Papers by Andrea Conte
Scientific Reports, Nature Portfolio, 2024
Nature‐based solutions inherently require a multifaceted perspective that encompasses diverse fie... more Nature‐based solutions inherently require a multifaceted perspective that encompasses diverse fields. The aim of this project is to develop more effective nature‐based solutions, climate action
and environmental awareness by breaking down boundaries between disciplines and fostering a co‐creative process. Concepts of ecology and urban forestry were combined with the research on political ecology, environmental humanities, land art, regenerative art, performing art, participatory art, and more‐than‐human art. This process resulted in the creation of Aula Verde Aniene. It is located in an urban park in Rome and consists of a stand of trees arranged in circles with a specific design to give the perception of being in an outdoor vegetated room. The project activities involved community participation through art performances and citizen science initiatives. Regulating and cultural ecosystem services of Aula Verde were assessed using i‐Tree Eco software and citizens’ surveys. Beyond numerical descriptions of ecosystem services, the manuscript introduces shinrin‐yoku as a practice to raise awareness of nature. The distinctive approach here described contributed to convey a sense of belonging to the ecosystem to citizens. The project framework and study findings have been developed to formulate policy recommendations and disseminate a format that can be adapted to diverse locations.
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Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture , Sep 1, 2023
Andrea Conte: Art, Sustainability, and the Climate Emergency text and images: Andrea Conte (Andre... more Andrea Conte: Art, Sustainability, and the Climate Emergency text and images: Andrea Conte (Andreco Studio) Andrea Conte is an Italian artist and activist with a background in environmental engineer specializing in sustainability. His conceptual imagery is characterized by the presence of natural elements, such as rocks and minerals. Through these symbols, Conte intertwines ecology, urban planning and environmental sustainability. "One of my main projects is called Climate Art Project (CAP), started in Paris, 2015, during the Climate Change conference COP21 as a trans-disciplinary initiative that overlaps scientific and artistic research to raise awareness on social and ecological urgency as Climate Change. CAP uses the language of visual art to underline open questions in the contemporary debate and envision climate actions and possible scenarios for the future. Started as one of my artist practices, CAP became also a cultural association based in Rome, that coordinated all the initiatives. It is an itinerant and multimedia project that uses: installations, sculptures, paintings, wall paintings and performances as political ecology and nature-culture agency. CAP builds a network of partners and relations to develop complex projects on vulnerable territories. In every chapter of the project a network is built between scientific research centers, cultural institutions, museums, theaters, galleries, festivals, independent art organization, art foundations, environmental associations, schools, universities, grass roots organizations and civil society. In Venice the focus was on sea level rise, in Portugal, drought and wildfires, in Puglia, the desertification process in the Mediterranean south, in Delhi, air pollution, in Rome green spaces conservation and river pollution, in the Alps the glaciers melting and the rivers flooding and drought. Nomad Landscape is an installation made of plants, soil, metal sculpture and tapestries, realized for the exhibition Future Landscapes. The plants are a different variety of ferns and hemps, chosen for their ability to treat the soil from metal pollutants. It’s not only about moving the plants in the white cubes, as many artists did it before me. I have other motivations, I want to address the latest scientific research on Climate Chance, political ecology and on nature-based solution (NBS). I study the ecosystem process able to self-regenerate and transform the pollutants generated by the industrialized societies. I am interested in the relation between human / plants / geology / ecosystems. In my installations I am not showing the plants themselves but the invisible chemical- physical transformations that happen between the plants and the rest of the ecosystem.
NBS promotes ecological process to mitigate impacts due by human beings, are effective for the Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. It’s been more than fifteen years that I’ve been doing this kind of installation with the plants that sometimes are combined with metal sculptures, textiles, paintings, photos or other artworks. In this case, tapestries that represent plant leaves and knives are hung on the walls.
Leaves are “imaginary weapons” considering the regenerative role that plants have in the ecosystem.
plants : ecosystems = revolutionaries : society
Plants in the ecosystems, with their capacity to rebalance and regenerate it, are like the revolutionaries in society when they become oppressive, authoritarian and liberticidal. This equation theoretically connects environmental science with critical thinking and political ecology.
The exhibition Future Landscapes was connected to a public program with outdoor activities such as workshops, citizen science activities, experiments, walks and performances. The initiative was realized with the help of Sara Alberani and with a vast group of partners, collaborators and friends as Anna Cestelli Guidi, Maurizia di Nata, Laura Passatore and many others.
After the article a discussion between Andrea Conte (andreco .org ) and Giovanni Aloi editor in chief of Antennae Journal and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Antennae
Editor in Chief
Giovanni Aloi – School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Academic Board
Steve Baker – University of Central Lancashire
Melissa Boyde – University of Wollongong
Ron Broglio – Arizona State University
Matthew Brower – University of Toronto
Eric Brown – University of Maine at Farmington
Carol Gigliotti – Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver Donna Haraway – University of California, Santa Cruz
Susan McHugh – University of New England
Brett Mizelle – California State University
Claire Parkinson – Edge Hill University
Cecilia Novero – University of Otago
Jennifer Parker–Starbuck – Royal Holloway
Annie Potts – University of Canterbury
Ken Rinaldo – Ohio State University
Nigel Rothfels – University of Wisconsin
Jessica Ullrich – University of Art Münster
Andrew Yang – School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Global Contributors
Sonja Britz / Tim Chamberlain / Conception Cortes / Amy Fletcher / Katja Kynast / Christine Marran / Carolina Parra / Zoe Peled / Julien Salaud / Paul Thomas / Sabrina Tonutti / Joanna Willenfelt
Advisory Board
Rod Bennison / Helen J. Bullard / Claude d’Anthenaise / Lisa Brown / Chris Hunter / Karen Knorr / Susan Nance / Caroline Picard / Andrea Roe / David Rothenberg / Angela Singer / Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Copy Editor and Design
Erik Frank and Giovanni Aloi
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (ISSN 1756-9575) is published triannually by AntennaeProject, Chicago. Contents copyright © 2020 by the respective authors, artists, and other rights holders. All rights in Antennae: The Jour- nal of Nature in Visual Culture and its contents reserved by their respective owners. Except as permitted by the Copy- right Act, including section 107 (fair use), or other applicable law, no part of the contents of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture may be reproduced without the written permission of the author(s) and/or other rights holders.
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Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture #61, 2023
Andrea Conte: Art, Sustainability, and the Climate Emergency
text and images: Andrea Conte (Andre... more Andrea Conte: Art, Sustainability, and the Climate Emergency
text and images: Andrea Conte (Andreco Studio)
Andrea Conte is an Italian artist and activist with a background in environmental engineer specializing in sustainability. His conceptual imagery is characterized by the presence of natural elements, such as rocks and minerals. Through these symbols, Conte intertwines ecology, urban planning and environmental sustainability.
"One of my main projects is called Climate Art Project (CAP), started in Paris, 2015, during the Climate Change conference COP21 as a trans- disciplinary initiative that overlaps scientific and artistic research
to raise awareness on social and ecological urgency as Climate Change. CAP uses the language of visual art to underline open questions in the contemporary debate and envision climate actions and possible scenarios for the future. Started as one of my artist practices, CAP became also a cultural association based in Rome, that coordinated all the initiatives. It is an itinerant and multimedia project that uses: installations, sculptures, paintings, wall paintings and performances as political ecology and nature-culture agency. CAP builds a network of partners and relations to develop complex projects on vulnerable territories. In every chapter of the project a network is built between scientific research centers, cultural institutions, museums, theaters, galleries, festivals, independent art organization, art foundations, environmental associations, schools, universities, grass roots organizations and civil society. In Venice the focus was on sea level rise, in Portugal, drought and wildfires, in Puglia, the desertification process in the Mediterranean south, in Delhi, air pollution, in Rome green spaces conservation and river pollution, in the Alps the glaciers melting and the rivers flooding and drought.
