Occupy Goes Global!
Venice
In 2020 OCC! expanded its scope and encouraged students to explore local initiatives in their city, resulting in entries from various locations. Here below you find the entries from Venice.
Scroll for more
List of experiences: TOTAL RESULTS 2
Studio Andreco’s Climate Art Project : When the process of artistic creation arises from research, passes through sensitization and awareness, and brings local communities closer to claims of social and climate justice.
Agnese Landolfo
Courtesy of Andreco studio, Photo of children taking part in the parade through the Lodhi neighbourhood for the CLIMATE05 – Reclaim Air and Water episode. New Delhi, 2019.
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
Climate Art Project was conceived by Andrea Conte, a visual artist and an environmental engineer PhD who’s currently the director of Andreco Studio. It started in Paris in 2015 during the Cop21 conference on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement and the global Climate March, and then got expanded to involve cities all over the world. In this paper, I will analyze only some of his interventions, specifically the series Climate 01-02-03-04 which took place in different regions of Italy and Climate 05 which took place in India, in New Delhi. These interventions were conducted over a period of time ranging from 2015 to 2019. The scientific expertise of Andrea Conte is accompanied by the awareness that in the climate change era the environment needs new symbols to withstand 1, so his research goes beyond the boundaries of disciplines seeking a dialogue between science, art, symbols of collective imagination, ways of inhabiting urban and natural space and deepening the contrasts and points of contact in the difficult relationship between human beings and the environment. In the artistic practice and activism carried out by Studio Andreco, social and climate justice are inseparable and contribute to the protection of the planet and the relationships that cross it.
I support the idea that individual and collective freedom of thinking is a primary value. The objective of my research is to produce new visions, symbols and formulas, to make the invisible visible, showing the beauty of the hidden natural process as a contemporary alchemist that learns from the past.
My artworks are tributes to the ecosystems, I’m representing the non-humans, the world without us, a conceptual transition from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric view is needed. The aim is to convey the environmental and social urgency without losing complexity.2
His expressive techniques range from mural painting, to sculpture and site-specific3 installations, but also to the generation of community-based4 processes in which users are directly called to be co-authors of the work. In fact, site-specific artistic interventions deal with factors that go far beyond the geometric and topographical coordinates of the installation, which is why they are often connected with audience-specificity, community and project-based processes. At the basis of these methodologies, there is always the paradigm of action-research as a principle of involvement of local communities, of listening to their respective needs, and of respecting the peculiarities of the place where the artist moves. An operation that is placed on the border between different disciplines. On the one hand, the network that Andreco is building with experts on climate change enriches and legitimises his research from a scientific point of view. On the other hand, his propensity for active listening and ethnographic research in the places of intervention transposes the operations into the field of sociology \ cultural anthropology.
1Andreco Studio, Statement: https://www.andreco.org/statement/
2Ibidem
3The Treccani encyclopedia defines the expression site-specific as a neologism, widespread in the contemporary art system, which indicates that “which has been conceived and created to be inserted in a specific place or environment; creation, artistic performance conceived and created to be inserted in a specific place or environment”. For a deeper understanding of the term, see Miwon Kwon’s essay One Place after Another. Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity, The MIT press https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5138.001.0001
4INTERSOS international humanitarian organization defines the Community-based approach as an action strategy that starts from the valorization of the community in which a process of change is intended to be initiated. It therefore implies the active involvement of the people who are part of it, the recognition of their abilities and resources as the main tools with which to achieve the objectives of improving the living conditions of the population of reference. […] This presupposes an accurate knowledge of the territory and the context of reference, of the political/social dynamics that animate it and of the management of relationships within the community, for example in ethnic-cultural and gender terms. The Community-based approach, therefore, can trigger a virtuous process within communities, to intervene on existing problems and prevent new ones, with a view to self-sufficiency and independence with respect to external interventions. It is a method of planning and action that makes the people directly involved protagonists, giving them back their dignity and the awareness of being able to autonomously manage the dynamics within the community to which they belong.https://www.asgi.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Community-based-advocacy-project-voci-per-R-esistere.pdf
Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
The beneficiaries of this series are from time to time the citizens of the vulnerable areas. Although locals are already aware of the risks to which the environment around them is exposed, this process can lead them to
- explore the peculiarities and risks of their territory in depth thanks to the expertise provided by the scholars involved by Studio Andreco in the introductory debates to the event.
