UNDER WATER
Andreco, Georges-Louis Arlaud, Pablo Balbontin, Olivo Barbieri, Walter Bonatti, Calori&Maillard, Mircea Cantor, Carolina Caycedo, Nuno da Luz, Marjolijn Dijkman & Toril Johannessen, Simon Faithfull, Mario Fantin, Bepi Ghiotti, Cesare Giulio, Jeppe Hein, Frank Hurley, Invernomuto, William Henry Jackson, Adam Jeppesen, Peter Matthews, Elena Mazzi, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Ryts Monet, Pennacchio Argentato, Laura Pugno, Ernesto Samaritani, Studio Negri, Silvano Tessarollo, Helen Mayer Harrison & Newton Harrison, Gaston Tissandier, Julius von Bismarck, Thomas Wrede
The National Mountain Museum of Turin presents the exhibition Under Water in the spaces of the Filatoio di Caraglio. The exhibition, realized with the support of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, in collaboration with Fondazione ARTEA, Fondazione Filatoio Rosso, Municipality of Caraglio, is a continuum of the project Post-Water, presented at the Museomontagna from October 26, 2018 to March 24, 2019.
The project is curated by Andrea Lerda with Daniela Berta.
A path on the theme of water, articulated through video, photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and installation. The project includes the works of about twenty international artists, together with an important nucleus of photographs and historical documents belonging to the Documentation Area of the Museomontagna of Turin, for a total of about eighty works on display.
The exhibition is part of a global debate that sees the protagonist of the most essential natural element that generates and ensures the maintenance of life, water. Taking its cue from the words of Amitav Ghosh, who defined the era in which we live as the “Era of the Great Blindness”, the narrative starts from a reference to the myth of Narcissus. Never before has the reference to this mythological figure been as appropriate as it is today to describe the pathologically self-flattering attitude and the constant danger of de-realization of contemporary man. Never as today we are all called to question our sense of responsibility and our ability to “cure the look”, no one excluded.
The exhibition, born as a reflection on a theme of great collective urgency, arrives at the spaces of the Filatoio Rosso di Caraglio as an opportunity to emphasize the profound link between the themes dealt with in the exhibition and the aims of Acquaviva: a project financed within the framework of the “Interventi Faro” notice of the CRC Foundation and soon to be realized in the area of the former Powder Mill of Bottonasco in Caraglio. A reality that not only highlights the ongoing reflection within this territory on climate change, but also testifies to the need to identify new systems of collection, storage and management of water in mountain territories that can meet the water needs of the near future.
Recent works, together with some new productions specifically created for the exhibition, raise a series of reflections on the concept of “under water”. In the first instance, this “being underwater” is linked to the scenarios that the Anthropocene era was able to generate. Through a rhythm poised between past, present and future, themes such as the rise of the seas, the melting of glaciers and extreme events, return the image of a natural system as an organism in a state of general alteration.
However, the exhibition avoids focusing solely on water issues in the Anthropocene era and on what could be the scenarios of a “post-water” future. Rather, it seeks to reflect on the concept of “under water”, to be understood as man’s ability to resynchronize with natural rhythms in order to facilitate a process of climate change mitigation. The core of the exhibition is therefore the one suggested by UNESCO in the latest World Water Development Report 2018. The document indicated Nature Based Solutions (NBS), in accordance with the positive qualities of human engineering, as one of the most effective strategies to overcome water problems and to support sustainable growth aimed at human survival.
The exhibition is accompanied by scientific content from scholars, researchers and experts in the field, as in-depth analysis and theoretical support to the sections of the exhibition. The contributions have been realized and provided by Rajandrea Sethi, Luca Ridolfi, Alberto Tiraferri, Alberto Viglione, Bartolomeo Vigna (Department of Engineering for Environment, Territory and Infrastructures of Politecnico di Torino); Elisa Palazzi, researcher at ISAC – CNR (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council of Turin); Maria Paola Azzario and Stefano Chiesa (UNESCO Center of Turin); Sergio Vallesi (engineer of water resources and landscape ecologist); Stefano Ferrari (Studio di ingegneria Ferrari-Giraudo, Cuneo).
In the second part of the exhibition, the term “under” is instead to be understood as “less than water”: a condition of scarcity, absence or alteration caused by global warming, by situations of pollution and exploitation for political and economic purposes. The concept of “under water” then becomes an opportunity to reflect on the importance of rediscovering a conscious look, essential for the strategic planning and future management of water.
