ArtePollino2022 – A walk across Pollino

There are many trails and paths, but there is a complex and winding one, where nature and man’s action are put together and compared.

If we ignore scientists’ multiple warnings about climate change, unfortunately global warming, deforestation, and accelerated biodiversity loss will keep going fast.  This requires a radical change in our behaviour and habits, to reduce the damage we have been making.

The walk/performance in the Pollino National Park of Lucy + Jorge Orta’s artist partnership, together with director David Bickerstaff, who will cross the area under the guidance of ArtePollino, starts from these very considerations. An audiovisual work to tell the experience will be created after the walk.

Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 of May 2022, the walk will be open to the public and anyone will be able to participate by booking in advance. Besides walking, participants will be invited to take part in the performance, with gesture poems, texts, thoughts, silent screams of sorrow at the shocking and unacceptable situation that is taking place: a cry capable of shaking the entire planet.

The places chosen for the walks are located within the Park. The selected trails are suitable for all, as they are not particularly difficult.  For the walks of 21 and 22 May, the Timpe Trail, between the Municipalities of San Costantino Albanese and Terranova di Pollino, and the Bosco Magnano Trail, between the Municipalities of Latronico and San Severino Lucano, have been chosen.

Lucy + Jorge Orta

Artist partnership established by the Argentinian Jorge Orta and Lucy Orta, from the United Kingdom, in 1991, when they founded their research centre in Paris to create works of art, publications, workshops and seminars. Lucy + Jorge Orta uses a wide range of expressive means – drawing, painting, sculpture, screen printing, as well as installations, workshops, and performance – to address social issues such as nutrition, housing, and environmental sustainability. The series of works “Refuge wear” (1992-96), habitats of minimal size and mobile nature (such as camping tents or sleeping bags), reshaped according to an anthropomorphic appearance, is emblematic in this sense. In 1997, they launched the multi-year project “Hortirecycling”. Reusing waste from various food processes, they built commonly used objects such as fridges, carts, and shelves for food collection and storage, symbolically combining functionality, design, and energy savings. Since the early 2000s, they have been to many cities performing “70 × 7 The Meal”, a performance dinner where spectators become real guests. It’s also a moment of exchange on issues such as environmental sustainability, environmental impact and food processes. In 2019, the performance was staged for ArtePollino under the “Ka art, drawing the collective map of Basilicata” project. Furthermore, Lucy + Jorge Orta redeveloped the old industrial sites of La Laiterie (2000), along the Grand Morin River, and restored two historic paper mills, the Moulin De Boissy (2007) and the Sainte Moulin-Marie (2009). Thanks to the artistic excellence of their environmental message, in 2007 they won the green leaf award of the United Nations environment programme, in collaboration with the Natural World Museum of the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo. In 2012, they exhibited at the MAXXI Museum in Rome the Fabulae Romanae installation, which is a symbol of the research work developed by the two artists.

David Bickerstaff

Artist and filmmaker, in 1997 he founded Atomictv to launch collaborations with directors and digital artists. His documentary works and art video installations have been exhibited and broadcast in Britain and in many international festivals and exhibitions, including the Wellcome Collection, the Vitra Museum, Onedotzero, the Festival International du Film sur L’Art Montreal, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Recently, he has directed and filmed a series of short art documentaries for the Art360 Foundation.

David Bickerstaff has worked with producer Phil Grabsky on the innovative series “Exhibition on Screen”, directing, filming and writing 12 art documentaries. This popular series is available in 63 countries and shown in over 1500 movie theatres worldwide. Each film is about an iconic artist and a great exhibition. Titles include the Danish Collector: Delacoix to Gauguin, Sunflowers, Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait, Van Gogh & Japan, Degas: A Passion for perfection, Michelangelo: Love and death, Canaletto & the Art of Venice, along with other films about artists such as Claude Monet, Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya.

David Bickerstaff is the Creative Director of Newangle Productions, a design studio that produces video and interactive installations for museums and visitor attractions. Recently, he has worked for the Natural History Museum, the Royal Collection Trust, British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Historic Royal Palaces, the Museum of London, the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. He has won several awards for his projects and is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.