Nomad Landscape is an installation made of plants, soil, metal sculpture and tapestries, realized for the exhibition Future Landscapes. The plants are a different variety of ferns and hemps, chosen for their ability to treat the soil from metal pollutants. It’s not only about moving the plants in the white cubes, as many artists did it before me. I have other motivations, I want to address the latest scientific research on Climate Chance, political ecology and on nature-based solution (NBS). I study the ecosystem process able to self-regenerate and transform the pollutants generated by the industrialized societies. I am interested in the relation between human / plants / geology / ecosystems. In my installations I am not showing the plants themselves but the invisible chemical- physical transformations that happen between the plants and the rest of the ecosystem.
NBS promotes ecological process to mitigate impacts due by human beings, are effective for the Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. It’s been more than fifteen years that I’ve been doing this kind of installation with the plants that sometimes are combined with metal sculptures, textiles, paint- ings, photos or other artworks. In this case, tapestries that represent plant leaves and knives are hung on the walls.
Leaves are “imaginary weapons” considering the regenerative role that plants have in the ecosystem.
plants : ecosystems = revolutionaries : society
Plants in the ecosystems, with their capacity to rebalance and regenerate it, are like the revolutionaries in society when they become oppressive, authoritarian and liberticidal. This equation theoretically connects environmental science with critical thinking and political ecology."
After the article a conversation between Andrea Conte ( Andreco .org ) and Giovanni Aloi - Editor in Chief of Antennae Journal and Professors at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Editor in Chief
Giovanni Aloi – School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Academic Board
Steve Baker – University of Central Lancashire
Melissa Boyde – University of Wollongong
Ron Broglio – Arizona State University
Matthew Brower – University of Toronto
Eric Brown – University of Maine at Farmington
Carol Gigliotti – Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver Donna Haraway – University of California, Santa Cruz
Susan McHugh – University of New England
Brett Mizelle – California State University
Claire Parkinson – Edge Hill University
Cecilia Novero – University of Otago
Jennifer Parker–Starbuck – Royal Holloway
Annie Potts – University of Canterbury
Ken Rinaldo – Ohio State University
Nigel Rothfels – University of Wisconsin
Jessica Ullrich – University of Art Münster
Andrew Yang – School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Global Contributors
Sonja Britz / Tim Chamberlain / Conception Cortes / Amy Fletcher / Katja Kynast / Christine Marran / Carolina Parra / Zoe Peled / Julien Salaud / Paul Thomas / Sabrina Tonutti / Joanna Willenfelt
Advisory Board
Rod Bennison / Helen J. Bullard / Claude d’Anthenaise / Lisa Brown / Chris Hunter / Karen Knorr / Susan Nance / Caroline Picard / Andrea Roe / David Rothenberg / Angela Singer / Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Copy Editor and Design
Erik Frank and Giovanni Aloi
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (ISSN 1756-9575) is published triannually by AntennaeProject, Chicago. Contents copyright © 2020 by the respective authors, artists, and other rights holders. All rights in Antennae: The Jour- nal of Nature in Visual Culture and its contents reserved by their respective owners. Except as permitted by the Copy- right Act, including section 107 (fair use), or other applicable law, no part of the contents of Antennae: The Journal of Na- ture in Visual Culture may be reproduced without the written permission of the author(s) and/or other rights holders.
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Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2020
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INARCOS, 2013
DAL GRIGIO AL VERDE
Le infrastrutture verdi come strumento per la mitigazione e l'adattamento ai ... more DAL GRIGIO AL VERDE
Le infrastrutture verdi come strumento per la mitigazione e l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici.
Il progetto di ricerca sui tetti verdi sperimentali realizzati presso l'Università di Bologna e gli scenari futuri.
SOMMARIO
Diversi studi hanno provato che le infrastrutture verdi sono un valido strumento per la mitigazione e l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici (Gill et al., 2007) apportando numerosi benefici per l'ambiente e la salvaguardia del territorio in ambito urbano. Tuttavia l'entità dei benefici ambientali è strettamente correlata al contesto territoriale e climatico del progetto. Si ritiene necessario fare uno studio approfondito di queste tecnologie per quantificare accuratamente i costi e dei benefici a seconda dell'area d'intervento. Nell'articolo è stato citato lo studio che li gruppo di ricerca sui Tetti Verdi dell'Università di Bologna sta facendo per la città di Bologna e per cui sono stati realizzati dei tetti verdi sperimentali sul laboratorio LAGIRN della Scuola di Ingegneria ed Architettura di via Terracini. Inoltre si ritiene opportuno affiancare allo studio dei costi e dei benefici delle infrastrutture verdi anche un ragionamento sull'analisi del rischio e sui costi dovuti a possibili disastri naturali evitati o mitigati da queste soluzioni progettuali [tabella 1]. In ultima analisi per una corretta e capillare diffusione delle infrastrutture verdi, appare necessario inserire incentivi concreti affiancati da strumenti normativi, di formazione e comunicazione, come è stato fatto in altre città in Europa e internazionalmente.
SUMMARY
Scientific studies proved that Green Infrastructures (GI) are important instruments for the climate change adaptation and mitigation (Gil et al., 2007) with several environmental benefits for the Urban environment. The GI performances and environmental behaviours are strictly connected to the climatic conditions of the area of the intervention. It is needed to study the GI from a site specific prospective. The article mentions, as case of study, the research project lead by The Green Roof Research Team of the University of Bologna about the environmental behaviours of green roofs in the City of Bologna. Two experimental green roofs, built and monitored for the project on the LAGIRN Laboratory of the School of Engineering and Architecture in via Terracini, are also mentioned. In evaluating the GI from a cost-benefit point of view it seems interesting to consider also the avoided costs related to flooding and environmental hazards (Tab 1). In conclusion for promoting the GI in Italy, financial incentives and new policies are needed with an effective communication campaign, as has been done in other cities in Europe and world wide.
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SSRN Electronic Journal, 2010
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Questa tesi di dottorato tratta il tema delle Tecnologie Appropriate e delle Buone Pratiche per l... more Questa tesi di dottorato tratta il tema delle Tecnologie Appropriate e delle Buone Pratiche per la gestione delle risorse idriche ed il risparmio energetico nell’ambito dell’abitato urbano e rurale. Viene fatta una breve panoramica sulle principali teorie e metodologie che fino ad oggi hanno fatto da linee guida per la progettazione sostenibile e il corretto utilizzo delle risorse. Questa visione d'insieme servira per esprimere delle valutazioni e trovare dei comuni dominatori per proporre una nuova metodologia d'approccio alla gestione delle risorse con particolare attenzione rivolta alla condizione presente e alla zona d’intervento. Site specific sustainability Approach (S3A). I casi studio: • Un progetto di approvvigionamento idrico e di desalinizzazione delle acque per un’oasi del Sahara marocchino. • Un progetto di ricerca della Columbia University e della NASA legato alla sostenibilita urbana di New York che analizza i benefici apportati dall'installazione di coper...
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Journal of Environmental Planning and Management , Nov 10, 2020
An attempt to link phytomanagement, art and social involvement is presented. The "Remediation" Pr... more An attempt to link phytomanagement, art and social involvement is presented. The "Remediation" Project started up from the search of sustainable solutions for the management of a riparian area in the city of Rome. With the participation of citizens, researchers carried out a preliminary survey on the presence of metals within the target ecosystem and a demonstrative experiment on phytoremediation. Several social and cultural events have been organized in connection with the scientific part of the project: a public debate, an art exposition, a performance and two workshops at the experimental field. The Project demonstrated that through art it is possible to raise curiosity on scientific issues; the participated survey on metal pollution highlighted the strict interconnection among environmental matrices (soil/water/bioma) and thus the risk of contamination transfer; the demonstrative experiment, even if very basic in order to be easily approached by citizens, showed the great potential of Nature Based Solutions.