- metabolize the issues related to climate change in a new, and in some ways more accessible, way. In terms of language, the visualization and creative reinterpretation of certain phenomena can facilitate their understanding. Furthermore, the fact that the users have a strong bond with the territory in question establishes a relationship of empathy and recognition in the work of art and consequently in the theme it addresses.
- imagine, at an individual or collective level, alternative scenarios for their own environment. The creative process could stimulate new strategies and communication languages to transform the present and fight for a more equal and sustainable future.
As for the promoters of the project, we can talk from time to time about a different network that the artist chooses to build around himself. The collaborations started by Studio Andreco see institutions, scientific research bodies, schools and universities, neighborhood associations and non-profits that choose to join the project. The process of involving the promoters can take place in an initial phase, when the promoter commissions the artist’s intervention to highlight the critical issues that the environment is facing. The artist can also choose to involve scientific partners in a second phase, that of restitution and dissemination to the public to analyze the phenomenon together and propose solutions to mitigate the risks of climate change.
As regards the involvement of promoters and partners with whom the artist interfaces from time to time, there is always a careful ethical selection. According to the principles of the Manifesto of Art for Radical Ecologies, co-signed by Studio Andreco in 2022, a specific choice to collaborate only with supporters who are concretely active in the challenges of environmental sustainability and social equality can be seen. As stated in Principle 14 of the Manifesto, the artist argues that: Art institutions funded by toxic philanthropy must be abolished. Anti-museums and alter-institutions are the forms we adopt for the instituting common imagination.5
Courtesy of Andreco studio, Photograph of the artist Andrea Conte creating a mural for the CLIMATE05 – Reclaim Air and Water episode. New Delhi, 2019.
https://www.andreco.org/portfolio/climate-05-reclaim-air-and-water-delhi-india/
5Manifesto dell’Arte per l’ Ecologie Radicali, Studio Andreco website, https://www.andreco.org/the-art-for-radical-ecologies-manifesto-is-out/?lang=it
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation,
adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The multifaceted nature of artist Andrea Conte is reflected in his singular direction of the Andreco studio: a synthesis between his scientific training, which boasts a doctorate in Environmental Engineering and postdoc collaborations with the University of Bologna and Columbia University in New York on the sustainable management of resources in diversified climatic conditions, and the need to express himself through an artistic language that investigates the relationship between urban and natural ecosystems, between humans and the environment. His artistic projects aim to raise awareness on climate change issues through a process of study, metabolization and reinterpretation of local climate peculiarities (both in positive terms, therefore the specificities of the place, and in negative terms, therefore the risks and emergencies that that place is forced to face due to climate change). For this reason, the Climate Art Project was selected as a finalist in 2019 at the Environmental Communication Oscars.6
Studio Andreco avails itself of the support of a network of experts and scientists in the different phases of the artistic process. This can happen: – in the preliminary research and study phase
– in the subsequent construction of the project also through innovative digital and immersive tools (to increase the educational and engaging potential of the experience) or in the selection of eco-sustainable materials and low environmental impact technologies
– in the dissemination and popularization phase, inviting experts to participate in workshops \ seminars \ conferences to strengthen the scientific basis of the projects.
6Established in 2004, the AICA Award aims to enhance the commitment of those who, through communication campaigns, bring environmental problems to the attention of citizens, contributing to the creation of a collective conscience and an environmental culture. In the 20019 edition, Andreco was among the finalists in the Communicating climate change section.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
My desire to work on public art projects on climate change comes from a sense of responsibility towards the planet and future generations who will inhabit it.
As Andreco states on the occasion of his TEDxBari, the aim of the project is to raise awareness on Global Warming and to disseminate the Nature Based Solutions and the best practices for Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. The artist transposes on a personal level the ideal of a process that has its roots in the social and political conception of art. Art can be a tool of knowledge. It can provocatively turn public attention where oblivion reigns. It can be a tool to give voice to the needs of local communities through a universally recognizable language.
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Climate are Project started in Paris in 2015 during the Cop21 conference on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement and the global Climate March. CLIMATE01 was the starting point of an itinerary that will be broad all over the world and that’s still a work in progress. In Paris Andreco conducted two different actions: the first was a site specific installation in the Jardin partagé Beaudelire, a community garden located in an empty lot of Rue Baudelique in the 18th district. The 5 meters-tall wooden sculpture was the result of a collective workshop with the neighborhood community. The second was the realization of a mural in which the artist offers his own interpretation of global warming’s main consequences. There was then a final moment of restitution aimed at students of a school in the neighborhood.
