I have always believed that training, researching, being an artist, is not just a matter of transmitting concrete information, images or stories. Artists must be able to testify that a THERE exists, that going THERE to verify makes sense and is worthwhile. The problem lies in identifying where that place is for each of us, and what tools we need to get there and talk about it.
“Thinking Like a Mountain” aspires to offer a contribution of experiences revolving around the process of revising biennial formats, basing its planning on three principles in contrast with the established ones: “more localized,” “long-term,” and “scaled.” The “Biennial of the Orobie,” as we might now rebaptize the program developed by GAMeC in collaboration with the communities of the extended territory of Bergamo, is an event held not every two years but rather for two years. It is one that does not happen in a place, but with a place, staging projects arising from the encounter between international artists and local communities on a scale that is not “the bigger the better” but variable in respect of the scale of each individual context.
In his first editorial essay, Lorenzo Giusti wondered which word may enclose and convey the founding intentions of the biennial program “Thinking Like a Mountain”, which opened last May.
He suggested an English word “togetherness” despite being unsure whether this term could be the best choice.
While reading the explanation of the meanings attributed to this word, the African concept of Ubuntu, a notion I had come across recently, came to mind.
Can a word unknown to most of us capture the ultimate meaning of our project?
The mountains resemble the very best part of me, so much so that they have become my “safe place.” A safe place is an imaginative technique to relieve symptoms of anxiety and distress in people who have experienced trauma. When I need it, I close my eyes and imagine myself on the top of a mountain whose summit I have laboriously conquered.
"Thinking Like a Mountain" is GAMeC’s invitation to take a “pas de côté”. This step aside allows us to look from a distance and renew our relationship with nature and collectivity through a new point of view and unique artistic processes. In the same spirit, I dedicate today’s In Brief to looking into our relationship with art differently. This opportunity not only entices an alternative view on art but also provides a point of view that is wholly integrated into our individual and communitarian lives. Such an active part of our existence also represents an accessible, everyday tool for reading our world.
Ursula K. Le Guin, in "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction" (1986), suggests moving away from hero-centered action and success stories, starring phallocentric weapons and linear temporalities of conquest and destruction, so as to rethink human evolution through a different tool: the carrier bag, a prerequisite for gathering, foraging, and collecting; for containing and receiving rather than for attacking, striking, and killing.
Some time ago, I found myself telling old friends about the idea behind Think Like a Mountain. As I talked, I realized how complicated it was to explain the sense of this “widespread program,” which is not an exhibition, not a biennial, not a festival, not a conference...
