THE ROCK SLIDE AND THE WOODS
work by Andreco
production Centrale Fies
with the support of Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
with the partecipation of Ondina Quadri, Diego Giannettoni, Lucia Palladino, Arianna Aragno, Angela Burico, Biagio Laponte, Valentina Giuliani, Bianca Lee Vasquez, Emma Leoni, Elisa Bianchini, Eva Luna Thomann, Fedra Boscaro, Lisa Bosi, Piero Ramella, Michaela von der Heyde Kuddick )
There is nothing more curious than the confusion of these masses mixed up in an endless labyrinth. Up above, on the side of the mountain, the color and shape of the rocks still enable us to distinguish the spot where the downfall began; but with amazement we ask ourselves how a place of such apparently small dimensions could discharge a similar deluge of stones into the valley. In the midst of these strange formidable blocks, the traveller might believe himself to be in a world in which nothing reminded him of the known planet, of the smooth or gently undulated surface. Rocks resembling fantastic monuments rise up here and there; they resemble towers, obelisks, crenellated archways, shafts of columns, tombs turned upside-down or standing erect.
Élisée Reclus, Storia di una montagna (1881)
Characterized by the use of different means of expression, The Rock Slide and the Wood is a site-specific performance for small groups of people taking place in the prehistoric landslide “Marocche”. Along the path, the performers undertake small simbolic actions in dialogue with the installations which recall the natural surrounding; mountains, collapsed rocks and trees of the wood are turned into the main actors of the performance. The development of the project involved two workshops at Centrale Fies where participants dived into scientific and environmental issues connected to the peculiar geography of the area, and put into practice those methodologies that are dear to ecological activism and participatory public art. The performance, firstly, is inspired from Story of a mountain by Élisée Reclus, but also from the works of Murray Bookchin, Gilles Deleuze, Henry David Thoreau as well as contemporary scientific studies on environmental sustainability.
The Rock Slide and the Wood is part of “Nature as Art” , Andreco’s project in which the natural elements themselves are turned into artworks. In continuation of this research, the artist’s project for DRODESERA XXXVI also includes an installation – open for the whole duration of the Festival – involving bronze sculptures inspired by natural elements which preserve their original rituality.
The concept of nature as an “object” that “man” must use not only brings us to the full materialization of nature, but also to the one of “man” himself.
(M. Bookchin 2013 “Libertarian ecologism”)
Furthermore, the focus of Andreco’s project is perfectly complementary to the themes that will be tackled within the ART, DATA AND ACTIVISM workshop – 3rd appointment of the European project Urban Heat, curated by Centrale Fies and SAAL Biennaal. This meeting includes 15 International artists who will try to answer the question: “How can we think about the relationship with mountains, rivers and biodiversity from a non-anthropocentric point of view?”. Urban Heat is articulated in 7 meetings as Laboratories and Academies – hosted by festivals of FIT network – within a significant productive activity.
Visual artist born in Rome, since 2000, besides to a PhD in Environmental Engineer at Unibo and Columbia University in New York, he has pursued his artistic research, developing the relationship between urban space and natural landscape, between man and environment in all its forms. Andreco uses different techniques: installations, performances, videos, wall painting, sculpture and public art projects.
