Learning from the past to plan for the future

Issue 413 of the weekly publication “Epoca”, published on 2 September 1977, featured photo- graphs telling the story of Walter Bonatti’s journey among Yosemite’s giant redwood trees. Reading the article that accompanies these photographs, it becomes clear that Bonatti does not limit himself to immortalising these majestic trees, but rather describes them in such a way as to allow for a historical and scientific interpretation at the same time. A series of written work, notes and original slides are displayed in this room, bearing witness to Walter Bonatti’s empathetic - professional and personal - approach to nature. “I try to put myself in the shoes of the first man on earth, amazed as he carefully looks at the world that surrounds him, learning an important lesson about life”.

“For two days we travelled through the wide valley where swampland alternates with dense scrubland and forests of huge Guindo trees (Nothofagus betuloides), the beautiful Magellan’s beech with a tall trunk and green leaves all year round. However, we quite frequently stumbled across the sudden void of an incine- rated wood: squalid testimony of an irresponsible coloni- sation method, the worst conceivable way to free up fresh grazing land. That opulent vegetation, unque- stionably atrocious to penetrate but expressing the immortality of life and its ruling balance, had suddenly become its own skeleton. Thousands of white trunks, bony and chaotic arose from the ashes in forms resembling imploring arms and expressions of pain. I could not help but think of laws passed that are impotent against the destruction of our last earthly paradises. Having to pass through those obscene cemeteries of what was once unique nature was heart- breaking and we emerged looking like chimneysweeps”.
(Walter Bonatti)

This project is based on the research conducted by the couple along the oil and mining border of Ecuadorian Amazonia, one of the regions with the most biodiversity and mineral wealth on Earth; for a long time now, this area has been under pressure due to the dramatic expansion of large-scale mining activities. Forest Law focuses on a number of key legal cases that have seen the forest appearing in court in order to invoke nature’s rights. A particularly paradigmatic process that was recently won by the Sarayuku indigenous people based on their cosmology of the living forest.

During his stay in Uganda in 2006, Craig Richards was granted permission to take a series of photographs of certain members of the Bakonzo, Bamba and Pygmy communities. The photographer decided to take black and white photographs. By doing this, he set the subjects in a timeless context, bringing out the beauty, dignity and self-esteem of these people. The harsh yet reassuring presence of this captivating woman is protected by the mighty trunk of a gigantic tree. As is the case for the majority of the trees depicted, also in this shot, the human figure emerges from natural surroundings, bearing witness to a sense of cultural belonging and deep unity with nature.

Pioneers of the Eco-Art Movement, Helen Mayer Harrison & Newton Harrison began working together as artists at the end of the 1960s. Their Center for the Study of Force Majeure, together with numerous individuals and organisations such as the National Forest Foundation, created ‘Living Forests’ in 2016, a body promoting a systematic approach to the challenges caused by fire in the Sierra Nevada and California’s eastern mountain regions. Individuals and organ- isations, artists and scientists, political leaders and community groups, all contribute to this teamwork initiative, committed to building forest management and fire prevention solutions.
For further information: www.centerforforcemajeure.org/living-forests

Scientists predict that, by 2060, there will be 20% less river water flowing in Southern Europe due to climate change. This project offers a solution to combat these developments; it proposes to “re-terraform” the ground and reforest 1.46 million square km of land near to the areas where rivers are formed, for a total cost of approximately USD 1 trillion. This would drastically reduce the impact of increasing temperatures, flooding and drought. The artists submitted a proposal to the European Union to introduce a tax on water in order to raise the huge amount of money that would need to be spent over more than 50 years; their proposal, however, was not successful.

The photograph has been printed on Stone Paper, thanks to the collaboration with L’Artistica Savigliano.

This video, produced by working with a Lidar scan of an oak tree forest in Virginia, offers the opportunity to see humans from the point of view of trees. The off-screen voice of the philos- opher and botanist Emanuele Coccia invites us to question our sense of supremacy, taking a look at the extent to which humanity is dependent on the shape and physicality of trees. Quercus suggests that we need to make crucial changes to our perspective if we wish to find more radical ways of experiencing and protecting these complex ecosystems. This video invites us to understand how human life is closely linked to and depends on trees, and how humans and trees are inextricably intertwined.

This piece is the result of the collaboration between the artist and Costantino Bonomi, Curator in charge of the Botanical Section of the MUSE and of the Museum’s Seed Bank; it forms part of the ‘Radio Fonte Centrale’ project, created in 2019 after a meeting with the African shaman, Aisha. This is a stratification of several levels. The first level is environmental, reflecting on the migration dynamics of plants and their adaptation to climate change, introducing the concept of assisted migration. The second level is political and social, identifying similarities between the biological resistance of plants and the historical resistance of human beings. The third level is cultural, borrowing the messages of struggle from the book ‘Fra Contadini: Dialogo sull’Anarchia’ (‘Between Peasants: A Dialogue On Anarchy’), written by Errico Malatesta in 1883.

photo: Fausto Brigantino

Displayed here is an example of crop diversity in legumes. If kept at low-humidity and at a low temperature, seeds can survive for thousands of years. They are real time capsules of life, capable to regenerate whole organisms and entire populations. Dedicated seed banks keep a back up of species worthy of conservation, preventing their extinction and genetic erosion, whether they are crops, native species at risk of extinction or species that only grow in certain areas.

The Cannabis sativa is a plant that was traditionally grown in Italy but has since disappeared from this country following international directives. As it grows, this plant plays a naturally important role in terms of maintaining ecological balance (ecological value). Thanks to its rapid growth, it absorbs large quantities of CO2, which is more than the amount produced by its cultivation and processing; this is where the term carbon negative comes from. It is also able to absorb heavy metals from the soil, contributing to a healthy environment in the area where it lives. The idea behind this piece, which shuns intensive monoculture practices, is to rethink the relationship between human activity and natural processes, based on using nature’s ability to regenerate and on the principles of synergy and coexistence.