In 2016 Andreco realized CLIMATE02 in Bologna, a site specific intervention focused on the causes of anthropogenic pollution. The decision of the location is crucial: he decided to paint on the boundary wall of the city bus station, one of the areas with the greatest vehicular traffic. In this occasion the artwork was carried out as a part of the Cheap Festival, a local event that carries out interventions in the urban space of Bologna. What is interesting about this intervention is the way in which the artist reinterprets in a graphic language the climax through which pollution and effusion gradually invade the space (urban and the white one of the “canvas”). The ascension of this gradual process culminates in a completely black poster.
In the same year the artist decided to intervene again in Italy, in Bari, to address the theme of desertification with CLIMATE03. In this case the artist makes use of the support of Pigment Workroom, Poetry in Action associations and the support of the ‘Joy of Creation’ exhibition on architect Kuthz. Also in this case the site-specific intervention has a deep connection with the local context: Puglia is a region considered at risk of drought and desertification. Andreco creates a mural in Bitonto in which the aridity of the land is reinterpreted in a graphic way also through the contrast between the color gray and red, It is inspired by scientific maps that highlight precisely those areas most in emergency in terms of drought. The artist wanted to pay homage through this work to all the agricultural workers who fight every day to maintain these fertile lands and preserve them from environmental risks.
In 2017, a year later, his attention focused on the risk of rising sea levels. Andreco arrives with CLIMATE04 in Venice, a lagoon city constantly exposed to the danger of flooding. The artistic intervention takes inspiration from scientific researches conducted by IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control), European strategy for integrated pollution prevention and control, and was conducted in collaboration with Università Ca’Foscari, Università Iuav di Venezia, and researchers from ISMAR-CNR. Interesting in this case how the deep mix between art and scientific research, between natural element and urban ecosystem have translated into a collaboration between public and private, which with the funding of the Veneto Region has seen the collaboration of artists, researchers and students.
Venice has thus seen the birth of three different interventions: a large mural, an installation and a talk of scientific and artistic analysis of the risks of climate change. Three different expressive languages to fuel citizens’ awareness and increase interest in risk prevention and tools for protecting local waters, stimulating a public debate that from the specific dimension of the city of Venice could make people reflect on the global dimension of this emergency.
The last intervention of this series of works lands on the other side of the world after two years. In 2019 Andreco arrives in Delhi with CLIMATE05 , positioning itself as an art and scientific research project but also as a call to action.The project was part of the urban art festival St+art Delhi 2019 and was produced in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute – Delhi, and supported by Asian Paints, amongst other organizations. Just a year earlier, in 2018, Delhi was named the most air polluted city in the world, crossed by two rivers (Ganges and Yamuna) whose waters are also two of the most polluted water bodies in the world. This is where the name of the intervention “Reclaiming Air and Water” comes from.
Here too, the choice of three interdisciplinary interventions in conjunction. The first is a mural in which the expressive language is significant and decisive for the message conveyed: the artist decides to represent air pollution through Air Ink, a chromatic pigment made from smog. Then a public parade that involves the local population in a collective performance: citizens marching with flags that represent local plants that possess a remedial power with respect to air and water pollution. And again a talk in which to analyze the climate situation and the local emergency to fuel public debate and increase awareness of the issue.
Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
From time to time the artist interacts with local citizens, territorial associations, schools and universities, research institutes and experts in the sector, but also local institutions that embrace his mission and choose to support his initiatives. In this sense, the background of his interlocutors has a wide range of experience on the topic of social and climate justice. Artistic language can act as a means of increasing the accessibility of the topics discussed, thanks to the graphic visualization of the processes examined and the bond of empathy and connection that users have with the territory to which the debate refers. For example, in Bari, farmers who experience the effects of aridity and lack of water on their land every day can easily recognize themselves in the debate on the risks of desertification caused by climate change; likewise, citizens of a lagoon area like Venice will have no difficulty in finding the urgency of finding concrete solutions to the rising waters.
Courtesy of Andreco studio, artist Andrea Conte reflecting on the process of desertification that gave rise to the CLIMATE 03 – DESERTIFICATION episode during the TedX talk – Petruzzelli Theatre. Bari, 2016. https://www.climateartproject.com/climate-03-desertification/
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter? Are there any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
I believe that the major limitations of this project are the same ones that characterize any type of site-specific artistic intervention: the peculiarity of the place, which risks compromising the connection between specificity and global vision of the theme, and the ephemeral nature of the actions that draw strength from the here and now but at the same time risk losing their impact once the actions are concluded.
