FLUMEN 2021 – Climate Actions for the Rivers and Parks in Rome – Press Release and Programme

FLUMEN: RESTART THE PROJECT BETWEEN ART AND SCIENCE ON THE RIVERS OF ROME
The environment and the climate at the center of the project that brings together art and science. 2021 is dedicated to the redevelopment and planting interventions open to all on the Tiber, Aniene and Parco di Veio. It starts on 10 April and ends on 7 May with a conference at Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

The Climate Art Project cultural association presents the program for the second year of the Flumen project – Climate Actions for parks and rivers in Rome – conceived by the artist and engineer specializing in environmental sustainability Andreco.

The project presented by Roma Culture, is the winner of the Eureka! Rome 2020-2021-2022 edited by the Cultural Activities Department and is carried out in collaboration with SIAE and with an important network of artistic and scientific partners: National Research Council, CNR IRET, CNR IBPM, La Sapienza University, Roma TRE University, MAXXI, Palaexpo Special Company, Baruchello Foundation, Insieme per l’Aniene Onlus, CSA-Semi di Comunità, smART Foundation, ARPA LAZIO, Agenda Tevere, Joint Cultural Initiatives. The Flumen project is also included in the three-year actions envisaged by the Tiber River Contract relating to the river auction from Castel Giubileo to the mouth.

As for the year 2020, Flumen focuses on the IV Municipality of Rome, with a focus on the areas of the Aniene and appointments also along the Tiber and at the Parco di Veio. Meetings, walks, performances, exhibitions, workshops will involve adults, children and teenagers starting from 10 April in a project to discover the river ecosystem that characterizes and makes their city special, in a collective experience in contact with nature. “I believe that raising awareness and disseminating scientific knowledge linked to environmental issues, rivers and green spaces is fundamental to fuel a trans-disciplinary cultural debate and to build a truly sustainable society”, explains Andreco, whose research has been concentrated since 2000 on the relationship between art and science, on environmental sustainability and on the intersections between activism, anthropology, urban space, ecology, with an approach that flows into installations, videos, wall painting, performances and of course projects of a relational nature and environmental advocacy.

If in 2020 the project collected scientific data on the quality of river waters through a series of activities aimed at an audience of all age groups, allowing thanks to the work of the scientific partners who conducted theoretical and practical laboratories to learn the basic techniques for water quality analysis and receiving introductory elements to perform environmental monitoring, 2021 will be dedicated to the redevelopment of areas through planting campaigns. Good agroforestry practices will be rediscovered in a dimension that looks to the future, especially for the new generations.

A green classroom will be created, a work of Land Art, a public space accessible to all that also has regenerative capacity for the river ecosystem and the quality of the waters of the Aniene river. The planting project includes two circles of trees that delimit a space dedicated to meeting and environmental education. The “Pantheon of trees” that will grow over time will be found near some schools whose students will be able to use this place as the inhabitants and walkers of the Aniene Valley nature reserve.

Art and science will thus try to interact to imagine worlds, build a sense of awareness in citizens, to invent tomorrow together in a path that looks at life and its complexities.

This new one, the organizers explain, is marked by an unprecedented environmental and climate crisis that requires a collective effort and a radical transformation of our social practices and cultural and production models. Without a change in the common vision on how to co-inhabit the terrestrial ecosystem and without a widespread awareness of environmental issues, the change of course will not happen. This can risk putting the environment back at the center of our reflections, raising awareness of citizens, individuals, public administrations, the new generations and of course the cultural dimension on issues relating to the protection of biodiversity, redevelopment and re-appropriation of public space and green areas, to good practices. related to agriculture. In this sense, rivers, once central places of aggregation and exchange in people’s daily lives, return to take on a leading role in the Flumen project.

FLUMEN: THE PROGRAM from 10 April to 7 May.

All events are free, reservations are required at the climateartproject@gmail.com e-mail address.

Saturday 10 April 2021 from 11.00 to 13.00

Guided tour of the Tiber Area, recognition and mapping of the spontaneous and riparian greenery.

Meeting at the Tiber Island
Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola, Rome

On Saturday 10 April a guided tour will take place along the banks of the Tiber, in correspondence with the cycle path, starting from the meeting point with the public indicated at the beginning of the Tiber Island bridge, Trastevere side (Municipio I), by of the Climate Art Project Association and of Prof. Simona Ceschin of the Roma Tre University, together with the involvement of environmental associations and groups that are dedicated to the study of the Tiber River.

During the visit, after an introduction on the topics addressed by the project and by the research of Prof. Ceschin, who will be the reference point and term of comparison for the data collection, a spontaneous green mapping intervention will take place along the path with active involvement of the public. The mapping will be compared with one made many years earlier to verify how the composition of the spontaneous greenery and the biodiversity on the river banks have changed. For the recognition of the plants, in addition to making use of the experts present, the public will be able to use the mobile apps suggested by the organizers.

Reservation required at climateartproject@gmail.com e-mail address, a maximum of n. 30 participants.

