ArtePollino2022 – June 25 – MATERA

ARTEPOLLINO2022 | PRESENTATION OF AUDIOVISUAL WORKS AND ACTIVITIES IN MATERA

On 25 June at 6 pm, in Matera, at the MUSMA- Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, the activities and audiovisual works developed under the ARTEPOLLINO2022 project will be shown. The project was developed within the framework of “APQ Sensi Contemporanei”, an agreement signed by the Basilicata Region, the Directorate-General of Films and Audiovisual Works of the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Territorial Cohesion Agency.

Sensi Contemporanei is a public investment programme, which uses art expressive forms as cultural and economic development drivers, capable of generating knowledge, skills, and jobs, as well as promoting the tourist potential and attractiveness of an area.

The ArtePollino project has involved artists, directors, researchers, professors of universities and fine arts academies, museums, foundations and musicians, inviting them to investigate the topic of Art and Nature. This led to the creation of a permanent work of art and a performance, as well as artist-in residence programmes, workshops, walks, events open to the public, meetings with students, and three audiovisual works: “Third Paradise: A Conversation with Michelangelo Pistoletto” directed by Luca Acito, “A walk across Pollino” directed by David Bickerstaff, and “Crossing” directed by Gaia Giani.

For his video “Third Paradise: A conversation with Michelangelo Pistoletto”, shot in the Pollino Park and the headquarters of the Cittadellarte/Pistoletto Foundation in Biella, director Luca Acito let himself be inspired by the very concept of the third paradise, seeking a balance between nature – which is predominant both in Latronico and in the Pollino Park – and the physical construction of the work. “Pistoletto’s desired balance becomes tangible, alive and evident in Latronico” says the director. “The dance of pictures of the Park and the making of the work is the backdrop to the artists’ words which, as heavy as boulders, urge us to continue to search, dig, and create.”

“A walk across Pollino” is the title of the performance that Lucy + Jorge Orta made in May, as well as of the video created on that occasion by director David Bickerstaff. Students and teachers of the Duni Conservatory of Matera and the University of Basilicata, local inhabitants and official Park guides took part in the performance. The performance focuses on gesture poems, silent and light, written in the air and free as a kite, whose strength lies in their ability to make us think about some of our destructive actions and the global effects of our behaviours.

“Crossing” is a short film inspired by the walks made with a group of artists across the Pollino Park. It is like an improvised dance performance, originated from the contact and the relationship with the people we have met and the places we have crossed. “It is in the form of a dream that it becomes a collective dream,” director Gaia Giani says, “because the text I wrote collects fragments of stories that I heard from my fellow travellers. The Albanian language has been chosen as it is the mother tongue of the young woman who tells the story. I also wanted one of the Arbëreshe towns I visited to become part of this story, even if it is not visible. The use of the Albanian language also comes from the idea of playing with sound and being guided by a language we do not understand, in order to be enchanted, just like when we make shapes out of clouds, roots and the landscape around us with our visions.”

For ArtePollino, the project has been both a fresh start after the pandemics and a connection to its past activities, the relationship between art and nature and the cultural work on the inland areas which the association has been carrying out for more than 14 years. Thanks to the many speakers and professionals involved, the project has led to interesting thoughts and readings on the Park’s natural heritage, also in relation to the historical moment, the environmental and social emergency we are living, and the need to make some changes.

The remarkable project contents, together with the artistic performances, public moments and activities, have generated a lot of interest on social media, with positive promotional and economic effects for the entire area.

For further information, please call 340.6786865 or send an email to artepollino@agnese-spera