In general, when we talk about site-specific artistic interventions in which there is an ephemeral component (workshops, performances, seminars and conferences etc.) a concrete rooting in the soil is always necessary, understood literally as an emission of roots in the context of the intervention. This is because once the duration of the artistic event is over – be it an installation, an educational experiment or a performance – it is essential to have disseminated values capable of overcoming the ephemeral. The success of these strategies is not measured in the moment, nor in the short term, but in the capacity of the site to assimilate and reproduce what the intervention has given to that site. At the same time, the success of the intervention depends on the capacity of the graft to absorb all the specific peculiarities of the place from the soil and integrate with it in an organic way. Site-specific artistic interventions can take root by analogy or by contrast, creating assonance or dissonance, but they cannot ignore a complex study of the place and careful listening to its agents. As anthropological practices of active listening teach, empathy is a key factor in this procedural phase.
Another limitation may concern the aspect of community involvement. Community operations can be conducted by involving local actors in a preliminary phase, therefore questioning them about their expectations and needs and imagining a possible intervention together. Alternatively, the community can be involved only at a later stage, when the artist, after having conducted studies on the territory, has already planned the artistic operation to be carried out. Finally, it is possible to choose to involve local subjects only a posteriori, for a phase of dissemination and narration of the process conducted in that place.
Studio Andreco has experimented with the different types of interaction with the local community mentioned above. A possible limitation could be that of reducing the impact of one’s artwork if one decides to start the involvement only in the second and third phase of the process. Questioning and letting the actors themselves imagine possible scenarios can enrich the transformative potential and the feeling of belonging to the work itself.
Courtesy of Andreco studio, photo from the Jardin partagé Beaudelire community garden involved in the CLIMATE01 – PARIS AGREEMENT episode. Paris, 2015.https://www.climateartproject.com/climate01-sculpture-mural/
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
As emerged from the analysis of the different CLIMATE episodes, it is possible to replicate interventions of this type in different parts of the world and at different times over the years. I believe that the key element for the feasibility of the project and its continuation is to always respect the peculiarities of the place, to think of interventions closely connected to the area in which one will intervene and to conduct the operations through always different expressive languages, as accessible as possible (in terms of understanding and participation) combining moments of enjoyment with experiences of co-realization and active participation and finally moments of reflection, learning (in scientific and artistic terms) and reinterpretation in a personal and collective key. Once again, the site-specific artistic practice and the processual and performative component of its works inevitably bring with it the complexity and uniqueness of the here and now. This factor makes it difficult to replicate certain works of art but can elevate to a model the strategy with which the artist can intervene in a new context from time to time. The process is replicable, the work of art is not. This can be considered a strong point for the potential relationship that the work establishes with the local community of reference (which can perceive the artist’s intervention as a tribute and an attempt to preserve their own land of belonging) but also as a point of weakness because a user who is not familiar with that place and those specific environmental risks might not empathize with the urgency of this claim and not fully understand its effects on a social and collective level.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements,long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The difficulty I encounter in identifying an answer lies in the distinction between the institutional, political and social changes that are evident and therefore capable of legitimizing the concrete impact of this operation-action and the possibility of enhancing processes of reappropriation and social claims already underway in the territories of intervention and possibly activating and stimulating new similar processes. For example, in 2022, 5 years after the creation of CLIMATE04 – Sea Level Rise, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in collaboration with the Veneto Region and Grandi Stazioni, supported the restoration of the work. The lines and numbers of sea levels that could be reached in the next decades have thus become evident again, as a warning of what has not yet been done to mitigate the risks.
The goal is to arouse curiosity, to spark a question on a problem on which we can act, the solution depends on us.7
Also the fact that this work is included in the Art&Business project in collaboration with the Ca Foscari University of Venice, also demonstrates the desire to extend the reflection within entrepreneurial choices, with the hope of a mutual exchange between artistic and corporate culture aimed at generating a new method for doing business.
