DIE ZAUBERBERGE_THE ENCHANTED MOUNTAINS
RESIDENCES FOR YOUNG ARTISTS EXTRA MOENIA
from 16 to 30 April 2023
Nuoro and Monte Verità, two magnetic places rich in history. Two ideal islands, two border lands and, at the same time, of belonging. This is the double scenario of the artistic residencies project resulting from the collaboration between the MAN Museum and the Monte Verità Foundation of Ascona, Switzerland. On a geographical line that leads from the north to the Mediterranean, from Lake Maggiore to Sardinia, the cultural exchange asks artists to reflect on common themes: the experience of walking and isolation, the great wild and luxuriant beauty of nature, the absolute breath of woods with archaic memory and Edenic innocence. Stories of life reduced to its essence have intertwined in these places with primitive forms of spiritualism and autarky. To be reread today in the current situation of critical thought that discusses the ecology of the soul and living.
The program kicks off in April and foresees that the three young Sardinian artists will win the open call Return to Monte Verità – Giaime Meloni, Elena Muresu, Marco Useli – carry out a period of research inhabiting the spaces of the famous “hill of utopia”, where architecture, art and dance have always dialogued in a virtuous way. An anarchist paradise that has attracted thinkers, painters, writers, philosophers, designers from every corner of Europe: from the anarchist Kropotkin to the Hungarian choreographer Rudolf von Laban, from the Dadaist Hugo Ball to the architect Walter Gropius, from the artist Hans Arp to Karl Gustav Jung, up to the great curator Harald Szeemann.
At the same time, the three artists of Swiss origin Tonatiuh Ambrosetti, Maya Hottarek, Lisa Lurati, will conduct an investigation in the Sardinian territory on themes proposed by the Museum and connected to the rich local identity, to the moods of the land they will inhabit.
Visiting professors Tobia Bezzola, Alessandro Biggio, Andrea Dall’Asta, Christiane Löhr and Una Szeemann will guide the creative path of the artists, stimulating discussion and research. During the three weeks of residency, they will come into direct contact with the history and suggestions of the respective territories in which they will find themselves working. A virtuous exchange that will lead to the development of reflections on the authentic nature of iconic places which, although distant on a geographical and cultural level, present the same archaic components of paradises in which man can live in isolation in nature.
The program includes moments of interaction between the two groups, conferences and joint events, as well as an overall presentation of the research carried out and the works produced expected at MAN in October.