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Espoarte, 2019
Arte, Scienza ed Ambiente in quattro punti
1. Ricerca artistica e ricerca scientifica
2. Arte e ... more Arte, Scienza ed Ambiente in quattro punti
1. Ricerca artistica e ricerca scientifica
2. Arte e Scienza. Universo, robotica e intelligenza artificiale?
3. Cambiamenti Climatici e Cancro, Urgenze del contemporaneo. Tematiche scientifiche da considerare
4. Arte e Scienza o Arte e Tecnologia, o Arte Digitale?
Articolo di Andrea Conte in arte Andreco per la rivista Espoarte #104 n.1 2019
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Digi journal , 2018
“Climate Art Project” is an art and science project on the climate Change causes and consequences... more “Climate Art Project” is an art and science project on the climate Change causes and consequences, made by the visual artist Andreco. Climate is composed by a series of interventions that took place in different European cities; the project started in Paris in November 2015 during the Cop 21, the UN conference about Climatic Changes, and subsequently continued in Bologna, Bari and Venice.
“Climate” consists in the realization of various site specific interventions, including installations in the urban space, mural paintings and talks which aim to create a connection between science and art, a dialogue that translates into works inspired by the latest scientific researches on the causes and the effects of climatic changes.
Andreco’s aim for this project is to underline the weaknesses of the territory where his interventions will take place. While in Bari the main theme was the accelerating desertification caused by tihe rising temperatures, in Venice the artist’s focus is the sea level rise. Andreco address also possible solutions in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation, as green infrastructures, green areas or other sustainable design solutions for make the cities more resilient.
#ClimateChange #adaptation #mitigation #contemporaryArt #publicart #publicspace #ResilentCities #Art&Science #ecology
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Environmental Engineering and Management Journal - Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania, 2013
This paper presents the description of a pilot green roof on the engineering laboratories of Uni... more This paper presents the description of a pilot green roof on the engineering laboratories of University of Bologna, Italy. The first results of the monitoring and simulation phase of the green roofs project that has been carried out by University of Bologna in collaboration with the Columbia University of New York aim at providing more evidence on green roof stormwater performance.
This project is the first green roof in the city of Bologna as no green roofs have been monitored for annual stormwater retention in this area.
Only one green roof in City of Genova, belonging to north Italian climate (the specific climatic context of the Mediterranean region: areas with this climate receive almost all of their precipitation during their winter season, and may go anywhere from 4 to 6 months during the summer without having any significant precipitation.) has been monitored and gave a 70 percent result in retention of the annual runoff (Palla et al., 2009).
The main objective was to compare this result to the Bologna pilot green roof and see how it differs from the other climatic area results.
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Books by Andrea Conte
RYC, re:imagine your city, 2023
In an era of melting pots, in which social multiplicities coexist within increasingly ecologicall... more In an era of melting pots, in which social multiplicities coexist within increasingly ecologically and environmentally fragile contexts, contemporary landscape design needs new approaches, perceptions, and shifts of gaze to prioritise from the earliest stages of the transformation of marginal territories and the inclusive participation of communities. Playful tactics can be an alternative tool to build spaces of inclusion and new alliances; they can rise to a sharing laboratory open to multiple experiences in transitional urban spaces by acting on the imaginary. This paper will attempt to critically read playful tactics as a tool of transition capable of operating a paradigm shift in urban transformation by engaging the collective imaginary.
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Deriveapprodi, 2022
Arte ed Ecologia Politica, la nascita di una pratica artistica.
Capito del Libro Contronature, te... more Arte ed Ecologia Politica, la nascita di una pratica artistica.
Capito del Libro Contronature, teorie e pratiche di Ecologia Politica.
Il testo descrive lo sviluppo concettuale di una pratica artistica decennale che indaga i rapporti tra la società degli umani e l'ecosistema di cui fa parte, con particolare attenzione alle critiche poste dall'ecologia politica e dai principali intellettuali ambientalisti da fine ottocento ai giorni nostri.
Vengono descritte teorie e definizioni che cercano di inquadrare la pratica artistica e alcuni casi studio di progetti sviluppati nel tempo.
Il testo è correlato di immagini relativa ad opere d'arte che traggono ispirazione dalle riflessioni filosofiche intorno alle tematiche sollevate dall'ecologia politica e dalle crisi climatiche ed ambientali.
Il libro CONTRONATURE è stato curato da Matteo Bronzi e Caterina Ciarleglio e raccoglie testi di molti autori che forniscono visioni e prospettive diverse sull'ecologia politica:
Marco Armiero, Michele Bandiera, Matteo Bronzi, Caterina Ciarleglio, Andrea Conte, Gianluca De Fazio, Alessio Giacometti, Federica Timeto, Miriam Tola, Andrea Zinzani, Maurizio Corrado
Contronature è edito da DeriveApprodi nel 2022 e fa parte della collana Habitus curata da Ilaria Bussoni e Silvestre Silva.
----
[eng]
Art and Political Ecology, the beginning of an artist practice.
A chapter part of the book: AGAINSTNATURE, Theory and Practices on Political Ecology.
In the chapter, the concepts behind Andreco's art practice on political ecology is described. Theoretical reflections, definitions and practical examples are described in the text quoting environmentalist and intellectuals of the last centuries and the recent climatic and social crisis.
CONTRONATURE, ( AgainstNature ) is a book curated by Matteo Bronzi and Caterina Ciarleglio, and made by many authors that gives different perspectives on Political Ecology. Text by Marco Armiero, Michele Bandiera, Matteo Bronzi, Caterina Ciarleglio, Andrea Conte, Gianluca De Fazio, Alessio Giacometti, Federica Timeto, Miriam Tola, Andrea Zinzani, Maurizio Corrado
DeriveApprodi edition, Habitus curated by Ilaria Bussoni and Silvestre Silva.
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Futuro Osmotico, 2018
Una pubblicazione, a metà tra uno studio ambientale del territorio ed un libro d'artista.
Arte, ... more Una pubblicazione, a metà tra uno studio ambientale del territorio ed un libro d'artista.
Arte, scienza e paesaggio. Una riflessione tra i servizi ecosistemici, le Nature Based Solutions e l'arte pubblica e partecipativa per la periferia di Bari. Una mappa immaginifica ed un percorso da fare sul territorio.
Il caso studio di Carbonara di Bari e Ceglie del Campo per il progetto Sentieri Quotidiani, realizzato per il bando Creative Living Lab del MIBACT. 2018
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Conference Presentations by Andrea Conte
BEYOND THE GAZE INTERPRETING AND UNDERSTANDING THE CITY - PROCEEDINGS - XI Congresso AISU / 10th AISU Congress, 2024
The urban space of the city stands between the tension of contemporary happenings and stagnant hi... more The urban space of the city stands between the tension of contemporary happenings and stagnant historical monuments that often overlap. The space/event where performative situated acts that stimulate the public imagination of the historical/archeological space to new future memories, and imaginations, in the contemporary social fabric of a melting-pot, of users from different backgrounds and experiences of relating to the historical and monumental space.
This paper examines contemporary interventions, in historical sites, of a performative temporary bodily nature, that relates stories regarding the historical fragments and mo- numents and relevant stories of today. These interventions stimulate alternative stories that offer new perceptions, relationships, and histories, ecologies from the official hi- storical ones associated with the monument. They focus on the present, and the issues touched and lived by the contemporary user. These performative events require bodily performance and direct physical tactile involvement between the subject and the site of examination. The performances of activist and political nature, place the historical monument in the contemporary context of different crises. The selected happenings are site-specific, situated within a historical structure, monument or space, present in the contemporary lives of the users of the city. The happening provokes a new reading of the historical monument in the current social-political and environmental crisis, within the sphere of cities as settings of movement, transformation and action.
