ABOUT CORPI IDRICI
Corpi Idrici is a transdisciplinary collective of artistic research initiated by Forevergreen in 2021 from the desire to create a shared path of investigation and construction of imagery, starting from the particular relationship of Genoa with water. Stretched between sea and mountains, the town has developed in length (with its approx. 35 km it is one of longest city in Italy) and is crossed by over 70 streams, rivulets and brooks that for urban and industrial reasons have been "tombed" since the Middle Ages.
One of the most industrialized Italian cities, Genoa grapples with the consequences of river covering, a well-established practice intensified by Capitalist industrialization and property speculation. This practice is a trauma that disrupts local ecosystems and communities, leading to resource deprivation and provoking floods and landslides, exacerbated by the looming climate crisis.
Seeking to connect the city's memories related to the element of water, punctuated by stories of floods, hydrogeological disruptions and land consumption, but also of futuristic experimentation and the development of unique skills, the collective offers a sensitive map that brings to light the potential expressed by Genoa's hydro bodies, conjoined with community struggles for land defense, possible responses to environmental emergencies, rituals related to water, and the idea that it can represent a creative and vital continuous flow for the future.
The formulation of the Charter of the Rights of Hydro Bodies intends to be the starting point for a change in people's perspective and behavior, to stimulate a new awareness of the fundamental role for the present and future of rivers, streams, creeks, seas and rainwater, which can activate a collective path of their custody at the local level and a rapid change in city, regional and national legislation, considering them as subjects of right.
ACTIVITIES
IMMERSE
December 2022
Sponsored by Goethe-Institut Genua and presented at La Claque Teatro della Tosse, Genoa - Italy
Interactive map
IMMERSE is an interactive map exploring the relationship between human and aquatic habitats, presenting a new narrative of the Genoese territory and its vulnerabilities. This project was developed in collaboration with Zones Portuaires Genova. The mapped sites include watercourses with artificial embankments, port docks, maritime and hydraulic industrial infrastructure, and inland and coastal areas where nature persists despite human intervention. This initiative is the result of a convergence of practices and research on Genoa’s coastal and inland territories, undertaken in recent years by the transdisciplinary collectives Corpi Idrici (promoted by Forevergreen) and Zones Portuaires Genova (curated by U-BOOT Lab). It follows the MedLiq Atlas workshop, curated by CDA Holon (Israel) and organised in Genoa in 2021 by the Goethe-Institut Genua. IMMERSE forms part of a larger international endeavour: the innovative digital atlas, Atlas of Mediterranean Liquidity.
Info
https://medliq.art/immerse/it/
Fluviale 2022
26th-27th March 2022
Spazio Hydro. Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella - Italy
Multidisciplinary performance, conference, and workshop
The workshop Water with Eyes Closed, Subjects Open introduced techniques for exploring and studying aquatic ecosystems, aiming to engage with a living, dynamic territory and to provide tools for working with the landscape, considering it as a living subject. Through a series of listening sessions and the creation of marks using automatic drawing techniques and photography, we explored ways of listening to water that transcend mere phenomenological data. The talk River as a Common, moderated by Bertram Niessen (Che_Fare), sought to reimagine rivers as living subjects, viewed from various perspectives, embodying transformations, needs, desires, and consequently, fundamental rights. Corpi Idrici invited Maria Rosaria Marella, Professor at the University of Rome 3, and Giacomo Capuzzo from the University of Perugia to participate. Corpi Idrici. Sinfonia da una città took the form of an audiovisual narrative performance without words. The visuals journeyed from the waterways of suburban areas, focusing on the relationship between water and the built environment, and ultimately delved into the infinite and intriguing underground world of manholes, tunnels, and spillways. The music guided this narrative, with concrete and contextual sounds intertwined with the sonic universe of a symphony orchestra: a “Symphony,” indeed, representing a world in motion, an evolving system of relationships. There is no moral, no interpretation, only a complexity that seeks to be conveyed.
Info
https://www.spaziohydro.com/river-as-a-common-2022/
Corpi Idrici. Sinfonia da una città
June / November 2021
Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Milan - Italy / Teatro Nazionale, Genoa - Italy
Music performance and theatre
Corpi Idrici. Sinfonia da una città is a co-production by Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli and Forevergreen.fm, as part of the Atlante degli Immaginari project, supported by Fondazione Cariplo. This work emerged from an investigative process conducted in Genoa (Italy), focusing on hydrogeological issues. It brought together three artistic research units in dialogue with scientific disciplines and active citizenship groups. The performance narrates a journey, translated into a musical, artistic, and theatrical experience in which citizens could both participate through the “Parliament of Hydro Bodies” and observe various forms of water, conceived as an element interconnected with the ecosystem and the development of the territory. The performance was staged in June 2021 at the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan, with musical direction by Matteo Manzitti, and in November 2021 at Teatro Ivo Chiesa - Teatro Nazionale in Genoa, directed by Alessandra Vannucci, as part of the Electropark festival.
Info
https://fondazionefeltrinelli.it/collabora/atlante-degli-immaginari-2/
https://www.teatronazionalegenova.it/news/electropark-corpi-idrici-sinfonia-di-una-citta/
Articles
https://www.roots-routes.org/corpi-idrici-a-cura-di-anna-daneri-e-nuvola-ravera/
https://animaloci.org/water-bodies/