their shades. It was
such a hard and extensive work that the master Pedro Nel spent between
October 1968 and April 1969 creating this mural. In addition, it is relevant to
 mention that Master Pedro Nel Gómez studied very deeply the human, moral
and even religious unease, the gigantic problem of atomic weapons as well as
the mankind. In the whole conception of this mural, he developed the form of
sequences of “themes with variations”, the ideas and feelings that awakened
his faith in the future of man: a man who invents his destruction and then
regents.

To finish, The University of Antioquia is a great artistic and cultural center where each work
has something to tell. As well as the masterpieces mentioned above, there are many more to
be found around the campus, with different techniques, concepts and stories, many of them
depicting human beings and their qualities, struggles and work, with a touch of sentimentality
and overflowing beauty. As members of the UdeA community, it should be our responsibility
to know those stories, protect all kinds of artistic manifestations within the campus and value
the diversity it represents.

Well my friends, this is all we wanted to share with you so far, we hope you have liked this
post and my tour and come to visit it and know a different academic scenario.

Well, that's all we wanted to share with you so far, we hope you liked it and learned more
about the University. We hope you can participate in the different activities it offers and we
invite you to find out more about the story behind the artifacts and places found at the
university.