The Orobie Biennial: Thinking Like a Mountain

After the first two cycles of events held in 2024, GAMeC’s biennial program Thinking Like a Mountain—under the artistic direction of Lorenzo Giusti—will once again actively engage the communities of the Bergamo area throughout 2025, together with the participation of international artists.

Presented as an alternative biennial format—and for this reason recently renamed The Orobie Biennial—Thinking Like a Mountain bases its planning on three pivotal principles, differing from traditional ones: i.e. being “more localized,” “long-term,” and “scaled.” The Orobie Biennial is in fact an event that is held not “every two years” but “for two years,” and that does not occur “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 “as large as possible” but sustainable and variable in relation to the dimension of each individual context.

Between Bergamo and numerous municipalities throughout the mountains, valleys, and plains of the territory, works by Atelier dell’Errore, Cecilia Bengolea, Bianca Bondi, Maurizio Cattelan, Abraham Cruzvillegas, EX., Asunción Molinos Gordo, Francesco Pedrini, and Julius von Bismarck—among others—will be featured over the course of the year, along with film productions by Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto, Agnese Galiotto, and Giulio Squillacciotti.

The program will unfold in three cycles of events, to be opened on February 8, June 7, and October 4 respectively.

Program

February–May
The first cycle will open with a tour of the Bergamo valleys of three films produced by GAMeC: Paraflu by Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto analyzes the figure of the wolf as a symbol of independence and knowledge, of conflict and transformation; Migratori by Agnese Galiotto evokes a critical reflection on the tensions between scientific observation and animal freedom through the measurement of data gathered on migrating birds; MUT by Giulio Squillacciotti recounts the cyclical nature of life in mountain huts, which becomes a universal portrait of working with animals and family relationships. Among others, the tour will stop off in the communes of Vedeseta (Val Taleggio), Gromo (Val Seriana), Averara (Val Brembana), and Gorno (Val del Riso), and will be coupled with a series of conversations with the filmmakers themselves in the GAMeC spaces.

Also on the program in February is the 12th edition of the Premio Lorenzo Bonaldi per l’Arte – EnterPrize: the project Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde by curator Greta Martina constitutes an invitation to rediscover the bond with nature through wonder, care and responsibility, and involves artists Attila Faravelli, Enrico Malatesta, O Thiasos TeatroNatura (Sista Bramini, Camilla Dell’Agnola, Nora Tigges), Umberto Pellini, Nicola Ratti, Lorenzo Silvestri, and Valentina Viviani. The exhibition will be presented in Serina especially for the occasion of the opening, during which there will be a performance by Australian artist Felicity Mangan, before then being moved to the GAMeC spaces.

June–September
Maurizio Cattelan will be featured in the next exhibition at Palazzo della Ragione: the Sala delle Capriate will host a recently produced work of his, and, on this occasion, the project will also extend beyond the walls of the Palazzo thanks to the collaboration with the Municipality of Bergamo, bringing the artist face to face with the public space, and giving rise to new productions spanning the Upper and Lower Town.

A work by Argentine artist Cecilia Bengolea will be presented in Villa d’Almè as part of the new edition of ON AIR – Argentina-Italia Art Residency, while Dossena and Roncobello will host site-specific interventions by German artist Julius von Bismarck and by Bergamo-born artist Francesco Pedrini, the first in the oldest mining district in Val Brembana, and the second as the result in a research path grounded in studies into archeoastronomy and other disciplines, to be shared in a series of meetings open to the public.

A special project arising from collaboration between GAMeC and the Bergamo section of the Club Alpino Italiano will also be presented in the summer. EX., a design studio based on the work of Andrea Cassi and Michele Versaci, will be responsible for the reconstruction of the historical Aldo Frattini bivouac in Valbondione, in the Seriana Valley, imagining the new structure as a high-altitude GAMeC “venue” that will serve as a base for environmental monitoring activities, data collection and scientific research, thus contributing to the knowledge and protection of mountain ecosystems.

October–January
The fall cycle of Thinking Like a Mountain will include an exhibition by the Italian art collective Atelier dell’Errore for the GAMeC project room, bringing together the most significant sets of work from their recent production; the South African artist Bianca Bondi will create a site-specific installation for the deconsecrated Church of Santa Maria di Gerosa in Val Brembilla, while in the Valle della Biodiversità di Astino, the Spanish artist Asunción Molinos Gordo will develop a participatory arts workshop with the aim of creating a sustainable and multifunctional management model for new generations. The Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas will close the rich fall program with a site-specific installation—made in a participatory manner together with a number of communities from the Bergamo plain—with everyday objects and waste materials from across the territory. 

Alongside the exhibitions and projects of Thinking Like a Mountain, the work of the online magazine will continue. Throughout 2024, it brought together interviews with artists, contributions, and in-depth studies on the themes addressed by the project, ranging from contemporary arts to design, from architecture to anthropology.

Radio GAMeC programming will also resume, with a new season dedicated to Thinking Like a Mountain, curated by author and radio producer Ilaria Gadenz. The podcasts will be available via the magazine as well as the GAMeC social media channels.

Thinking Like a Mountain is a GAMeC project.

Artistic Director: Lorenzo Giusti
Associate Curators: Sara Fumagalli, Marta Papini
Head of Magazine: Valentina Gervasoni