7Andrea Conte, Andreco’s mural in Venice restored, the work of the Roman artist dedicated to the lagoon ecosystem, InsideArt, 9 May 2022 https://insideart.eu/2022/05/09/andreco-2/
REFERENCES
Andreco Studio, Statement, official website https://www.andreco.org/statement/
Andreco Studio, Manifesto dell’Arte per l’ Ecologie Radicali, https://www.andreco.org/the-art-for-radical-ecologies-manifesto-is-out/?lang=it
Climate Art Project, CLIMATE01 – PARIS AGREEMENT, Paris 2015 https://www.climateartproject.com/climate01-sculpture-mural/
Climate Art Project, CLIMATE 02 – EMISSIONS, Bologna, 2016 https://www.climateartproject.com/climate-02-emissions/
Climate Art Project, CLIMATE 03 – DESERTIFICATION, Puglia, 2016 https://www.climateartproject.com/climate-03-desertification/#top
Climate Art Project, CLIMATE 04 – SEA LEVEL RISE, Venice, 2017 https://www.climateartproject.com/climate-04-see-level-rise/
Climate Art Project, CLIMATE 05 – RECLAIM AIR AND WATER, New Delhi, 2019 https://www.climateartproject.com/climate-05-reclaim-air-and-water-delhi/
Treccani Enciclopedia, 2012, Site-specific neologism, https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/site-specific_%28Neologismi%29/
Miwon Kwon, 2002, One Place after Another. Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity, The MIT press https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5138.001.0001
Elena Carletti, Elda Goci, Daniela Zitarosa (edited by), 2021, INTERSOS Community based advocacy project: voci per r-esistere. L’analisi dei dati di un anno di ricerca partecipata – Gennaio 2020 – febbraio 2021. https://www.asgi.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Community-based-advocacy-project-voci-per-R-esistere.pdf
Andrea Conte, TedX talk – Petruzzelli Theatre. Bari, 2016. https://www.climateartproject.com/climate-03-desertification/
InsideArt, 9 May 2022, Andreco’s mural in Venice restored, the work of the Roman artist dedicated to the lagoon ecosystem, https://insideart.eu/2022/05/09/andreco-2/
CFNews, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, 26th september 2017, This is how researchers, artists and companies draw the changing lagoon, https://www.unive.it/pag/14024/?tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=3735&cHash=7fc5ca47ffe9a77a7949da5e034e22d
Venice I Cities of Water
By Giulia Baquè
The Book of Histories
“Once there was city built on water. A city that stood against the tides and built its strength and power on its domination of the sea.
Once there a was a city vibrant with life and colors, where the aromatic scents of spices mixed with the morning aroma of fish raising from the canals.
Once there was a city that became too eager and lost its track. A city that slowly saw its inhabitants leave one after the other until there was no one left.
Once there was a city that had been betrayed by its waters and its canals. A city that had coexisted with water and its whims for centuries. The high tides came and went, but when the water started rising too much, the water became frightening. Until one day it came and didn’t recede anymore.
Once there a was a city, and now it is no more”
Year 2223
The sun was shining and the temperature was hot, almost unbearable. The journey from the northern territories had been such a long one that Maaike was wondering why she always allowed her curiosity to get the best of her. She should have thought this through more and maybe she would have realized that this trip so far from home could not have been an easy one. She was not going on holiday, what was she expecting? Nice weather and places to relax and sunbathe?
She had started her trip in the north, in those territories that were once known, a couple of centuries ago, as the Kingdom of The Netherlands. Now there were only some independent cities left, trying to survive at the edge of a Northern Sea that was warmer and coming dangerously closer with each passing year. And now, because of her damned curiosity she was traveling south, across barren and arid landscapes, where the heat was higher than she had ever experienced. For what? She should have stayed home and be content with the dusty pictures she found in the library, instead of wanting to see it with her own eyes. But now it was too late to go back. She knew she was almost there. If her group kept a steady pace, they would have reached their destination before heat peaked at midday. Her clothes were too warm for the southern climate. She should have changed into a more practical outfit when she had the chance during their last stop. But she didn’t want to linger for too long. Despite her many doubts, the only thing she could think about was reaching her destination as soon as possible. She had heard and read so many wonderful things about the long lost city of Venice that she immediately volunteered for this journey when the opportunity arose. The library where she worked was trying to salvage as many books as possible to prevent further losses. Already the world had lost so much because of the consequences of climate change that books seemed to Maaike a good way to save the past from disappearing completely. And books could also help preventing further losses; by understanding the mistakes that were made and transmitting the knowledge of what could be done better, maybe it was possible to build some kind of future. Maaike had hope. And that was why she was traveling south. She hoped that this research journey, could give her stories to bring back to the library; stories about what was lost; memories that could be preserved and could be accessed to move forward in a different direction. Her purpose was to record as many stories as possible about Venice and then transcribe them, so that the library could have a record of what happened to the city that drowned so many years ago and that was almost fading from memory despite its great history.