The interventions result in a new form of stratified memory: complex, dynamic, imagi- ned and collective, where the subject associates their current lives with the continuous presence of the spaces created by the ruin/monument. In a way to perceive the space in a contemporary sense, the paper proposes alternative histories as a way of re-reading the city’s presence, as they are perceived by their observer, reader, and user of the space. Examining these stories as catalysts of unexpected ecologies and relationships between the individual user of the contemporary space and the monument. These newly created memories act as living archives, alternative heritages, non-archive or “anarchives”, as they stretch the histography of the site as an active generator of future memories, rather than a stagnant element.
The paper uses experiments in Rome and Moscow, to investigate the potential of the- se interventions related to relevant events and crises of the present, and how they are perceived by the contemporary user. The first case study is contextualized in the site of Rome’s foundation: the Tiber River and Tiberina island, titled as Tiberina, executed in january 2020. The collective performance, directed by studio Andreco, and executed by a collection of artists, intended to stimulate the lost but fundamental relationship of Roman territory and its waterfront. Aiming to shed light on the environmental and cli- matic issues related to the river Tiber, the green spaces of Rome and the planet. The per- formance intends to provoke the subversion of the perception of the Tiber, the Forum Boarium, the Aventine hill and the Valebrum valley, from monumental historical spa- ces, to shed attention on the environmental crisis of the Tiber today. The intervention involves a parade, involving rituals mimicking the several myths associated with the site. The collective participation in these rituals intends to stimulate a new imaginary of an apocalyptic future to call for action.
The second event examines the Black Square on the Red Square regarding the artistic temporary installation executed by Slovenian group Irwin (NSK) that took place in the monumental Red square in Moscow, in 6 June 1992 immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Black Square on Red Square is emblematic of the group’s self-declared persisting interest in the “ambivalent inheritance of the historical avant-gardes and its totalitarian successors, and thus with the dialectic of avant-garde and totalitarianism”. This event, documented by American film director Michael Benson in a three minute video, regards a fabric of a “black square” stretched in the red square of Moscow, in a performance that lasted for only 30 minutes, but created a historical precedent of ar- tistic action in public spaces up to today. 1992 was a pertinent year for such a project: in forming this composition, the collective combined the failed ambitions of artistic modernism with the failed ambitions of the Soviet state in building communism, in- terrogating what became of those unrealised future-oriented projects. The art historian Gediminas Gasparavicius described the action as the “stitch[ing] together of two unrea- lised utopias: the Soviet state that never achieved communism and an artistic avant-gar- de that never became a form of life”.
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Papers by Andrea Conte
and environmental awareness by breaking down boundaries between disciplines and fostering a co‐creative process. Concepts of ecology and urban forestry were combined with the research on political ecology, environmental humanities, land art, regenerative art, performing art, participatory art, and more‐than‐human art. This process resulted in the creation of Aula Verde Aniene. It is located in an urban park in Rome and consists of a stand of trees arranged in circles with a specific design to give the perception of being in an outdoor vegetated room. The project activities involved community participation through art performances and citizen science initiatives. Regulating and cultural ecosystem services of Aula Verde were assessed using i‐Tree Eco software and citizens’ surveys. Beyond numerical descriptions of ecosystem services, the manuscript introduces shinrin‐yoku as a practice to raise awareness of nature. The distinctive approach here described contributed to convey a sense of belonging to the ecosystem to citizens. The project framework and study findings have been developed to formulate policy recommendations and disseminate a format that can be adapted to diverse locations.
NBS promotes ecological process to mitigate impacts due by human beings, are effective for the Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. It’s been more than fifteen years that I’ve been doing this kind of installation with the plants that sometimes are combined with metal sculptures, textiles, paintings, photos or other artworks. In this case, tapestries that represent plant leaves and knives are hung on the walls.
Leaves are “imaginary weapons” considering the regenerative role that plants have in the ecosystem.
plants : ecosystems = revolutionaries : society
Plants in the ecosystems, with their capacity to rebalance and regenerate it, are like the revolutionaries in society when they become oppressive, authoritarian and liberticidal. This equation theoretically connects environmental science with critical thinking and political ecology.
The exhibition Future Landscapes was connected to a public program with outdoor activities such as workshops, citizen science activities, experiments, walks and performances. The initiative was realized with the help of Sara Alberani and with a vast group of partners, collaborators and friends as Anna Cestelli Guidi, Maurizia di Nata, Laura Passatore and many others.
After the article a discussion between Andrea Conte (andreco .org ) and Giovanni Aloi editor in chief of Antennae Journal and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Antennae
Editor in Chief
Giovanni Aloi – School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Academic Board
Steve Baker – University of Central Lancashire
Melissa Boyde – University of Wollongong
Ron Broglio – Arizona State University
Matthew Brower – University of Toronto
Eric Brown – University of Maine at Farmington
Carol Gigliotti – Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver Donna Haraway – University of California, Santa Cruz
Susan McHugh – University of New England
Brett Mizelle – California State University
Claire Parkinson – Edge Hill University
Cecilia Novero – University of Otago
Jennifer Parker–Starbuck – Royal Holloway
Annie Potts – University of Canterbury
Ken Rinaldo – Ohio State University
Nigel Rothfels – University of Wisconsin
Jessica Ullrich – University of Art Münster
Andrew Yang – School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Global Contributors
Sonja Britz / Tim Chamberlain / Conception Cortes / Amy Fletcher / Katja Kynast / Christine Marran / Carolina Parra / Zoe Peled / Julien Salaud / Paul Thomas / Sabrina Tonutti / Joanna Willenfelt
Advisory Board
Rod Bennison / Helen J. Bullard / Claude d’Anthenaise / Lisa Brown / Chris Hunter / Karen Knorr / Susan Nance / Caroline Picard / Andrea Roe / David Rothenberg / Angela Singer / Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Copy Editor and Design
Erik Frank and Giovanni Aloi
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (ISSN 1756-9575) is published triannually by AntennaeProject, Chicago. Contents copyright © 2020 by the respective authors, artists, and other rights holders. All rights in Antennae: The Jour- nal of Nature in Visual Culture and its contents reserved by their respective owners. Except as permitted by the Copy- right Act, including section 107 (fair use), or other applicable law, no part of the contents of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture may be reproduced without the written permission of the author(s) and/or other rights holders.
text and images: Andrea Conte (Andreco Studio)
Andrea Conte is an Italian artist and activist with a background in environmental engineer specializing in sustainability. His conceptual imagery is characterized by the presence of natural elements, such as rocks and minerals. Through these symbols, Conte intertwines ecology, urban planning and environmental sustainability.
"One of my main projects is called Climate Art Project (CAP), started in Paris, 2015, during the Climate Change conference COP21 as a trans- disciplinary initiative that overlaps scientific and artistic research
to raise awareness on social and ecological urgency as Climate Change. CAP uses the language of visual art to underline open questions in the contemporary debate and envision climate actions and possible scenarios for the future. Started as one of my artist practices, CAP became also a cultural association based in Rome, that coordinated all the initiatives. It is an itinerant and multimedia project that uses: installations, sculptures, paintings, wall paintings and performances as political ecology and nature-culture agency. CAP builds a network of partners and relations to develop complex projects on vulnerable territories. In every chapter of the project a network is built between scientific research centers, cultural institutions, museums, theaters, galleries, festivals, independent art organization, art foundations, environmental associations, schools, universities, grass roots organizations and civil society. In Venice the focus was on sea level rise, in Portugal, drought and wildfires, in Puglia, the desertification process in the Mediterranean south, in Delhi, air pollution, in Rome green spaces conservation and river pollution, in the Alps the glaciers melting and the rivers flooding and drought.
