VISIONI Italian Ecoway of Lyfe is a project of the Italian Cultural Institute of Melbourne that develops five themes starting from a new idea of ecology from the perspective of the Deep History. Featuring 38 Italian prominent experts including anthropologists, architects, artists, nutritionists, scientists, chefs and other professionals that tell us about another possible way of life in a video series around Italy. The series, conceived by Angelo Gioè, is curated by Maurizio Corrado.
VISIONI because in the Anthropocene it is vital to start again to imagine not only other possible worlds, but above all new systems to survive in the only world we know.
VISIONI as imagination, project, utopia, desire.
VISIONI explores possible Italian ways to ecology, where beauty is constantly taken into account. The word lyfe refers to the new concept of life proposed by the scientific community to broaden the concept of life, opening new perspectives of thought.
VISIONI presents an idea of ecology that has as travel companions no longer sacrifice, but beauty, pleasure, well-being and the development of life in constant relationship with other different forms of life and with the environment.
Watch the trailer of the project here!
THE FIVE EPISODS:
PLANTS & US (find the video here)
Our first human ancestors when they opened their eyes after birth, they saw forests. Six million years ago it was among the trees that lived those who would become Homo Sapiens, the species that we belong to.
A prehistoric Sapiens knew an average of 150 types of edible plants, how many do we know? He also knew the wild types of cereals but did not need to give them his time. Then climate changes forced us to devote most of the day to plants by cultivating them.It was the plants that tamed us and not vice versa.
Besides seeing the best preserved fossil forest in the world and an 11th-century mosaic depicting the tree of life, we learn about plants from Prof. Francesco Ferrini at the University of Florence, one of the leading forestry experts in the world, Marco Nieri expert in eco-design who developed an exclusive system to measure the electromagnetic energy of trees, and Mauricio Cardenas, a naturalized Italian architect who has become the leading expert in Europe for bamboo construction.
Then we learn about tattoos and vegetable dresses.
Featuring: Massimo Manini, director; Daniela Franchini, archaeologist; Mons. Piero Marti; Federica Trovat, tattoo artist; Francesco Ferrini, agronomist at the University of Florence; Marco Nieri, ecodesigner; Mauricio Cardenas Laverde, architect; Katia Kuo, stylist. Music by Maurizio Marsico.
NOURISH THE BODY, NOURISH THE MIND (find the video here)
For thousands of years, we humans have been the favorite food of some large animals. For Dinofelis, a large saber-toothed feline, a good meal of Homo Sapiens was the best they could hope for. Then we realized that if we had faced him as a group we could have won. There are actions that we have always carried out in groups, eating is one of them. Since we have been using fire, eating and telling are two indissoluble actions.
VISIONS shows how for a healthy and sustainable diet it is essential to combine the nourishment of the body with that of the mind through conviviality, sharing, storytelling. We compared the opinions of nutritionist Maurizio Sentieri and Professor of Food and Sustainable Human Nutrition Donato Angelino at the University of Teramo, who with his team has developed a pasta that not only does not make you fat, but also increases physical well-being. They tell us about the Mediterranean diet, functional foods, nomadic breads.
We can see how in Italy tradition is combined with scientific research and art, and how to prepare some traditional Italian dishes. But, mind you, this episode makes you hungry!
Featuring: Maurizio Sentieri, nutritionist; Donato Angelino, University of Teramo; Francesca Nobili, Councilor for Culture of Fivizzano; Giovanna Gia, Councilor for the Environment of Fivizzano; Roberto Podenzana, cook; Elisa Manni, agricultural entrepreneur; Barbara Truzzi, organic chef; Giovanni De Marco, baker; Rosaria Murrieri, grandmother; Tarshito, artist; Ilaria Baccherini, hotelier. Music by Maurizio Marsico.
COSMIC SPACE, EARTH SPACE (find the video here)
Will we leave the earth, or will we learn to heal it? VISIONS put the question to three young Italian researchers, winners of international awards for their innovative research.
Mario Spera who is a young astrophysicist at Sissa, International School of Advanced Studies; Space Architect Valentina Sumini, who collaborates with NASA on projects for villages on the Moon and Mars; Silvia Marchesan, professor of chemistry at the University of Trieste who with her team is developing important applications in the medical field and in everyday life from the infinitely large to the infinitely small with research on nanotechnologies.
In a journey from the cosmos to the spaces in the atom, we discover how the Italian project culture is at the forefront both in the conception of extraterrestrial villages and in the design of nanoparticles.
Featuring: Mario Spera, astrophysicist; Valentina Sumini, space architect; Alessandro Vietti, writer; Silvia Marchesan teacher of Organic Chemistry. Music by Maurizio Marsico.
THE HAND, THE LAND, THE HOUSE (find the video here)
A dwelling is a recent invention in our history, it appeared together with agriculture 10,000 years ago and took as a model the first fixed structure we needed to build: the granary. We can say that architecture comes from agriculture. The first houses literally arose out of the earth, the same land we used to farm.
The culture of living is moving not only towards the use of natural materials, but above all towards the study of ways of building that directly involve the inhabitants.
The young anthropologist Andrea Staid and three architects who represent another way of building tell us about it: Barbara Narici, international leading expert for raw earth constructions; Viviana Derruto talks about scientific research on the use of natural materials; Maddalena Ferraresi tells about the importance of involving everyone of us in the creation of our own space.
The Italian way to sustainable living restarts from the hand, from the gesture, from the possibility of building one’s own living space and modifying it according to everyone’s needs.
Featuring: Andrea Staid, anthropologist; Barbara Narici, architect; Viviana Derruto, architect; Maddalena Ferraresi, architect. Music by Maurizio Marsico.
NEXT CITY (find the video here)
Looking at the city from the point of view of deep time it becomes clear that it is the group that constitutes the seed of the city.
For thousands of years we lived in groups, which we can consider the first cities and we constantly moved until we started farming. When the groups stopped, the cities also stopped. Seeing the city as a group shifts the focus from buildings to people, from how to do it to what to do, from technology to imagination.
Man constantly connected to technological prostheses and the old idea of smart cities are the last remnant of an imaginary from the late nineteenth century. We can look at it with nostalgia and go further, towards a city that envisages not only humans but also all the other living beings in the centre.
We talk about it with Anna Lambertini, landscape architect and lecturer at the University of Florence, with the architect Massimo Iosa Ghini, who has been working for some time on the idea of sustainability combined with beauty. We talk about urban regeneration with Werter Albertazzi who invented the job title “Territory Activation Specialist”, with the architect Antonio Bagni and others who are creating a new way of designing and conceiving the city.
Featuring: Anna Lambertini, landscape architect; Luca Baldini, architect; Michelangelo Giombini, architect; Massimo Iosa Ghini, architect; Werther Albertazzi, territory activation specialist; Antonio Bagni, architect. Music by Antar.
