Behind the mountain range, somewhere.
Collaboration with the artist and engineer Tina Salvadori Paz. 2021/22
We are living in times in which the earth system confronts us with a seemingly new fact: nature is changing at an unforeseen speed towards a state much less favorable to human life than it has been until now. We need new conceptual tools to deal with nature and the relationship we have with it: not as a state separate from human society, nor as a place that lies somewhere, 'beyond the mountains', as it is often described, pure and ancestral perhaps, but distant, unreachable. For this project, we have decided to draw on the phrases and thoughts of contemporary philosophers, scientists, artists and historians, who propose other ways of understanding nature and our relationship with it. This idea also passes through a new perspective on the idea of fragility: a 'positive' fragility, which urges us to think of ourselves in 'con-divine', to recognise ourselves as constitutively involved, interrelated, part of complex ecologies, where relationships and processes are more important than subjects, as even 21st century biology and physics suggest.
There are currently two versions of the work. In the first version, the words are written directly with white paint or chalk on the stones found in the landscape; the second version, born from a limitation that proved fruitful, namely the absence of stones in the forest where we were, needs instead more collaboration from the visitor. In fact, the phrases are reported through a colour code, establishing an equivalence between colours and letters; both the phrases thus coded and the legend are reported on some sticks, which are also inserted in the landscape.
In this work, nature is understood as a place of profound openness and in which we and our way of thinking are deeply implicated, both biologically and historically, socially and politically.
Phrases, authors, place and year of installation:
E estremamente frustrante. Molte persone credono ancora che la società e la natura siano due cose diverse. J. Moore, Capraia e Limite (FI). 2021
Les grandes accélérations a partir de la seconde guerre mondiale ont laissé des traces sur les roches, dans les eaux, le ciel et sur toutes les créatures. Donna Haraway, St. Pierre des Champs, France, 2021
All life is actively, creatively, incessantly engaged in environmental-making, Jason Moore, Lermoos, Austria, 2021
In realtà l'ecologia è prestare attenzione alle reti di relazioni in cui si è immersi, Dwayne Donald, Italy, Montespertoli (FI), 2022
La natura non è solo il paesaggio che vediamo da una finestra e nemmeno il panorama dalla cima di una montagna. M. Bookchin, Italy, Montespertol (FI),