Nomad Landscape is an installation made of plants, soil, metal sculpture and tapestries, realized for the exhibition Future Landscapes. The plants are a different variety of ferns and hemps, chosen for their ability to treat the soil from metal pollutants. It’s not only about moving the plants in the white cubes, as many artists did it before me. I have other motivations, I want to address the latest scientific research on Climate Chance, political ecology and on nature-based solution (NBS). I study the ecosystem process able to self-regenerate and transform the pollutants generated by the industrialized societies. I am interested in the relation between human / plants / geology / ecosystems. In my installations I am not showing the plants themselves but the invisible chemical- physical transformations that happen between the plants and the rest of the ecosystem.
NBS promotes ecological process to mitigate impacts due by human beings, are effective for the Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. It’s been more than fifteen years that I’ve been doing this kind of installation with the plants that sometimes are combined with metal sculptures, textiles, paint- ings, photos or other artworks. In this case, tapestries that represent plant leaves and knives are hung on the walls.
Leaves are “imaginary weapons” considering the regenerative role that plants have in the ecosystem.
plants : ecosystems = revolutionaries : society
Plants in the ecosystems, with their capacity to rebalance and regenerate it, are like the revolutionaries in society when they become oppressive, authoritarian and liberticidal. This equation theoretically connects environmental science with critical thinking and political ecology."
After the article a conversation between Andrea Conte ( Andreco .org ) and Giovanni Aloi - Editor in Chief of Antennae Journal and Professors at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Editor in Chief
Giovanni Aloi – School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Academic Board
Steve Baker – University of Central Lancashire
Melissa Boyde – University of Wollongong
Ron Broglio – Arizona State University
Matthew Brower – University of Toronto
Eric Brown – University of Maine at Farmington
Carol Gigliotti – Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver Donna Haraway – University of California, Santa Cruz
Susan McHugh – University of New England
Brett Mizelle – California State University
Claire Parkinson – Edge Hill University
Cecilia Novero – University of Otago
Jennifer Parker–Starbuck – Royal Holloway
Annie Potts – University of Canterbury
Ken Rinaldo – Ohio State University
Nigel Rothfels – University of Wisconsin
Jessica Ullrich – University of Art Münster
Andrew Yang – School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Global Contributors
Sonja Britz / Tim Chamberlain / Conception Cortes / Amy Fletcher / Katja Kynast / Christine Marran / Carolina Parra / Zoe Peled / Julien Salaud / Paul Thomas / Sabrina Tonutti / Joanna Willenfelt
Advisory Board
Rod Bennison / Helen J. Bullard / Claude d’Anthenaise / Lisa Brown / Chris Hunter / Karen Knorr / Susan Nance / Caroline Picard / Andrea Roe / David Rothenberg / Angela Singer / Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Copy Editor and Design
Erik Frank and Giovanni Aloi
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (ISSN 1756-9575) is published triannually by AntennaeProject, Chicago. Contents copyright © 2020 by the respective authors, artists, and other rights holders. All rights in Antennae: The Jour- nal of Nature in Visual Culture and its contents reserved by their respective owners. Except as permitted by the Copy- right Act, including section 107 (fair use), or other applicable law, no part of the contents of Antennae: The Journal of Na- ture in Visual Culture may be reproduced without the written permission of the author(s) and/or other rights holders.
Le infrastrutture verdi come strumento per la mitigazione e l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici.
Il progetto di ricerca sui tetti verdi sperimentali realizzati presso l'Università di Bologna e gli scenari futuri.
SOMMARIO
Diversi studi hanno provato che le infrastrutture verdi sono un valido strumento per la mitigazione e l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici (Gill et al., 2007) apportando numerosi benefici per l'ambiente e la salvaguardia del territorio in ambito urbano. Tuttavia l'entità dei benefici ambientali è strettamente correlata al contesto territoriale e climatico del progetto. Si ritiene necessario fare uno studio approfondito di queste tecnologie per quantificare accuratamente i costi e dei benefici a seconda dell'area d'intervento. Nell'articolo è stato citato lo studio che li gruppo di ricerca sui Tetti Verdi dell'Università di Bologna sta facendo per la città di Bologna e per cui sono stati realizzati dei tetti verdi sperimentali sul laboratorio LAGIRN della Scuola di Ingegneria ed Architettura di via Terracini. Inoltre si ritiene opportuno affiancare allo studio dei costi e dei benefici delle infrastrutture verdi anche un ragionamento sull'analisi del rischio e sui costi dovuti a possibili disastri naturali evitati o mitigati da queste soluzioni progettuali [tabella 1]. In ultima analisi per una corretta e capillare diffusione delle infrastrutture verdi, appare necessario inserire incentivi concreti affiancati da strumenti normativi, di formazione e comunicazione, come è stato fatto in altre città in Europa e internazionalmente.
SUMMARY
Scientific studies proved that Green Infrastructures (GI) are important instruments for the climate change adaptation and mitigation (Gil et al., 2007) with several environmental benefits for the Urban environment. The GI performances and environmental behaviours are strictly connected to the climatic conditions of the area of the intervention. It is needed to study the GI from a site specific prospective. The article mentions, as case of study, the research project lead by The Green Roof Research Team of the University of Bologna about the environmental behaviours of green roofs in the City of Bologna. Two experimental green roofs, built and monitored for the project on the LAGIRN Laboratory of the School of Engineering and Architecture in via Terracini, are also mentioned. In evaluating the GI from a cost-benefit point of view it seems interesting to consider also the avoided costs related to flooding and environmental hazards (Tab 1). In conclusion for promoting the GI in Italy, financial incentives and new policies are needed with an effective communication campaign, as has been done in other cities in Europe and world wide.
1. Ricerca artistica e ricerca scientifica
2. Arte e Scienza. Universo, robotica e intelligenza artificiale?
3. Cambiamenti Climatici e Cancro, Urgenze del contemporaneo. Tematiche scientifiche da considerare
4. Arte e Scienza o Arte e Tecnologia, o Arte Digitale?
Articolo di Andrea Conte in arte Andreco per la rivista Espoarte #104 n.1 2019
“Climate” consists in the realization of various site specific interventions, including installations in the urban space, mural paintings and talks which aim to create a connection between science and art, a dialogue that translates into works inspired by the latest scientific researches on the causes and the effects of climatic changes.
Andreco’s aim for this project is to underline the weaknesses of the territory where his interventions will take place. While in Bari the main theme was the accelerating desertification caused by tihe rising temperatures, in Venice the artist’s focus is the sea level rise. Andreco address also possible solutions in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation, as green infrastructures, green areas or other sustainable design solutions for make the cities more resilient.
#ClimateChange #adaptation #mitigation #contemporaryArt #publicart #publicspace #ResilentCities #Art&Science #ecology
This project is the first green roof in the city of Bologna as no green roofs have been monitored for annual stormwater retention in this area.
Only one green roof in City of Genova, belonging to north Italian climate (the specific climatic context of the Mediterranean region: areas with this climate receive almost all of their precipitation during their winter season, and may go anywhere from 4 to 6 months during the summer without having any significant precipitation.) has been monitored and gave a 70 percent result in retention of the annual runoff (Palla et al., 2009).
The main objective was to compare this result to the Bologna pilot green roof and see how it differs from the other climatic area results.
Books by Andrea Conte
Capito del Libro Contronature, teorie e pratiche di Ecologia Politica.
Il testo descrive lo sviluppo concettuale di una pratica artistica decennale che indaga i rapporti tra la società degli umani e l'ecosistema di cui fa parte, con particolare attenzione alle critiche poste dall'ecologia politica e dai principali intellettuali ambientalisti da fine ottocento ai giorni nostri.
Vengono descritte teorie e definizioni che cercano di inquadrare la pratica artistica e alcuni casi studio di progetti sviluppati nel tempo.
Il testo è correlato di immagini relativa ad opere d'arte che traggono ispirazione dalle riflessioni filosofiche intorno alle tematiche sollevate dall'ecologia politica e dalle crisi climatiche ed ambientali.