It was at the library that her fascination with Venice had started. Right when she was only an intern doing menial tasks to help the staff there. She had seen the few old books – those that survived the rising seas, the fires that raged across Europe, and the various raids that had destroyed several cities when the first governments had begun to fall – with beautiful depictions of Venice; a colourful and crowded city, full with people coming from across the world in the days of carnival. She had seen faded pictures of the once famous calli and campielli. She had heard stories handed down from the first refugees coming from the south when the seas first started rising; the high tides in Venice started to get higher and higher, until they stopped receding altogether. Now, she was almost there. Her journey was almost over. Her guide, a muscular man in his forties, halted raising a hand. The entire group came to a stop.
“We are there” the guide sighted, almost with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Maaike was barely able to contain her excitement. Even though she was exhausted by the heat and the long walk, she sprinted to reach the guide on top of what looked like a small hill.
She had to shield her eyes with her hand, it was so bright. For a moment she could not see a single thing. Then her vision adjusted to the bright reflection of the sun on the water. And then her heart sunk. What was in front of her was not what she expected. The water extended as far as she could see.
“How can we be here? Where is the city? Is the guide wrong?” thought Maaike dazed.
“We must be in the wrong…” she started saying but the guide started pointing at something in the water. With such a bright light it was difficult to make out shapes and objects and the water was such an intense blue that all the other colors seemed to be drowning in it.
But then she saw it. Of course they were in the right place. Some shapes were emerging from the water. It looked like a bell tower but from such a distance she could not be sure. “Let’s keep moving, we can’t stay under this sun at this hour”, said the guide.
And he signaled to the group to follow him. He started descending towards the water, there was what looked like a small camp, and in the distance, it was possible to see older buildings, maybe from a couple of centuries before, high constructions with what probably must have been windows and balconies. Now they were all completely empty and the people seemed to be living closer to the water in makeshift housings. When they entered the camp a crowd of children immediately came to meet them.
“Maaike, the elders will see you later, after sundown, so you can ask them your questions”, informed her the guide with a polite tone. “I will be there to translate for you”, he continued with a smile.
***
The afternoon had been agonizing, both because of the heat to which Maaike was not used, and because of the sense of anticipation and curiosity that had devoured her since they reached that small settlement.
The library she worked at in the northern territories owned a couple of old books about a beautiful city built on water. The pictures had fascinated Maaike for so long that she could not stop talking about how amazing it would have been to once go and see it. So, when finally, the library could obtain some founding for research from the Council of the Free Cities, it was decided that the money would be well spent on a research trip to find more details about the lost city of Venice. Not only because of the wonders that city seemed to have had, but mostly because understanding the fate of such an ancient city could help in finding solutions to prevent even more cities to be lost to the rising waters; Maaike of course was the first to volunteer for the trip. And now she was finally here, waiting to meet the elderly of the settlement, those who, according to Carlo, the guide, still retain some first-hand memories of the city.
“They are over a hundred years old so they are a bit deaf, please be patient with them”, Carlo told her before they entered the tent of the elders.
The light was dim inside but the air was fresh, it was a pleasant sensation after the heat of the sun. Maaike could see four figures sitting on carpets at the far end of the tent. Two women were discussing something in low voices while drinking water that was frequently poured to them by a young girl in attendance. The other two seemed fast asleep, with their heads lowered on their chest and their breath regular and calm.
“Benvenuta” said in a low voice the elderly woman sitting on the left, “my name is Daniela.”
“She welcomes you, she is Daniela, she is over a hundred and twenty years old. No one knows their exact age anymore” whispered Carlo.
“Carlo, is this the girl coming from the north?” asked suddenly one of the two elderly Maaike thought were asleep.
“Yes, she is the one who wants to hear your stories, Sofia. She traveled all the way from the north just to see you” replied Carlo.
“Sit down dear”, said a third voice, with a gentle and kind tone. “We are not that young anymore so our memories might be a bit confused, but we will try our best to answer your questions and tell you our stories.”
“Memories are the only way we have to preserve the past. And by sharing them we can somehow learn to live with the guilt of not having done enough when we could and the shame of not being able to preserve our world for the generations to come”, said the fourth voice who had been quiet until that moment. She spoke with an authoritative tone but the sadness in her voice was clear.
“What do you want to know?” asked the gentle voice.
“Everything you can tell me! I want to know how it all started!” said Maaike almost out of breath from the excitement.
