Sunday, June 2 inaugurated Ecoismi, 2013, an international event for contemporary art in the heart of the Natural Park of the Island Borromeo in Cassano d’Adda, Province of Milan.
Ecoismi is a public art project that reflects on the processes and transformations that relate to the territory, the environment and present condition to trigger a reflection on the dynamics of ecological and sustainable.
Through the language of contemporary art, artists, architects and designers were invited to confront the issue of balance between man and nature. During the period of residence – work in progress they have created a multisensory path consisting of twelve site-specific installations realized n the area of the Natural Park.
The event, this year at its second edition, is curated by Ylbert Durishti and young artists, selected through a call, come from all over the world. They are: TheFleetGroup (Tbilisi, Georgia), AtelierFraSe (London, England), Päivi Raivio (Helsinki, Finland), Grace Zanotto (Milan, Italy), Matteo Rota (Casirate d’Adda, Italy), Julia Jamrozik (Basel, Switzerland) , Ada Kobusiewicz (Petrovaradin, Serbia), Chiara Sgaramella (Valencia, Spain), Diana Franceschin (Milan, Italy), Giacomo Zaganelli (Berlin, Germany), Selene Volpi (Senatobia, Italy), Susanna Battin (Los Angeles, USA).
Each of them has developed the themes of the project according to its own specific declination, in a variety of shades ranging from the question of energy savings that of climate change,from the action of man on the environment to the disappearance of some species.
All artworks are made with natural materials, recycled or recovered. The artists have based their poetry on the reuse of waste materials were reinserted in a cycle that brings them back to life, where nature and art have the opportunity to renew their reciprocal myth.
ARTWORKS
Radici (Roots) by AtelierFraSe (Francesco Gorni and Serena Montesissa) is an architectural intervention to “experience” the trees as living organisms, through the creation of wood niches in which visitors take their seats. Again in wood is made by The fleet Group (Vasili Macharadze and Bessa Kartlelishvili), the sculptural work Mesh, in which the two authors report an object, the foot into the wild after being initially converted into trigonometric language.
Blackout project by Ada Kobusiewicz introduces us to the theme of ongoing climate change on our planet and invites to reflect on the question of energy savings. Also Arca (Ark) by Chiara Sgaramella is focused on raising public awareness, her work aims to celebrate biodiversity by building an ark.
The intention of Grace Zanotto with Lux Flower, a photo-luminescent flower that opens to the sun, is to create an installation that speaks of art as a possibility for dialogue between the species that live on Earth, to renegotiate the rights of all living beings.
The geometry is deeply connected to both Ramificioconnessioni by Matteo Rota – which reconstructs the vascular branching of the leaves and branches of trees tie in the three spatial dimensions through the figure of the cube – and the project Kreuzungen by Giacomo Zaganelli who wants to pay homage to the relationship between man-nature representing the contemporary environment through a large installation by floral appearance, made with linen thread.
The work Un mondo sommerso (A submerged world) by Diana Franceschin want to flip up and down and the elements earth, air and water, immersing the viewer in a hypothetical dip in the middle of a group of fish. While Skyfield, by Julia Jamrozik, is based on the idea of capturing the ephemeral and changing nature of heaven, and bring it to the ground, providing a new context for its remark.
Päivi Raivio is the author of Unwind, an installation that uses the element of the wind, is composed of aeolian harps, forming a corridor 20 meters long. The project of Selene Volpi concerns sound research of natural elements, Scatole sonore (Boxes Sheet) is an artwork composed by a collection of sculptures that play with the action of the wind.
The project Dada d’Adda di Susanna Battin, is found in many parts of the park and is in direct connection with either observation of the territory of the island and with eleven works realized by other artists.
The objective of Ecoismi is indeed to activate a process of raising awareness of environmental issues by introducing principles of “urban ecology”. It also aims to bring contemporary art to diverse audiences by implementing a model of creative enhancement of externalities of the territory.
The exhibition is open every day until 22 September. Admission is free.
More Info: www.ecoismi.org or www.comune.cassanodadda.mi.it
website for more information and photos on this unique project.
by John K. Grande where Sharon goes into more detail around the process of re-purposing the ivy and working with SPES and community members on The Ivy Project.
Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of art around these days questioning our relationship with the natural world and the creatures that live in it. Arts Catalyst’s extraordinary
waterways in the country, and the sculptures are, in a certain sense, tools for healing. Made from natural materials like clay, wax, and rope, they employ humble filtration devices to purify tiny amounts of water, or crystals intended to absorb negative forces. One recent work, Witness (2008), is a seal skull with crystals embedded in the eye sockets. A rope attaches the skull to a glass buoy, so when it is lowered into the water it can float through the depths, “seeing†and collecting information or negative energy, until it is retrieved by the artist. Olsen adopts the identity of “Vulture†for these actions, wearing a handmade protective helmet and suit to mimic the bird’s heightened immune system. Of course, these activities have negligible impact on the rampant pollution of the waterway. Olsen’s deliberate mixing of pragmatic and mystical solutions to the problem further obfuscate their effectiveness, while retaining the urgent desire for change.