ANDREA ABBATANGELO

Tutorial with Jonathan Kearney _ January 27th

Publish on my Blog Journal as Post n 27

Since I started the Master I’ve been expanding my research on what is the Public Space means in this context. Both the Climate & Biodiversity Crisis have inspired me to look at Nature and how is connected to the main topic of my research. This conducted me to reflect on the impact of art my practice to the environment and how to make it ecological and accessible. 

My interests to wild nature and permaculture have been increasing considerably. 

The session of January 26th ’22 was incredibly helpful for me to see that is ok to be where I am with my art practice and my research: 

1. I’m intellectually overstimulated and informed by the readings, mainly articles and interviews, that I feel my art practice is not capable to follow the track.
2. Despite my feeling to be overwhelmed by the amount of new information I’m working a lot with drypoint.
3. The current situation, with both Pandemic and some personal issues are forcing me to work with a different approach to the public space and to deal also with my expectations and frustrations about the lack of social connections

[ A RESUME OF MY CURRENT STATEMENT:

 

I NEED TO UNDERSTAND —> I READ MORE —> I NEED TO PROCESS THOSE INFORMATIONS/VISIONS —> SO I DRAW —> DRYPOINT IS MY FAVORITE ATM

I DON’T WANT TO RUSH MY RESEARCH

IT IS OK TO NEED MORE TIME (IF NECESSARY EVEN TO START AGAIN FROM ZERO) OR TO WATCH MY RESEARCH FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

MY WORK IN ZIMBABWE (2018) WAS IN THE CONTEXT OF A BIO-REGION

MY WORK IN PARIS (BANLIEUE NORD)  WAS IN THE CONTEXT OF A TECHNO-REGION 

MY WORK IN BOLOGNA NORD WAS IN THE CONTEXT OF A BIO-REGION CONVERTED IN A TECHNO-REGION IN THE ’70S OF XX CENTURY

MY WORK IN SICILY WAS IN THE CONTEXT OF A BIO-REGION

MY WORK IN SPAIN WAS IN THE CONTEXT OF A BIO-REGION

I’M RESPONDING TO PLACES SINCE I STARTED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY OF SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT 

MY RESEARCH ON CLIMATE & BIODIVERSITY CRISIS BROUGH ME TO FACE THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION  

EXTRACTIVISM ————> MAGIC (ETHICAL PROBLEM INSIDE THE ART COMMUNITY TOO!)*

                           ————> DATA (FROM BORDERS CONTROL TO DNA MAPPING, LINA WOLFF)

                           ————> RESOURCES 

                           ————>  HUMAN CAPITAL

                           ————> NATURE 

Further posts will come on those topics ]

The relationship, often antagonistic, between Techno-region and Bio-regions is central of both my research and my art practice. 

I felt the need to back to the origin of this phenomenon. If the historical frame starts with European Colonialism and then beginning of the Industrial Revolution untill today.

The upcoming Modern Rationalism chanted the connection of people to their ancenstry; slowly communities lost their connection and cultural sense of belonging to the territories they were originally from and living. Then it was much easier for them to move to places in proximity of the factories; this is the beginning of life in urban and sub-urban settlements. People use their work in manufactures to make the money to buy their food and pay their bills. In other words, the labour is separating them from the land, which until now provided them a direct source of food.

This in politically and economically the end of Feudalism and the raising of Capitalism. Most of those cities, needed resources and materials to transform and to produce in good to sell to the market and export.

Between 1980 / 1890 Colonialism (ie the system of Techno-regions) adopted an #intensive strategy of extraction of resources from remote, un-militarised, un-weaponised colonies (Bio-regions). #extractivism 

Furthermore, more Techo-regions was established between the XIX and the first decades of the XX centuries, from Sao Paulo to Kolkata, new centres was following the model of Western European cities such as London, Paris, Turin, Essen etc See Post n 25 and Post n 26

I’m very fascinated about DADA. Most recently I came across Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven's utilization of street debris/found objects in her own artworks. 

Her “KIND OF LIVING COLLAGE” has been incredibly influential for generation of artists - ie new-dada / new-realism of the ‘60s & ‘70s, from Raushemberg to Fluxus.

Her practice is an investigation of the possibilities of a “Irrational Modernism”, which is opposing to the mainstream Rational Modernism. I love the fact that the first was born and grown as a contradiction inside of the second.

Jonathan suggested me also to look at some similarities between today and when DADA appeared in the scenery - ie political instability and the “Spanish flue” vs Covid 19. 

++ PILLAGINS OF LANDS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE LAID FOUNDATION TO CLIMATE EMERGENCY ++

I had the opportunity to chat privately with Leandro Muniz, a Brazilian artist and curatorial assistant at MASP in Sao Paulo (he gave me the link to his interview to Esbel!) who have met Jainer Esbell after he presented his body of work at the Sao Paulo Bienniale & he curated in the same context the group exhibition presenting indigenous contemporary artists. 

I will dedicate a whole post on the Cosmovision behind his series “A Guerra dos Kanaimes“. See Post n 30 

  ++ Example of a combination of Climate Crisis and extractives from a Techno-region to generate an ecological crisis. On early 2000’s the Sundarbans archipelago in Gange Delta - in the Bay of Bengal - was the largest Mangrove Forest.

The inhabitants of the area were experiencing the disappearing of their home because of sea level rising and salt water erosion. Sunderbans are a vulnerable areas to climate crisis.

Rising sea level + extreme weather events = decline of the ecology of the area. The land is salty and arid. The population are also drilling for groundwater which is causing the islands to sink faster.

BEFORE XVI/XVII CENTURIES EARTH WASN’T SEEN AS AN OBJECT THAT HUMAN BEING WAS ALLOWED TO DISRESPECT 

++ RESEARCH IN PROGRESS | THE ARKETYPE OF UNION BETWEEN HUMAN BEING AND EARTH: 

IN SOUTH AMERICA —> Pachamama (Earth Mother)

IN THE EARLY JEWS —> 

IN THE INDU —>

IN ETRUSCAN —>

IN GREEK —>

From Maya Lunde’s book BIENES HISTORE (the history of bees - I’m reading the Italian version titled Un mondo senz’api) I get the inspiration to look at the case of bees losing their abilities to feed. 

The book is well informed, among others, by the observations by the work of rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth Langstroth's Hive and the Honey-Bee. She also introduced my to the work of two others pioneers, Swammerdam (Bibliae Naturae) and especially François Huber (New Observations on the Natuarl History). Particularly relevant for my research are the engravings published in this book (has been hard to buy!) produced by his son, Pierre Huber.

I’m reading the dedicated report from European Commission on Food Safety, fully dedicated on Neonicotinoids.

 

Furthermore I have some other articles of the legal cases lost by Bayer on this pesticide.

A very important contribution to the decline of wild pollinartors is made by Prof

Robert Gegear, from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Massachusetts (USA), who is evidencing the fragility of wild bees vs honey bees.

See Posts n   

 

Category: tutorials