“This is going to be a long story”, replied the woman.
“I will start, my grandparents were there when it all started, so I heard their stories,” said Daniela.
“It wasn’t sudden you know, there were signs for a long time, people knew that the city would disappear, that the sea would devour it but it always seemed something far away in the future. The previous generations did not understand how our actions can affect the future. They only lived in the moment, thinking only about the short span of their lives.”
“Venice was a city of colors; my grandmother always told me. It was a city full of life and beauty. In the summer evenings, you could see the lagoon and the bell tower of San Marco turn red at sundown. You could hear music and singing in improvised concerts, mixing with the chirping of birds and the cries of seagulls. Dogs barking would suddenly be heard in the quiet of the night and the voices of elderly people sitting at bars and speaking in the Venetian dialect would fill the hot summer air. It was a city full of life, but also silent and peaceful; at night you could walk in small calli and campielli hearing only your footsteps. You could breathe in the soul of Venice. Its unique way of living, at its own pace and with its own small idiosyncrasies. But to this beauty there was a dark side. Venice had existed for centuries in a very delicate and complex environment, but when this balance broke, Venice was doomed. Plans were made to develop the mainland, huge factories and shipyards were built, but in order to do so, canals were interred while new ones were dug to channel the water and dry some part of the land. Those areas however lost their soul. Birds, fish, and insects died. The water was polluted. The lagoon became silent.”
“Oh come on Dani, while all your stories have this poetic tone? I bet this young lady does not care about the ‘soul of Venice’” said mockingly Sofia. “She wants to hear the facts! How the generations of our great-grandparents allowed the big cruise ships to sail through the Canale della Giudecca, of how the tourists would crowd those cramped calli sometimes even preventing people from walking at all. I have heard that sometimes it looked like everyone was queuing around the entire city from how full the city was with tourists.”
“But didn’t the city drown because of the rising seas?” asked Maaike confused.
“Yes it did” said the fourth elderly woman. Her voice sounded younger than the others but her tone made clear that she was probably in a position of authority.
“Her name is Rosa” whispered Carlo, “she is the head of the council.”
“But as Daniela and Sofia said, the lagoon was delicate and in danger all along. The previous generations did not think about the consequences of their actions. They wanted to build shipyards and factories at the edge of the lagoon, and they did without thinking how this would affect the rest of the ecosystem. They did everything in the name of profit. Profit was their goal and as long as they reached that end, they thought they could solve all the problems. It was the same with the rising seas. Not only Venice, but everyone knew that people’s desire for profit would bring about catastrophes, but they did not do enough to prevent any of it from happening. The worst was always to come, they pretended not to see that the end was nearing already, creeping up on people at fast speed. They were blind, they wanted to be blind and ignorant, pretending that nothing was changing. But everything was different.”
“People forget too easily.” Continued Rosa “one time, before Venice disappeared, there was a flood; it was not a normal high tide, one of those to which the people were used. It was an extraordinary one; the water was so high that it was called aqua granda, the great water. It was a tide so high and unexpected that left the city prostrated. So devastating that people kept remembering it, pieces of art were created to preserve its memory and the effects it had on the city and the people. But then again, everyone forgot. People did not worry anymore about the signs the lagoon was sending. The lagoon was suffering, and with it the rest of the world, but no one wanted to listen.”
“Come”, said Rosa, “Let me show you something”
The elderly lady slowly got up and walked outside the tent. Maaike and Carlo followed her surprised. Rosa was walking quite briskly for her age and she reached the shore, where a small rowing boat was waiting. The three got on and the boy sitting at the oar began to row.
Slowly, the buildings slightly emerging from the water started to get closer. The sun was almost setting and now the heat was not that unbearable anymore. It was almost pleasant, thought Maaike, and the view reminded her so much of home. The old Kingdom of The Netherlands partly occupied territories that were under sea level, they had built a complex system of dykes, pumps and sand dunes that made up an extremely sophisticated anti-flood system. But not even such an advanced planning saved the old kingdom. The cities closer to the coast such as Den Haag had been abandoned and people moved further inland. The central government broke down but cities managed to create a system of self-governing cities that were still somehow holding on against the waters. Maaike had seen how restless the sea could be.
