I legni umidi, museum-lab

[Show picture list]

On Sunday, January the 10th, the “I legni umidi” Workshop took place in the etnographic Museum “Al Pojat” of Zoppè di Cadore. The event was curated by Mario Tomè together with Dolomiti Contemporanee.

The Lab marks the end of the “Chiavi di Accesso” journey, which in 2015 has seen the GAL Altobellunese, the Great Community of the Cadore, and Dolomiti Contemporanee, working together on this project, which aimed to propose a reflection on the themes of Museum Accessibility through contemporary art, and its function of “critical landscape activator”.

And thus, during 2015, in the Rimoldi Museum of Cortina d’Ampezzo, at the headquarters of the Great Community of the Cadore in Pieve di Cadore, and inside the “Pojat” in Zoppè di Cadore, the artists Mario Tomè, Nicolò Degiorgis and Michael Fliri, through the practice of Residency, have operated directly onto the territory, highlighting different identitary elements.

Now, with the workshop “I legni umidi” (Eng.: the damp logs), Mario “il Barelon” Tomè, has taken up his work of the past few months again, a work that had found concrete expression in the exhibit “I Bareloi“, realised in the “Pojat” Museum.
As we’ve already explained here, part of this piece was acquired by the Museum, becoming a permanent feature in its collection, which has, this way, shifted; moved.
This result represents in and of itself evidence of “Chiavi di Accesso” ‘s success: indeed, the basic question “are museums open or closed? Accessible or stationary? Active or dusty?”, finds an answer in this act.
If a thematic Museum acquires a contemporary artwork, it means that the Museum isn’t stationary at all, and that the crafting of its collection, of its own history, of its own function, occurs by means of active practices. History is in motion, and the places that preserve parts of it, objects related to it, must be active locations as well, ones where exchange is pivotal, and not commemorative cenotaphs, memorials of archaic images of a past history, disconnected from the present.

In the same way, the workshop of the “I legni umidi”, has intended to transform, for a day, the museum from a place for safekeeping and exhibition to an interaction engine. Outside the “Pojat” there is a fountain, fresh waters, now frozen, endlessly flowing from its double pipe; putting your hand under it it’s almost compulsory.
In this Lab, one of the themes which had already been poinpointed before by the artist can be found, in the proposal of a non-ideologic, but conceptual reflection. One on the generative topic of water, on its value as a resource, its importance for the territory and for the people. The conceptual reflection, the water-related thematics, are the tools for analysis through which the workshop participants were able to physically face the fountain: the practical objective was, in fact, to build a channeling system for the water, to make it move, to bring it somewhere alse, crossing another space.

here some pictures from the Pojat:

[Show picture list]

We’ve decided not to limit the workshop to a specific audience, not even an age group.
Oper for all.
And many have come, thus, all different from one another.
Lapo and Noa, young teenagers. Camilla and Alan, from Germany. Lara and Feltrin, two architects. Mario, a middle school student. Tania, a swimming instructor. Alessandro, an high school student, from a liceo classico. Luca, anspiring Alpine guide, and sculptor. Leonardo and Cecilia, the youngest. Enrico and Irina. Anny, postwoman.

In the morning, in spite of the freezing air (it was raining the previous evening, all the roads had gotten icy, and Zoppè definitely isn’t a plain, with its 1465 m.a.s.l.), everyone was on time.
The Barelon (that’s how they call Tomè in his native valley, in Agordo) himself welcomed them, along with Alice and Sara, as well as the representatives of the local community (the mayor Renzo Bortolot and Giulio) and of the GAL (Iolanda Da Deppo).

The morning was dedicated to designing: everyone gathered at the ground floor of the Pojat, with pencils and sheets of paper, children, teens, architects, people coming from different walks of life. Everyone drew and wrote. Thoughts, schemes of hydraulic machines, imaginary or feasible, a thousand elements and ideas have filled the papers.

At 1 PM, the other inhabitants of Zoppè have come, too, bringing with them steaming polenta, local cheese and cold cuts, wine, spritz.
And we all ate, drank, talked, while everybody got to know one another, and the Museum really became a station of real exchanges, the location in which culture meets and eats (nourishing itself), and not a display of mute, aseptic expositions.

Immediately after that, we’ve proceeded to read and look over the materials and ideas produced by everyone, all together.
And then, we’ve gone out: the afternoon was, indeed, dedicated to real construction work.

The tools: chainsaw and drill; the manarìn da festìl (Eng.: small hatchet) for the hollowing out of the logs and making ducts out of them, to channel the water; a lot of wood; saw; nails and bolts.
Every child, teen, adult, woman and man, has sawn, hit, cut, glued, fastened.
The wooden pieces have begun to make the water flow, and we wet our hands. A channeling was set. A small proto-mill vane, an additional gear, was included, too.
And the logs have become damp, as promised.
And the Museum was alive again, as it needs to be.
And art wasn’t needed to generate a product, but to activate meaningful relationships; between people, too.
And people were there, active, too, the artist being one of them; the Barelon, all covered in sawdust.

And we’ve asked ourselves, among other things:
elo aiva su la luna?
Polenta = water and flour.
Du kannst drei wochen ohne essen leben, aber keine drei tage ohne wasser.
Che feo artisti? Son qua che matedon.
Al saanc elo ros o blu? Sun zopè l’è blu come l’aiva.
High tide in Venice? They’ve stolen all the broadwalks.
Coke melts your bones.*
Etcetera.

So: it was fun.
We’ll do it again.
Thanks to everyone.
Avanti Savoja.**

Here some of the sketches and notes produced in the workshop:

[Show picture list]

translator notes:
* The sentences in Italian were translated; both the German and local dialect ones have been left in their original form.
** Italian war cry dating back to its Kingdom years; the Savoia were the Italian Royal family.