Il libro CONTRONATURE è stato curato da Matteo Bronzi e Caterina Ciarleglio e raccoglie testi di molti autori che forniscono visioni e prospettive diverse sull'ecologia politica:
Marco Armiero, Michele Bandiera, Matteo Bronzi, Caterina Ciarleglio, Andrea Conte, Gianluca De Fazio, Alessio Giacometti, Federica Timeto, Miriam Tola, Andrea Zinzani, Maurizio Corrado
Contronature è edito da DeriveApprodi nel 2022 e fa parte della collana Habitus curata da Ilaria Bussoni e Silvestre Silva.
----
[eng]
Art and Political Ecology, the beginning of an artist practice.
A chapter part of the book: AGAINSTNATURE, Theory and Practices on Political Ecology.
In the chapter, the concepts behind Andreco's art practice on political ecology is described. Theoretical reflections, definitions and practical examples are described in the text quoting environmentalist and intellectuals of the last centuries and the recent climatic and social crisis.
CONTRONATURE, ( AgainstNature ) is a book curated by Matteo Bronzi and Caterina Ciarleglio, and made by many authors that gives different perspectives on Political Ecology. Text by Marco Armiero, Michele Bandiera, Matteo Bronzi, Caterina Ciarleglio, Andrea Conte, Gianluca De Fazio, Alessio Giacometti, Federica Timeto, Miriam Tola, Andrea Zinzani, Maurizio Corrado
DeriveApprodi edition, Habitus curated by Ilaria Bussoni and Silvestre Silva.
Arte, scienza e paesaggio. Una riflessione tra i servizi ecosistemici, le Nature Based Solutions e l'arte pubblica e partecipativa per la periferia di Bari. Una mappa immaginifica ed un percorso da fare sul territorio.
Il caso studio di Carbonara di Bari e Ceglie del Campo per il progetto Sentieri Quotidiani, realizzato per il bando Creative Living Lab del MIBACT. 2018
Conference Presentations by Andrea Conte
This paper examines contemporary interventions, in historical sites, of a performative temporary bodily nature, that relates stories regarding the historical fragments and mo- numents and relevant stories of today. These interventions stimulate alternative stories that offer new perceptions, relationships, and histories, ecologies from the official hi- storical ones associated with the monument. They focus on the present, and the issues touched and lived by the contemporary user. These performative events require bodily performance and direct physical tactile involvement between the subject and the site of examination. The performances of activist and political nature, place the historical monument in the contemporary context of different crises. The selected happenings are site-specific, situated within a historical structure, monument or space, present in the contemporary lives of the users of the city. The happening provokes a new reading of the historical monument in the current social-political and environmental crisis, within the sphere of cities as settings of movement, transformation and action.
The interventions result in a new form of stratified memory: complex, dynamic, imagi- ned and collective, where the subject associates their current lives with the continuous presence of the spaces created by the ruin/monument. In a way to perceive the space in a contemporary sense, the paper proposes alternative histories as a way of re-reading the city’s presence, as they are perceived by their observer, reader, and user of the space. Examining these stories as catalysts of unexpected ecologies and relationships between the individual user of the contemporary space and the monument. These newly created memories act as living archives, alternative heritages, non-archive or “anarchives”, as they stretch the histography of the site as an active generator of future memories, rather than a stagnant element.
The paper uses experiments in Rome and Moscow, to investigate the potential of the- se interventions related to relevant events and crises of the present, and how they are perceived by the contemporary user. The first case study is contextualized in the site of Rome’s foundation: the Tiber River and Tiberina island, titled as Tiberina, executed in january 2020. The collective performance, directed by studio Andreco, and executed by a collection of artists, intended to stimulate the lost but fundamental relationship of Roman territory and its waterfront. Aiming to shed light on the environmental and cli- matic issues related to the river Tiber, the green spaces of Rome and the planet. The per- formance intends to provoke the subversion of the perception of the Tiber, the Forum Boarium, the Aventine hill and the Valebrum valley, from monumental historical spa- ces, to shed attention on the environmental crisis of the Tiber today. The intervention involves a parade, involving rituals mimicking the several myths associated with the site. The collective participation in these rituals intends to stimulate a new imaginary of an apocalyptic future to call for action.
The second event examines the Black Square on the Red Square regarding the artistic temporary installation executed by Slovenian group Irwin (NSK) that took place in the monumental Red square in Moscow, in 6 June 1992 immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Black Square on Red Square is emblematic of the group’s self-declared persisting interest in the “ambivalent inheritance of the historical avant-gardes and its totalitarian successors, and thus with the dialectic of avant-garde and totalitarianism”. This event, documented by American film director Michael Benson in a three minute video, regards a fabric of a “black square” stretched in the red square of Moscow, in a performance that lasted for only 30 minutes, but created a historical precedent of ar- tistic action in public spaces up to today. 1992 was a pertinent year for such a project: in forming this composition, the collective combined the failed ambitions of artistic modernism with the failed ambitions of the Soviet state in building communism, in- terrogating what became of those unrealised future-oriented projects. The art historian Gediminas Gasparavicius described the action as the “stitch[ing] together of two unrea- lised utopias: the Soviet state that never achieved communism and an artistic avant-gar- de that never became a form of life”.
and environmental awareness by breaking down boundaries between disciplines and fostering a co‐creative process. Concepts of ecology and urban forestry were combined with the research on political ecology, environmental humanities, land art, regenerative art, performing art, participatory art, and more‐than‐human art. This process resulted in the creation of Aula Verde Aniene. It is located in an urban park in Rome and consists of a stand of trees arranged in circles with a specific design to give the perception of being in an outdoor vegetated room. The project activities involved community participation through art performances and citizen science initiatives. Regulating and cultural ecosystem services of Aula Verde were assessed using i‐Tree Eco software and citizens’ surveys. Beyond numerical descriptions of ecosystem services, the manuscript introduces shinrin‐yoku as a practice to raise awareness of nature. The distinctive approach here described contributed to convey a sense of belonging to the ecosystem to citizens. The project framework and study findings have been developed to formulate policy recommendations and disseminate a format that can be adapted to diverse locations.
NBS promotes ecological process to mitigate impacts due by human beings, are effective for the Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. It’s been more than fifteen years that I’ve been doing this kind of installation with the plants that sometimes are combined with metal sculptures, textiles, paintings, photos or other artworks. In this case, tapestries that represent plant leaves and knives are hung on the walls.
Leaves are “imaginary weapons” considering the regenerative role that plants have in the ecosystem.
plants : ecosystems = revolutionaries : society
Plants in the ecosystems, with their capacity to rebalance and regenerate it, are like the revolutionaries in society when they become oppressive, authoritarian and liberticidal. This equation theoretically connects environmental science with critical thinking and political ecology.
The exhibition Future Landscapes was connected to a public program with outdoor activities such as workshops, citizen science activities, experiments, walks and performances. The initiative was realized with the help of Sara Alberani and with a vast group of partners, collaborators and friends as Anna Cestelli Guidi, Maurizia di Nata, Laura Passatore and many others.
