BAROQUE BLUE Ionian SeArt Residency 202
NATURE AND SHAMANIC COSMOLOGY: The Lower World
Visual Arts & Performing Arts in the Nature
curated by Dores Sacquegna
Baroque Blue is a holistic art residency set in a stunning, natural location, right 100m from the Ionian sea of Santa Caterina and the Porto Selvaggio Regional Park. With a wide range of activities, Primo Piano, with the care of Dores Sacquegna, organizes the third edition of Baroque Blue with the theme “Nature and Shamanic Cosmology: the lower world”.
Baroque Blue 2024 with the residency project “Nature and Shamanic Cosmology,” proposes a journey between anthropology, archaeology, psychology and contemporary art to discover the fascinating world of shamans, through a multidisciplinary path that dialogues with elements of Apulian shamanism ( eerie anthropic masks, Neo- and Paleolithic graffiti, atavistic rituals related to the Taranta myth, drums, ritual costumes and trousseaus, zoomorphic god-figures of the popular bestiarium) with immersive installations in nature and artworks produced from the imputs received.
But what really is shamanism? Who are shamans and what do they do? Can we consider these figures the most ancient mediators between humanity and nature? The basic point of the project is the stylized human figure of a “dancing shaman” woman in the graffiti of Porto Badisco Grotto on the Adriatic side and considered as the first artistic and spiritual testimony of Salento, elected as an undisputed symbol of the ancient history of this part of Italy, but also other elements such as the anthropic masks found on monuments, facades of palaces and depictions of Apulian popular Iconography.
Shamanic practice, combined with archaeology and contemporary art, moves from a spiritual or therapeutic dimension of nature to an artistic practice that crosses over, the environmental issue, a theme of absolute topicality: in fact, starting from the work-manifesto Defense of Nature by Joseph Beuys, a shamanic artist par excellence, the residency, suggests a respectful and conscious coexistence in which human beings do not live outside or in antithesis to the animal, natural or spiritual worlds but are part of them.
Divided into three sessions or worlds ( Lower World, Middle World, Upper World) , the residency offers artists, the opportunity to connect the Téchne, the spirit and the idea between shamanism and technology, proposing their art as a life experience, as an immersive sensory exploration through nature, applied to cognitive science.
The intent is to weave opportunities and horizons for dialogue among artists of different generations and backgrounds, to experiment with a strategy of transversality, to rethink the objects produced as impermanent objects, as transient and evocative beings, through a conceptual approach that starts from the artist-shaman placed in a landscape context, and brings it back to the dimension of the sacred of our ancestors, to the theme of shamanism. During the residency, there will be panel discussions, scientific and ethnoanthropological video documentaries, as well as meetings with anthropologists, archaeologists, scholars, to trace the stages that led to the birth of shamanism in the culture of Southern Italy. Among heterogeneous styles and different media (painting, sculpture, video, photography, installation, poetry and more), the project investigates the spiritual and therapeutic dimension of contemporary practices.
This part of the project is dedicated to the Lower World, to the natural environment, linked to Mother Earth. Through the activities linked to the project, the artists will have the opportunity to learn about places and symbols linked to the ancient Apulian “Animals of Power” depicted on the facades of baroque churches (the griffins), on medieval monuments and in Neolithic caves and find their own animal of power to be represented as one’s own archetype at will with installations, mixed techniques, etc. Holistic practices in nature are included in the project.
What’s included:
- MANAGEMENT ART PROJECT & ART CURATOR ON SITE
- HOUSING IN VILLAS
- EQUIPMENTS & FACILITIES (basic stuff to work on site)
- SALENTO TOURS (ROUTE OF GENIUS LOCI, ROUTE OF THE NEANDERTHAL, ROUTE OF SHAMANS) TO BE INSPIRED
- SOME GROUP DINNER/APERITIF
- PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP
- PANEL DISCUSSION /ROUND TABLES
- FINAL DAY (with Thanksgiving Ceremony, Exhibition and more).
- BENEFIT (grant exhibition 2024 by Primo Piano) and more!
At the end of the residency and as your documentation you would receive:
- RECOGNITION CERTIFICATE
- KIT PRESS (magazine/newspaper about you and whole experience)
- REPORT video catalog OF RESIDENCY
- WEB PAGE IN PRIMO PIANO WEBSITE
The whole program day-by-day will be sent only to participants before the residency. To learn more and info to join at primopianorecidency@gmail.com or primopianoexhibition01@gmail.com