Maaike’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Rosa spoke. “You see, Venice was a city built on water, in a similar way to the place you are coming from. But the past generations did not want to understand how much care was needed to make such a fragile environment not only survive but thrive. Venice was never the city alone, nor the people. It was also the birds, the fish, the trees, the water and every other small part that composed the lagoon. Venice was never only human, but we forgot that. And when we forget how closely tied to nature we are, we also lose track of the importance of care, if we don’t care for nature, we also don’t take care of the people who live in it and with it. Centuries ago, when people started realizing how human actions were affecting the world, Venice could have represented an example of creating an environment that accepted both the human and nature, and in which people were used to accept nature’s whims without fighting, without having the arrogance of wanting to change it. But this city also became an example of the shortsightedness of people. They did not care about the future, and so they lost their present. And now this is all that is left”
Rosa pointed towards what was in front of them.
“That’s the belltower of San Marco right?” said Maaike pointed to a green roof protruding from the water. “I have seen its pictures at the library.”
“Yes, most of the buildings you are seeing coming out of the waters are belltowers, Venice used to have a lot of them” said Rosa with a laugh. “But this is not why we came here”. And the boat crossed easily across the sparse towers emerging slightly. They reached a construction that looked newer. When they arrived, Rosa gestured Maaike to get off the boat.
“Carlo, you wait here with the boy”, she said in an assertive tone. Then she gestured to Maaike to follow her.
They entered the building; it was white and definitely newer than the old buildings they just sailed through. They entered an elevator and starting going down. Rosa didn’t say anything so Maaike just followed her silently.
When the doors of the elevator opened, they went out.
“We must be underwater now”, thought Maaike.
They walked across a narrow corridor and entered a room. To Maaike’s surprise books were stored there, and they looked old. Older than any book she had ever seen in her life. If she thought that the pictures they had at the library were old, these must have been many centuries older.
Rosa slowly walked to a shelf and carefully selected two books. She wrapped them with a cloth and gave them to Maaike.
Then she started to walk back where they came from. When they reached the boat, they got on without a word. Rosa murmured something to Carlo, but he didn’t translate; Maaike did not understand what was happening.
Rosa seemed happy and relaxed on their sail back to the shore. She seemed to be absorbed in contemplation, looking at the sparse buildings that could be seen in the water.
When they reached the coast, Rosa suddenly spoke. “Ti auguro un buon viaggio di ritorno! Ti prego, tieni al sicuro questi libri per noi, qui probabilmente andrebbero persi, ma sono parte della nostra memoria e vanno conservati. E poi, anche i due autori sono stati grandi viaggiatori, in tempi diversi ovviamente, ma come te hanno esplorato posti lontani e misteriosi. Buona fortuna!”, and then she disappeared back into the tent. Maaike started to follow her but Carlo stopped her. “We should get ready, tomorrow we travel back to the north” he said. “But I didn’t get what I wanted” exclaimed Maaike, almost angry.
“You got something more precious, you got the memories of Venice, its stories and also the stories of those who left it to travel far away, to visit new countries, but who always longed for it. Marco Polo and Nicolò Manucci wrote the books you are carrying. They are part of the memory of this city. Save them and with them, save the stories that the council of the elderly told you. They told you of a city that was complex, beautiful but difficult, full of contradictions, but also of hope and curiosity, a city that even when lost sight of what was important kept fighting. There were always people who tried to be the conscience of this city, reminding the people in charge how delicate it was and how quickly it could be destroyed. No one listened to them, they were not the majority, but they were there and they tried with all their strength to save not only the people, but the lagoon and all its beauty. Now you can bring back not only the story of how Venice disappeared but also their stories, and stories much older than those. Memory is the only way we have to keep thinking about the future. Saving the past means building the present and imagining a future that will be different. I also have something to give you, come!”
They walked silently to a low building of red bricks. Carlo pushed the door and entered. The room was small with a low ceiling. Carlo walked to the table and took a copy of a book whose pages were yellowed and whose back was discolored by the scorching sun. “Take also this. It is my copy of The Book of Histories. It is a poem written by the people who witnessed the rising seas and were forced to leave Venice. In here the tell their fight to make people realize that the city and the lagoon were in danger, and they tell of how they saw the water coming and not receding anymore. Take it, these are also the stories you came for.”
Maaike looked confused. She could not accept so many important books, why were they giving them to her? They were the memories of Venice. But listening to Carlo she started to understand, the memories needed to be saved and preserved, and shared in order to make a difference. Those books represented the different souls of the city, of the lagoon, and she was entrusted to keep them safe.
“Thank you”, she said to Carlo, “I will keep them safe, and with them, the memories of Venice, of its people and the lagoon. They will never fade from memory again.”