After the article a discussion between Andrea Conte (andreco .org ) and Giovanni Aloi editor in chief of Antennae Journal and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Antennae
Editor in Chief
Giovanni Aloi – School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Academic Board
Steve Baker – University of Central Lancashire
Melissa Boyde – University of Wollongong
Ron Broglio – Arizona State University
Matthew Brower – University of Toronto
Eric Brown – University of Maine at Farmington
Carol Gigliotti – Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver Donna Haraway – University of California, Santa Cruz
Susan McHugh – University of New England
Brett Mizelle – California State University
Claire Parkinson – Edge Hill University
Cecilia Novero – University of Otago
Jennifer Parker–Starbuck – Royal Holloway
Annie Potts – University of Canterbury
Ken Rinaldo – Ohio State University
Nigel Rothfels – University of Wisconsin
Jessica Ullrich – University of Art Münster
Andrew Yang – School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Global Contributors
Sonja Britz / Tim Chamberlain / Conception Cortes / Amy Fletcher / Katja Kynast / Christine Marran / Carolina Parra / Zoe Peled / Julien Salaud / Paul Thomas / Sabrina Tonutti / Joanna Willenfelt
Advisory Board
Rod Bennison / Helen J. Bullard / Claude d’Anthenaise / Lisa Brown / Chris Hunter / Karen Knorr / Susan Nance / Caroline Picard / Andrea Roe / David Rothenberg / Angela Singer / Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Copy Editor and Design
Erik Frank and Giovanni Aloi
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (ISSN 1756-9575) is published triannually by AntennaeProject, Chicago. Contents copyright © 2020 by the respective authors, artists, and other rights holders. All rights in Antennae: The Jour- nal of Nature in Visual Culture and its contents reserved by their respective owners. Except as permitted by the Copy- right Act, including section 107 (fair use), or other applicable law, no part of the contents of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture may be reproduced without the written permission of the author(s) and/or other rights holders.
text and images: Andrea Conte (Andreco Studio)
Andrea Conte is an Italian artist and activist with a background in environmental engineer specializing in sustainability. His conceptual imagery is characterized by the presence of natural elements, such as rocks and minerals. Through these symbols, Conte intertwines ecology, urban planning and environmental sustainability.
"One of my main projects is called Climate Art Project (CAP), started in Paris, 2015, during the Climate Change conference COP21 as a trans- disciplinary initiative that overlaps scientific and artistic research
to raise awareness on social and ecological urgency as Climate Change. CAP uses the language of visual art to underline open questions in the contemporary debate and envision climate actions and possible scenarios for the future. Started as one of my artist practices, CAP became also a cultural association based in Rome, that coordinated all the initiatives. It is an itinerant and multimedia project that uses: installations, sculptures, paintings, wall paintings and performances as political ecology and nature-culture agency. CAP builds a network of partners and relations to develop complex projects on vulnerable territories. In every chapter of the project a network is built between scientific research centers, cultural institutions, museums, theaters, galleries, festivals, independent art organization, art foundations, environmental associations, schools, universities, grass roots organizations and civil society. In Venice the focus was on sea level rise, in Portugal, drought and wildfires, in Puglia, the desertification process in the Mediterranean south, in Delhi, air pollution, in Rome green spaces conservation and river pollution, in the Alps the glaciers melting and the rivers flooding and drought.
Nomad Landscape is an installation made of plants, soil, metal sculpture and tapestries, realized for the exhibition Future Landscapes. The plants are a different variety of ferns and hemps, chosen for their ability to treat the soil from metal pollutants. It’s not only about moving the plants in the white cubes, as many artists did it before me. I have other motivations, I want to address the latest scientific research on Climate Chance, political ecology and on nature-based solution (NBS). I study the ecosystem process able to self-regenerate and transform the pollutants generated by the industrialized societies. I am interested in the relation between human / plants / geology / ecosystems. In my installations I am not showing the plants themselves but the invisible chemical- physical transformations that happen between the plants and the rest of the ecosystem.
NBS promotes ecological process to mitigate impacts due by human beings, are effective for the Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. It’s been more than fifteen years that I’ve been doing this kind of installation with the plants that sometimes are combined with metal sculptures, textiles, paint- ings, photos or other artworks. In this case, tapestries that represent plant leaves and knives are hung on the walls.
Leaves are “imaginary weapons” considering the regenerative role that plants have in the ecosystem.
plants : ecosystems = revolutionaries : society
Plants in the ecosystems, with their capacity to rebalance and regenerate it, are like the revolutionaries in society when they become oppressive, authoritarian and liberticidal. This equation theoretically connects environmental science with critical thinking and political ecology."
After the article a conversation between Andrea Conte ( Andreco .org ) and Giovanni Aloi - Editor in Chief of Antennae Journal and Professors at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Editor in Chief
Giovanni Aloi – School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Academic Board
Steve Baker – University of Central Lancashire
Melissa Boyde – University of Wollongong
Ron Broglio – Arizona State University
Matthew Brower – University of Toronto
Eric Brown – University of Maine at Farmington
Carol Gigliotti – Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver Donna Haraway – University of California, Santa Cruz
Susan McHugh – University of New England
Brett Mizelle – California State University
Claire Parkinson – Edge Hill University
Cecilia Novero – University of Otago
Jennifer Parker–Starbuck – Royal Holloway
Annie Potts – University of Canterbury
Ken Rinaldo – Ohio State University
Nigel Rothfels – University of Wisconsin
Jessica Ullrich – University of Art Münster
Andrew Yang – School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Global Contributors
Sonja Britz / Tim Chamberlain / Conception Cortes / Amy Fletcher / Katja Kynast / Christine Marran / Carolina Parra / Zoe Peled / Julien Salaud / Paul Thomas / Sabrina Tonutti / Joanna Willenfelt
Advisory Board
Rod Bennison / Helen J. Bullard / Claude d’Anthenaise / Lisa Brown / Chris Hunter / Karen Knorr / Susan Nance / Caroline Picard / Andrea Roe / David Rothenberg / Angela Singer / Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Copy Editor and Design
Erik Frank and Giovanni Aloi
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (ISSN 1756-9575) is published triannually by AntennaeProject, Chicago. Contents copyright © 2020 by the respective authors, artists, and other rights holders. All rights in Antennae: The Jour- nal of Nature in Visual Culture and its contents reserved by their respective owners. Except as permitted by the Copy- right Act, including section 107 (fair use), or other applicable law, no part of the contents of Antennae: The Journal of Na- ture in Visual Culture may be reproduced without the written permission of the author(s) and/or other rights holders.
Le infrastrutture verdi come strumento per la mitigazione e l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici.
Il progetto di ricerca sui tetti verdi sperimentali realizzati presso l'Università di Bologna e gli scenari futuri.
SOMMARIO
Diversi studi hanno provato che le infrastrutture verdi sono un valido strumento per la mitigazione e l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici (Gill et al., 2007) apportando numerosi benefici per l'ambiente e la salvaguardia del territorio in ambito urbano. Tuttavia l'entità dei benefici ambientali è strettamente correlata al contesto territoriale e climatico del progetto. Si ritiene necessario fare uno studio approfondito di queste tecnologie per quantificare accuratamente i costi e dei benefici a seconda dell'area d'intervento. Nell'articolo è stato citato lo studio che li gruppo di ricerca sui Tetti Verdi dell'Università di Bologna sta facendo per la città di Bologna e per cui sono stati realizzati dei tetti verdi sperimentali sul laboratorio LAGIRN della Scuola di Ingegneria ed Architettura di via Terracini. Inoltre si ritiene opportuno affiancare allo studio dei costi e dei benefici delle infrastrutture verdi anche un ragionamento sull'analisi del rischio e sui costi dovuti a possibili disastri naturali evitati o mitigati da queste soluzioni progettuali [tabella 1]. In ultima analisi per una corretta e capillare diffusione delle infrastrutture verdi, appare necessario inserire incentivi concreti affiancati da strumenti normativi, di formazione e comunicazione, come è stato fatto in altre città in Europa e internazionalmente.
SUMMARY
Scientific studies proved that Green Infrastructures (GI) are important instruments for the climate change adaptation and mitigation (Gil et al., 2007) with several environmental benefits for the Urban environment. The GI performances and environmental behaviours are strictly connected to the climatic conditions of the area of the intervention. It is needed to study the GI from a site specific prospective. The article mentions, as case of study, the research project lead by The Green Roof Research Team of the University of Bologna about the environmental behaviours of green roofs in the City of Bologna. Two experimental green roofs, built and monitored for the project on the LAGIRN Laboratory of the School of Engineering and Architecture in via Terracini, are also mentioned. In evaluating the GI from a cost-benefit point of view it seems interesting to consider also the avoided costs related to flooding and environmental hazards (Tab 1). In conclusion for promoting the GI in Italy, financial incentives and new policies are needed with an effective communication campaign, as has been done in other cities in Europe and world wide.
