Andreco creates ARNO Imaginary Topography, a large floor drawing in the Courtyard of the Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence.
The project was created on the occasion of the presentation of NAM – Not A Museum – a new contemporary art platform and of the opening of the summer programme by NAM, in collaboration with the Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence.
Andreco, Arno – Imaginary Topography
Andreco realized: Arno – Imaginary Topography, a 350 square meters site-specific intervention located in the central courtyard of Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence, Italy. The work, curated by Caterina Taurelli Salimbeni (MIM – Made in Manifattura), represents an imaginary topography beginning from the shape of the Arno river. The public art project is a tribute to the environment and to those suggestive landscapes in Tuscany where the work is located. This artwork is also part of the wider Andreco’s art project on river ecology, green spaces and environmental advocacy.
“For me the concrete form in the courtyard suggests an imaginary topography, a geological and morphological study for a future landscape. The floor-drawing wants to be a tribute to the territory, the geology, the rivers, the wetlands, the ecosystems, the unevenness of the Tuscan territories and to the place where it is located.
A variation of reds with a blue line in the center which represents the Arno river in the Florence district. An imaginative landscape determined by balanced blue elements. The shades of reds are inspired by the color of the bricks of the buildings. The painting deconstructs the architectural elements and smoothens the industrial architecture, re-establishing a new life and a new beginning. The regenerated space takes on new functions and new meanings, and it is the space that defines the image and the signifier. The variation of reds also reminds me of the areas of the graphs that indicate the dryness index of the soil as well as the lack of water and organic matter in the soil. Scientific studies prove the alteration suffered by rivers due to climate change in the Mediterranean area. The acceleration of desertification processes such as the increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme meteoric events change its fate. The alternation of full and low water will become increasingly intensified. Rivers and boulders are dear to me, I try to pay tribute to them everywhere, to overturn the famous anthropocentric hierarchy that places man first, then animals, then plants and finally mineral and inorganic matter. This concept has led to a rapid loss of biodiversity and a strong alteration of ecosystems, creating the current environmental, climatic and health crisis. My works want to change this hierarchy, placing geology and inanimate rocks first. Plants, animals, and humans should coexist in a mutualistic and symbiotic form. The ambition of my works is to change the human point of view from anthropocentric to eco-centric. ” – Andreco
Andreco, works between art, science and social and environmental themes. Andreco is a visual artist and also an environmental engineer PhD specialize in sustainable resources management in different climate conditions, he did a Post. Doc researches on green technologies and Nature Based Solutions for urban sustainability collaborating with the School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Bologna and the Columbia University of New York City. His artistic research is focused on the relation between humans and nature and between the built environment and the natural landscape. Since 2000 Andreco is researching between science, environmental sustainability, activism, urbanism, anthropology, ecology, philosophy, and symbolism, on the base of this transdisciplinary researches he creates his conceptual and visual language. Climate Art Project is one of his main projects about climate actions. Andreco uses many techniques to represent his art, from public installations to videos, performance or wall paintings and drawings. Andreco worked for several international festivals, museums and galleries. Andreco won the special price of the “Talent Prize 2017” at Macro Museum of Contemporary art of Rome, 2016, the international price for rural regeneration Jazzi, selected Artist for the Gran Tour d’Italie of the Ministry of Culture MIBAC 2019, Selected for the Italian Oscar prize for the environmental communication 2019 related to Climate Change. Andreco was part of the Venice Biennial of Architecture 2018, Arcipelago Italia, Italian Pavillion.
