| |
|
| |
Andrea Caretto / Raffaella Spagna (Italy, 1970/1967) |
| |
|
| |
Andrea Caretto and Raffaella Spagna probe the deep relationships between man and the natural environment. They use the tools of the natural sciences and anthropology to analyse the connections between man, living organisms and the environment, developing projects, performances, relational practices and installations enriched by their respective backgrounds: landscape architecture for Raffaella and natural sciences for Andrea.
The development of the previous projects Esculenta, Food Island and Sativa-Cerealia originated with an introspective movement that investigates relationships with the environment. |
| |
|
| |
In Sativa the story of an area (Val di Susa) afflicted by serious environmental and social problems was recounted using cereals. The profound existing relations between cereals and man (natural, symbolic, social, sustentative, etc.) and the relationship between wild and domesticated was translated into highly significant experiential passages with a deep meaning, such as the study cultivation of fields of barley and durum wheat; the extraction and consumption of the juice obtained from them, which is highly nutritious and purifies the blood; and the processing of the green fibre waste from the extraction for the sculptural creation of a "landscape of memory".
Human Microbiome, a new work produced by CCCS for Green Platform, takes the form of a monolithic cabinet with drawers and openings, in which the visitor can "view" various types of materials and documents on the corporeal microcosm, known in scientific circles as the “human microbiome”. The data presented is translated into images, drawings, videos, dioramas and sculptural objects, all processed for the purpose of a cognitive and creative representation of the "otherness" constituted by the micro-organisms that inhabit it.
The intimate symbiotic relationships with bacteria – between the human macrocosm and the bacteriological microcosm that inhabits it – become a metaphor for the more extensive and indispensable relations between man and the ecosystem in which he exists. Caretto and Spagna invite us to reflect on the quest for true sustainability in terms of "profound ecology”. Radical revision of the anthropocentric point of view is required, along with the acquisition of awareness of the complexity of the world that surrounds us in order to feel ourselves finally part of a larger system, which we cannot disregard and to which we belong like all other living species, plants, bacteria and animals alike.
|
| |
|
| |
Human Microbiome, 2009
wooden structure, LCD monitor, paraffin objects, paper documents
258 x 210 x 129 cm
Special thanks to: Diego Bonetto, Vincenzo Guarnirei, Beatrice Mautino, PAV
(Parco d'Arte Vivente, Torino), Mary Perry (Human Microbiome Project - NIH, USA), Franco Torriani
installation produced by CCCS, Florence
Courtesy the artists.
Photo Credit: CCCS, Firenze; Valentina Muscedra |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
Human Microbiome (studio), 2009
drawing on paper
Courtesy the artists
Produced by Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina,
Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze
|
| |
......................................................................................................................................... |
| |
go to top |
| |
|
|
