Andreco Explores Italian Coast and Leads a “PARADE FOR THE LANDSCAPE”

October 7, 2014 Artists

Geologist, public artist, visual artist, earth activist, political activist, anthropologist, researcher, costume designer, environmental engineer PhD. Andrecco is all of these. Add performance artist to the list.

Andreco. “PARADE FOR THE LANDSCAPE” Leuca, Italy. June, 2014. (photo © Yacine Benseddik)

Leading his troupe of volunteers along the easternmost coast of Italy between Santa Maria di Leuca and Otranto, the Rome-born Andrecco says he worked with residents, particularly musicians, to form this merry earth spectacle along a three mile route.

“We are sort of an imaginary tribe ready to march in defense of the environment and in the name of the local geology,” he explains as you watch them carrying fluttering flags representing cliff rocks across the city of Santa Maria di Leuca. “The parade is a reflection on Leuca’s landscape and its natural environment,” he says, “on the meaning of natural boundaries, of political borders, and of public space in Leuca.”

Andreco. “PARADE FOR THE LANDSCAPE” Leuca, Italy. June, 2014. (photo © Yacine Benseddik)

Talking with him you realize that his work is a an admirable integration of his many interests, which if looked upon separately would never have the psychological and emotional impact that this weaving together produces. Add the element of weather, theater and performance – and thinking about rocks has never been quite so sexy. Collective action as advocacy gains relevancy in a way that it had not before.

“The project is possible with the participation of many persons from the local community,” he says of his public artwork called “Parade for the Landscape”. Inspired by the work of geographer Élisée Reclus, he would like this collective action by a group of citizens to help people reevaluate boundaries of landscape. “I aim to reflect on the meaning of limits, finding contradiction and differences between the idea of a natural boundaries (represented by the rocks of the cliffs that plunge into the sea) and political borders.”

Andreco. “PARADE FOR THE LANDSCAPE” Leuca, Italy. June, 2014. (photo © Yacine Benseddik)

It is not clear that an uniformed passerby who is just taking his kids to the cinema or the store will understand the fuller implications of Andreco’s plan or performance as the parade passes by, but the spectacle may yet spark an inquiry.

All you can hope for as your parade winds through critical zones of the city – abandoned areas, treacherous cliffs, challenging terrain – is that you have stimulated thoughts by merging local traditions and imaginative symbolism from the landscape. It can begin a conversation – or at the very least, proffer a question.

Andreco. “PARADE FOR THE LANDSCAPE” Leuca, Italy. June, 2014. (photo © Yacine Benseddik)

Andreco presents drawings of formations that inspire him. (photo © Andreco)

Learn more about Andreco HERE.

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