Verso un’origine che accade ogni giorno perché ogni giorno piove
(Waterways. To an origin that happens every day because every day it rains)
2012
Installation + audio
8 walking stiks. 5 prints 15×22 cm.
205x150x50 cm.
File audio, 1 h 00’ 26” in loop.
Starting from a reflection on the formation and transformation processes of the Val d’Ossola landscape, the attention in this work is directed on one hand to water, which models the territory with its action of erosion and displacement, and on the other hand to the landscape experience, according to a long tradition of high mountain hiking. The work enacts the meeting between natural and cultural processes of defining a landscape.
I climbed the paths of the rivers that every day destroy and create their own landscape, towards the origin of that process, to the tops of the mountains where the clouds form; the clouds that daily feed these waterways, in a continuous cycle. My steps were accompanied by walking sticks recovered each time before starting the climb. Walking, the body disperses between the earth and the sky, restoring a primary relationship with the territory.
My paths intertwined with those of other walkers in the mountain shelters and bivouacs, where I found their writings in the “books of the shelter”. I give voice to them by reading and recording their thoughts, descriptions of landscapes, weather, of meals, to compose an audio installation, to be installed together with the walking sticks leaning against the wall, to hold up photos of clouds taken during the walks.
I traveled along the Strona stream in the Strona Valley, to Lake Capezzone and the Abele Traglio bivouac at 2100m; the Pedriola and Anza streams in the Anzasca Valley, to the Monte Rosa Glacier and the Zamboni-Zappa Refuge at 2070m; the Bogna stream, to the Marigonda bivouac in Alpe Laghetto at 1823m. And again the Devero, up to Devero Lake, stopping at the Castiglioni hut, 1856m, and finally, the Toce River to Toggia Lake at 2150m, where there is the Maria Luisa Hut. Chasing clouds.
I reach the refuges, where my routes intersect with those of others, and where I find words and tales left in the summit books, records of passages, notes, and impressions, which compose landscapes that manifest themselves in rhythm with the pace of my steps.
The reading of these traces shapes a sound setting that was diffused through the sound system of the factory that housed the exhibition, while the sticks used in the walks hold images of clouds captured on the peaks, in an installation.
Salita lenta causa mirtilli.
Sono solo tra le nuvole come piace a me.
Dopo una salita nella nebbia, quando ormai pensavamo di esserci persi, una schiarita ci ha permesso di scorgere il rifugio.
Come al solito piove.
Ambienti solitari e selvaggi da accostare con calma.
Nebbia fittissima, leggera pioggerella, temperatura 7°, visibilità zero.
Lago delle Locce. Quasi a toccare il cielo.
Nebbia, nuvole e pioggia.
Pizzo Bianco, 3215 metri, e ritorno. Nevica.
Tempo da lupi e acqua nelle nubi. Nessuna vista sul Monte Rosa.
Fortissimo temporale con grandine che ci ha beccati a 5 min. dal rifugio. Abbiamo apprezzato il tè. Ora che si sono calmate le acque torniamo a casa.
Piove.
Da Campello Monti, pausa al lago, verso Cima Altemberg.
Ricordo di ciò che è stata la Repubblica partigiana della Val d’Ossola. Senza memoria non c’è futuro.
Due stambecchi, un camoscio, una poiana.