1. Ricerca artistica e ricerca scientifica
2. Arte e Scienza. Universo, robotica e intelligenza artificiale?
3. Cambiamenti Climatici e Cancro, Urgenze del contemporaneo. Tematiche scientifiche da considerare
4. Arte e Scienza o Arte e Tecnologia, o Arte Digitale?
Articolo di Andrea Conte in arte Andreco per la rivista Espoarte #104 n.1 2019
“Climate” consists in the realization of various site specific interventions, including installations in the urban space, mural paintings and talks which aim to create a connection between science and art, a dialogue that translates into works inspired by the latest scientific researches on the causes and the effects of climatic changes.
Andreco’s aim for this project is to underline the weaknesses of the territory where his interventions will take place. While in Bari the main theme was the accelerating desertification caused by tihe rising temperatures, in Venice the artist’s focus is the sea level rise. Andreco address also possible solutions in the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation, as green infrastructures, green areas or other sustainable design solutions for make the cities more resilient.
#ClimateChange #adaptation #mitigation #contemporaryArt #publicart #publicspace #ResilentCities #Art&Science #ecology
This project is the first green roof in the city of Bologna as no green roofs have been monitored for annual stormwater retention in this area.
Only one green roof in City of Genova, belonging to north Italian climate (the specific climatic context of the Mediterranean region: areas with this climate receive almost all of their precipitation during their winter season, and may go anywhere from 4 to 6 months during the summer without having any significant precipitation.) has been monitored and gave a 70 percent result in retention of the annual runoff (Palla et al., 2009).
The main objective was to compare this result to the Bologna pilot green roof and see how it differs from the other climatic area results.
Capito del Libro Contronature, teorie e pratiche di Ecologia Politica.
Il testo descrive lo sviluppo concettuale di una pratica artistica decennale che indaga i rapporti tra la società degli umani e l'ecosistema di cui fa parte, con particolare attenzione alle critiche poste dall'ecologia politica e dai principali intellettuali ambientalisti da fine ottocento ai giorni nostri.
Vengono descritte teorie e definizioni che cercano di inquadrare la pratica artistica e alcuni casi studio di progetti sviluppati nel tempo.
Il testo è correlato di immagini relativa ad opere d'arte che traggono ispirazione dalle riflessioni filosofiche intorno alle tematiche sollevate dall'ecologia politica e dalle crisi climatiche ed ambientali.
Il libro CONTRONATURE è stato curato da Matteo Bronzi e Caterina Ciarleglio e raccoglie testi di molti autori che forniscono visioni e prospettive diverse sull'ecologia politica:
Marco Armiero, Michele Bandiera, Matteo Bronzi, Caterina Ciarleglio, Andrea Conte, Gianluca De Fazio, Alessio Giacometti, Federica Timeto, Miriam Tola, Andrea Zinzani, Maurizio Corrado
Contronature è edito da DeriveApprodi nel 2022 e fa parte della collana Habitus curata da Ilaria Bussoni e Silvestre Silva.
----
[eng]
Art and Political Ecology, the beginning of an artist practice.
A chapter part of the book: AGAINSTNATURE, Theory and Practices on Political Ecology.
In the chapter, the concepts behind Andreco's art practice on political ecology is described. Theoretical reflections, definitions and practical examples are described in the text quoting environmentalist and intellectuals of the last centuries and the recent climatic and social crisis.
CONTRONATURE, ( AgainstNature ) is a book curated by Matteo Bronzi and Caterina Ciarleglio, and made by many authors that gives different perspectives on Political Ecology. Text by Marco Armiero, Michele Bandiera, Matteo Bronzi, Caterina Ciarleglio, Andrea Conte, Gianluca De Fazio, Alessio Giacometti, Federica Timeto, Miriam Tola, Andrea Zinzani, Maurizio Corrado
DeriveApprodi edition, Habitus curated by Ilaria Bussoni and Silvestre Silva.
Arte, scienza e paesaggio. Una riflessione tra i servizi ecosistemici, le Nature Based Solutions e l'arte pubblica e partecipativa per la periferia di Bari. Una mappa immaginifica ed un percorso da fare sul territorio.
Il caso studio di Carbonara di Bari e Ceglie del Campo per il progetto Sentieri Quotidiani, realizzato per il bando Creative Living Lab del MIBACT. 2018
This paper examines contemporary interventions, in historical sites, of a performative temporary bodily nature, that relates stories regarding the historical fragments and mo- numents and relevant stories of today. These interventions stimulate alternative stories that offer new perceptions, relationships, and histories, ecologies from the official hi- storical ones associated with the monument. They focus on the present, and the issues touched and lived by the contemporary user. These performative events require bodily performance and direct physical tactile involvement between the subject and the site of examination. The performances of activist and political nature, place the historical monument in the contemporary context of different crises. The selected happenings are site-specific, situated within a historical structure, monument or space, present in the contemporary lives of the users of the city. The happening provokes a new reading of the historical monument in the current social-political and environmental crisis, within the sphere of cities as settings of movement, transformation and action.
The interventions result in a new form of stratified memory: complex, dynamic, imagi- ned and collective, where the subject associates their current lives with the continuous presence of the spaces created by the ruin/monument. In a way to perceive the space in a contemporary sense, the paper proposes alternative histories as a way of re-reading the city’s presence, as they are perceived by their observer, reader, and user of the space. Examining these stories as catalysts of unexpected ecologies and relationships between the individual user of the contemporary space and the monument. These newly created memories act as living archives, alternative heritages, non-archive or “anarchives”, as they stretch the histography of the site as an active generator of future memories, rather than a stagnant element.
The paper uses experiments in Rome and Moscow, to investigate the potential of the- se interventions related to relevant events and crises of the present, and how they are perceived by the contemporary user. The first case study is contextualized in the site of Rome’s foundation: the Tiber River and Tiberina island, titled as Tiberina, executed in january 2020. The collective performance, directed by studio Andreco, and executed by a collection of artists, intended to stimulate the lost but fundamental relationship of Roman territory and its waterfront. Aiming to shed light on the environmental and cli- matic issues related to the river Tiber, the green spaces of Rome and the planet. The per- formance intends to provoke the subversion of the perception of the Tiber, the Forum Boarium, the Aventine hill and the Valebrum valley, from monumental historical spa- ces, to shed attention on the environmental crisis of the Tiber today. The intervention involves a parade, involving rituals mimicking the several myths associated with the site. The collective participation in these rituals intends to stimulate a new imaginary of an apocalyptic future to call for action.
The second event examines the Black Square on the Red Square regarding the artistic temporary installation executed by Slovenian group Irwin (NSK) that took place in the monumental Red square in Moscow, in 6 June 1992 immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Black Square on Red Square is emblematic of the group’s self-declared persisting interest in the “ambivalent inheritance of the historical avant-gardes and its totalitarian successors, and thus with the dialectic of avant-garde and totalitarianism”. This event, documented by American film director Michael Benson in a three minute video, regards a fabric of a “black square” stretched in the red square of Moscow, in a performance that lasted for only 30 minutes, but created a historical precedent of ar- tistic action in public spaces up to today. 1992 was a pertinent year for such a project: in forming this composition, the collective combined the failed ambitions of artistic modernism with the failed ambitions of the Soviet state in building communism, in- terrogating what became of those unrealised future-oriented projects. The art historian Gediminas Gasparavicius described the action as the “stitch[ing] together of two unrea- lised utopias: the Soviet state that never achieved communism and an artistic avant-gar- de that never became a form of life”.