The key objective of Fluviale is to investigate the relationship between human beings and the river and other entities, a theme developed in a series of events curated by Spazio HYDRO / Better Places which started in 2021, with talks, workshops and spectacular moments of visual and performing arts. One of the central topics of the first edition was ‘the river as a common’, referring to the attempt to rethink the river as a common good, but also as an entity bearer of transformations, needs, desires and therefore also of rights. The first event of 2022 is scheduled for Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March, and will expand on the theme of ‘the river as a common’, with a focus on the rights of water bodies. The weekend will also offer numerous activities relating to it: a workshop for the exploration and study of aquatic environments, a talk and round table open to the public with various guests of national relevance, and an exploration of the urban stretch of the river Cervo with an excursion along its banks. In addition to the workshop activities, there will also be room for entertainment, with a performance dedicated to the theme and a DJ set.
TACT
Fluviale is part of TACT (acronym for Territorio Arcipelago Comunità Torrente, i.e. Territory, archipelago, community, river), the winning project of the public call Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition, promoted by the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture. As part of the initiatives promoted by the project, from March onwards Biella’s citizens will be offered moments of discussion open to the public in the form of meetings, thematic conferences and educational workshops. The activities will take place in the regenerated spaces of Fondazione Pistoletto, conceived as urban centres and designed to host participatory planning initiatives that can generate innovative ideas with a territorial impact. TACT deals with the themes of environmental fragility and sustainability in general, with a particular focus on water, education, energy and food. The event of 12 April on the theme of water will be followed by one in May on education and food, and one in June on energy.
The organisations involved
The cultural proposal curated by Fondazione Pistoletto, Better Places and cheFare will also be supported by an important collaboration with project “S+T+ARTS4Water” (2021-2022), promoted by the European Commission within the programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020. National businesses particularly sensitive to the issues of sustainability and energy saving will also be involved in the discussions. The conferences and thematic workshops will be conducted by cultural mediators with the contribution of speakers and guests (not necessarily from Biella) who will involve the citizens in processes of analysis and debate on possible scenarios and future challenges towards sustainable prosperity in the Biella area. The project is promoted by Fondazione Pistoletto, Better Places and Che Fare, with the collaboration of Fondazione Biellezza e Biella Città Creativa Unesco. The activities are being carried out thanks to the cooperation of the youth associations Leo Club Biella, BI young, La Fenice, Biella Siamo Noi, Fridays For Future, Biella’s Province Student Council.
The workshop
On 26 March the curtain will rise on the festival with the workshop Acqua ad occhi chiusi, soggetti aperti (Water with closed eyes, open subjects), scheduled from 2.30 to 4.30 pm. The workshop, organised by the collective Corpi Idrici, aims at presenting a few techniques for the exploration and study of aquatic ecosystems and for entering into a relationship with a living and mobile territory, and at providing a set of tools to work with the landscape considering it as a living subject. Through a number of listening sessions and the generation of signs using automatic drawing and photography techniques, “we will attempt to discuss ways of listening to water,” explained the organisers, “going beyond the phenomenological. Stimulating an active and generative contemplation, we will ask ourselves how to document, shape, trace and study a changing element that outlines geographies and territories, bringing with it individual and collective stories”. Only 20 places are available for the workshop, pleaser register here.
The round table
The day will continue with the talk The river as a common good and its rights, scheduled from 5.00 to 7.00 pm. The round table, moderated by cheFare’s scientific director Bertram Niessen, will feature the following guests: Andreco, visual artist and environmental engineer (Rome); Corpi Idrici, multidisciplinary artistic research collective (Genoa); Maria Rosaria Marella, professor of private law at the University of Perugia; Giacomo Capuzzo, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ferrara and lecturer at the University of Perugia. EST-Urbano / Biella Observatory of Cultural Heritage and Landscape (Biella), Spazio Hydro (Biella) and Imbarchino del Valentino (Turin) will also take part in the event. The appointment is free, but booking is mandatory, please register here.
The performance and the DJ set
In the evening, starting at 9.30 pm, will be the performance Corpi idrici. Sinfonia da una città (Water bodies. Symphony from a city), followed by a DJ set by Stefania Vos and Kudd. The organisers explain: “Corpi Idrici is an audiovisual story without words. It is the result of a long process of study and experimentation on the ‘problem of water’ in Genoa which has involved Corpi Idrici, a multidisciplinary collective of visual artists, photographers, musicians, choreographers, researchers, architects and curators. The images unravel starting from the water courses of suburban areas to then focus on the relationship between water and the ‘built up environment’, finally investigating the infinite and fascinating underground world: manholes, tunnels, spillways. The music follows this drama, concrete and contextual noises are enveloped by the sound of a symphony orchestra: it is in fact a ‘symphony’, a world in movement, a system of evolving relationships”. Afterwards is a DJ set played by Imbarchino del Valentino and Hydro. One of the stars will be Stefania Vos, a selector from Puglia who for years has been based in Turin, the city to which she owes her first steps in the world of music. Her musical research oscillates between dance floor music with syncopated rhythms, low frequencies and creole attitudes on the one hand, and experimental, abstract and intimist sounds on the other. For the occasion, she will present a special set dedicated to water, trying to translate its hypnotic and calming flow into an equally liquid sound stream. Stefania Vos is part of the crews of RBL Torino and Imbarchino Soundsystem, and the hybrid collective Movimento Fantastico. Kudd is instead a local native who fell in love with music and the places where it is played. His passion led him to abandon his studies and develop almost an obsession with event production and the search for new music. He is one of the founders of Spazio Hydro and of Mullet Management, and a member of the Jazz:Re:Found team.
The walk
On Sunday 27 March, from 10.00 am till noon, the two-day event will end with a walk along the river and an aperitif. The guided and animated walk along the banks of the Cervo, organised in collaboration with EST-Urbano, will start from the Home of the Third Paradise at via Cernaia 46, cross the Chiavazza bridge, and move along via Collocapra and through the alluvial plain to the highway bridge and back. EST-Urbano is the campaign of the Biella Observatory of Cultural Heritage and Landscape to understand, feel and imagine the eastern area of the city of Biella, from the former hospital to San Paolo station. The Observatory of Cultural Heritage and Landscape is a non-profit organisation working for the protection, knowledge and management of the landscape, as intended by the European Landscape Convention of the Council of Europe. The access is free, but booking is mandatory, please register here.
