Caretto/Spagna: experiences, forms, materials
Bright Ecologies. Caretto/Spagna: Experiences, Forms, Materials is the new book by Caretto/Spagna, edited by Giorgina Bertolino, Francesca Comisso, Cecilia Guida, Alessandra Pioselli, published by Viaindustriae with Les presses du réel (2024), thanks to the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, Italian Council Project (XII edition, 2023).
Caretto/Spagna are precursors of ecologically engaged artistic practices; they see art as a radical experience of openness, undisciplined research, and involvement with the “things” of the world: the earth, seeds, people, stones, the museum, the river, the quarry, the tree, microorganisms. Bright Ecologies. Caretto/Spagna: Experiences, Forms, Materials traces and documents twenty years of their work, structured on research involving care, the transformation of matter, and experiments in form, materialized in sculptures, site-specific installations, laboratories, residencies, actions, and collective projects based on encounter, process, gift, participation, and co-authorship.
Caretto/Spagna have been working together since 2002 and their artistic practice is marked by a philosophical, poetic and strongly political matrix expressed through activism and reflection on issues that are currently central to the international theoretical and artistic debate, in parallel with the rise of post-humanist and ecocentric philosophies, new materialisms and the growing alarm over climate change.
The book offers the first overview of Caretto/Spagna’s work, in a comprehensive monograph that interweaves the interpretative and documentary approaches, the critical and theoretical interpretation with the record and the reconstruction of an extensive itinerary, by means of descriptions and a rich array of images. Bright Ecologies, the result of a discussion between the artists, the curators and the publisher, is a book-device that provides the reader with multiple points of access. The book is structured in three parts, starting with an essay by anthropologist Tim Ingold, and with texts by the editors (Francesca Comisso, Cecilia Guida, Giorgina Bertolino) and a series of crossed referenced interpretations (Riccardo Venturi, Giusi Diana, Alba L’Astorina, Marie-Anne Lanavère). The central section of the monograph is dedicated to the archive, curated by Alessandra Pioselli in collaboration with Caretto/Spagna. Proceeding by key concepts, it is organised into ten sections: All the Things That Are, Domestications, Dwelling, Soil as Experience, Matter in-formation, Abyssal Time, Mountains Waters, Divinations, Dark Matters, Museum as Ecosystem. The documentation of over 50 projects is followed by ten stories, ten testimonies commissioned by the artists to people who have directly participated in various experiences. The third section of the monograph contains the conversation between Caretto/Spagna and Alice Benessia and the notes.
The book is the result of the collaboration and support of a plurality of institutions, agencies, and organizations. Promoted by Munlab Ecomuseum of Clay in Cambiano (TO, Italy) and IREA-CNR (Institute for Electromagnetic Environment Monitoring of the National Research Council), it was published thanks to the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, Italian Council Project (XII edition, 2023).
It involved a number of cultural partners: Cittadellarte - Pistoletto Foundation, Biella, Italy; COAL, Paris, France; Faculty of Fine Arts of San Carlos, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain; Merz Foundation, Turin, Italy; Zegna Foundation, Trivero, (BI), Italy; Ziemniaki i Foundation, Warsaw, Poland; Mart, Museum of modern and contemporary art of Trento and Rovereto, Rovereto (TN), Italy; Moray House School of Education, Institute for Education, Teaching and Leadership (IETL), University of Edinburgh, Scotland; MUDAM Luxembourg (Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean), Luxembourg; MUSE Science Museum of Trento, Italy; Musée Gassendi / CAIRN, Digne-les-Bains, France; MuseumsQuartier, Wien, Austria; PAV—Living Art Park, Turin, Italy; Publics, Helsinki, Finland; Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, Goa, India.
It was also published thanks to the sponsorship of: Chierese Community Foundation; Moray House School of Education, Institute for Education, Teaching and Leadership (IETL) - University of Edinburgh; Zegna Foundation, Trivero, (BI), Italy; T2D spa, Verona, Italy; Massimo Fariello; Barbara Frandino; Valerio Manghi; Maurizio Montesion - MDM, Turin, Italy.
The publisher of the volume is Viaindustriae publishing, Foligno in co-edition with the French publisher Les presses du réel (Dijon).
Bright Ecologies. Caretto/Spagna: Experiences, Forms, Materials by Caretto/Spagna, edited by Giorgina Bertolino, Francesca Comisso, Cecilia Guida, Alessandra Pioselli. Supported by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, Italian Council Project. Promoted by Munlab Ecomuseum of Clay in Cambiano (TO) and IREA-CNR (Institute for Electromagnetic Environment Monitoring of the National Research Council).
Texts by Alice Benessia, Giorgina Bertolino, Francesca Comisso, Giusi Diana, Cecilia Guida, Tim Ingold, Alba L’Astorina, Marie Anne Lanavère, Alessandra Pioselli, Riccardo Venturi. Contributions by Orietta Brombin, Leandre D’Souza, Carlo Fossati, Laura Harrington, Laurie Honoré, Clara Madaro, Valerio Manghi, [or nothing] & (SIC), Ippolito Ostellino, Mauro Sargiani. Published by Viaindustriae publishing. 368 pp., 20.5 x 28cm, EN/ITA, 2024. ISBN 979-12-81790-02-5.
Press office
Irene Guzman, irenegzm@gmail.com
Upcoming presentations
September 21: Cittadellarte—Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella (Italy), as part of the event “Arte al Centro” / October 9: CNR-Irea, Milano (Italy) / October 12: Munlab Ecomuseum of Clay, Cambiano (TO, Italy) / October 16: École d’Art Intercommunale Digne-les-Bains in collaboration with Musée Gassendi / CAIRN, Digne-les-Bains, France / October 20: Mart—Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto (TN, Italy) / November 9: Ziemniaki i Foundation, Warsaw. Poland.