Sunday 11 April 2021 from 11.00 to 13.00
Guided tour of the Tiber Area and mapping of the spontaneous green of the Tiber open to the public

Meeting at the Tiber Island (Town Hall I)
Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola, Rome

On Sunday 11 April, in continuity with the previous appointment, a guided tour will take place along the banks of the Tiber, organized by the Climate Art Project Association, by Prof. Simona Ceschin of the Roma Tre University together with the involvement of environmental associations and groups . During the course, Professor Ceschin will deal with introducing issues related to the state of the green areas of the city, involving the public in the mapping of the spontaneous greenery near the banks of the Tiber river.

Reservation required at climateartproject@gmail.com e-mail address, a maximum of n. 30 participants

Saturday 17 April 2021 from 10.30 to 13.00

Guided tour of the Aniene Valley Nature Reserve and cleaning and preparation for planting open to the public

Meeting at the Casa del Parco
Valle dell’Aniene nature reserve
Via Vicovaro snc, Rome

The meeting will take place on Saturday 17 April from 10.30 to 13.00, organized by the Climate Art Project Association and the Together for Aniene Association, within the Aniene Valley Nature Reserve (Municipality IV). During the tour, after the guided tour and an introduction on the issues addressed by the project, a land cleaning intervention will take place, in case small waste is encountered, near the Aniene river which will actively involve the public and prepare for subsequent planting actions.

Reservation required at climateartproject@gmail.com e-mail address, a maximum of n. 35 participants

Saturday 17 April 2021 from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm

Planting action open to the public

Meeting at the Casa del Parco
Valle dell’Aniene Nature Reserve
Via Vicovaro snc, Rome

Saturday 17 April, following the morning appointment, the fourth meeting will take place by the Climate Art Project Association and the Together for the Aniene Association and with the participation of the researcher Laura Passatore, National Research Council (CNR-IRET ). After a brief introduction on the themes of the project and on the scientific research carried out in the previous year within the Valle dell’Aniene Nature Reserve (Municipality IV), we will proceed with the planting action aimed at improving the river ecotype and the quality of the waters of the Aniene river and riparian areas. The action will lead to the creation of the Aula Verde a Land Art work by the artist Andreco but also a long-term phytoremediation intervention that will become in the future a place of environmental education for the schools present in the vicinity of the Reserve and for anyone who wants to live there. .

Reservation required at climateartproject@gmail.com e-mail address, a maximum of n. 35 participants

Saturday 24 April 2021 from 11.00 to 13.00

Guided tour of the Veio Park Area and planting action open to the public

Meeting at the headquarters of the CSA Semi di Comunità
via del Prato della Corte 1602a,
Veio Park, Rome

The fifth meeting will be held on Saturday 24 April at the CSA Semi di Comunità inside the Veio Park (Municipality XIV), a guided tour open to the public at the fields of the structure organized by the Climate Art Project Association and by Community seeds in which the themes of the project and the research carried out so far will be introduced to the public. We will then proceed with the planting activity open to the public in the areas owned by the CSA.

Reservation required at climateartproject@gmail.com e-mail address, a maximum of n. 30 participants.

Wednesday 28 April 2021 from 10.00 to 12.00

Guided tour of the Aniene Valley Nature Reserve and water sampling laboratory open to the public

Meeting at the Casa del Parco
Valle dell’Aniene Nature Reserve
Via Vicovaro snc, Rome

The meeting on Wednesday 28 April within the Aniene Valley Nature Reserve (Municipality IV), will be organized by the Climate Art Project Association and the Together for Aniene Association in collaboration with ARPA Lazio. The activity will be open to the public and will take place with the involvement of students from a secondary school in Rome. After an introduction to the issues of environmental education, students will actively participate in sampling operations, putting into practice the knowledge acquired.

The meeting will take place after the planting activity (17 April third appointment), there will therefore be a control and evaluation of the work carried out, with a verification of the rooting and the eco-physiological state of the plants in the green room , using instruments for measuring the efficiency of the photosynthetic apparatus. In addition, samples will be taken from the waters of the Aniene river in order to collect a further series of data updated to 2021 on the state of the river. These will then be used together with those collected in 2020 and those that will be collected in 2022, during the third year of the project to assess the state of the water and predict the environmental benefits resulting from the planting activity and the construction of the Green Room.

With this appointment, the training activity for citizens on the procedures for monitoring river water started in 2020 will also continue.

Reservation required at climateartproject@gmail.com e-mail address, a maximum of n. 30 participants

Friday 7 May 2021 from 17.00 to 20.00

Final talk open to the public

Meeting at Palazzo delle Esposizioni (PALAEXPO Special Company) or in the manner permitted by current regulations
Via Nazionale 194, Rome

On Friday 7 May at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, via Nazionale 194 (Municipio I) there will be a day of study in which the Climate Art Project Association will take part, together with representatives of the Together for the Aniene Association, of the CSA Seeds of Community, researcher Laura Passatore, National Research Council (IRET-CNR), Professor Simona Ceschin, Roma Tre University, Patrizia Brunetti (IBPM-CNR), Aria Spinelli (researcher and art historian), Sara Alberani (curator and art historian), Andrea Conte (artist and researcher) and all the scientific partners and environmental associations involved. After an initial moment dedicated to a meeting of all the subjects and scientific partners involved, for a multidisciplinary comparison and an exchange of knowledge on the topics addressed in the previous meetings, we will talk about the results obtained from the sampling of the waters of the Tiber and Aniene, carried out during the previous year, of the plantings and phytoremediation interventions of the current year.