S4W Open Call Challenge
Rebuilding Relationships with Fluvial Systems:
Exploring People’s Relationships with Rivers and Streams
Cittadellarte // Credit: G. Ferraris
Host / Region
 | Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy / North-western Italy, the western Alps and western Po Valley. |
Abstract
In this residency, we invite artists to approach rivers as ecosystems marked by a precarious balance between resources and consumption. Further,the concepts of common good and shared use, when applied to rivers, open the possibility of defining new forms of relations between uses, protection and enhancement. We invite artists to use digital technologies such A. I., sensors, data collection, infographics, augmented reality.
Keywords
common good, resources, consumption, community, climate change impact
Description of the regional challenge
In the area between the western Alps and the western Po Valley, in glaciers, snowfields and mountain springs, important rivers such as the Po, Tanaro, Ticino, Dora Baltea, Bormida, Agogna and Sesia, among others, have their source.. While they are fundamental to human life, at the same time, they are perceived of and used as resources for domestic and industrial applications and for agricultural production.
If observed closely, rivers are the very definition of real ecosystems: they are in fact composed of different and articulated materials and are based on a complex and at the same time fragile environmental balance between human experience, vegetation and local fauna.
The challenge that we invite artists to tackle through the STARTS residency is to analyse the links that human beings establish with fluvial systems both in relation to the consumption and exploitation of this water resource and the impact that human activities have on this water ecosystem.
Region information
The region of the western Alps and western Po Valley is predominantly rural. The territory is divided into mountains and rural areas with dwindling populations, hill areas that transition between the rural and urban, and highly urbanised plains. There is an important presence of rivers and streams which rise in glaciers, snowfields and Alpine springs.
How is the mission S+T+ARTS driven?
We are looking for artists who are able to interact with experts from different disciplines, and who are disposed to actively listen to the needs, questions and ideas arising from both society and science and digital technology. In addition, they will be able to translate the ideas and processes circulating within the scientific sector into artistic projects which impact society, inspiring, promoting or continuing processes of positive transformation.
Residency support network
- CNR: IMATI Institute: Enrico Magenes Institute for Applied Mathematics and Information Technology (Genoa)
- CNR: ISAC Institute: Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences (Turin)
- CNR: STIIMA Institute: Institute of Intelligent Industrial Systems and Technologies for Advanced Manufacturing (Biella)
- Universtiy of Turin
- Politecnic of Turin, Department of Environmental, Land and Infrastructure Engineering
- Politecnic of Turin, Department of Territorial Sciences, Planning and Policies
- Cordar, Biella. Aqueduct, Sewage and Purification Management