3rd edition of the research fellowship “A Natural Oasis?” (2018-2020)
Fellows: Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Denise Araouzou, Giulia Gregnanin, Panos Giannikopoulos, Nicolas Vamvouklis, Theodoulos Polyviou, Giulia Colletti.
A Natural Oasis? is a two year nomadic, free school - curated by Alessandro Castiglioni and Simone Frangi - dedicated to the development of new curatorial research paths in the field of contemporary visual and performing arts starting from the geopolitical peculiarities of the artistic landscapes of those European territories which are commonly considered remote, marginal, small, insular or liminal.
Seminar, Manifesta 12 Collateral Events, Palermo, 2018. ph: Rita Canarezza
The purpose of this fellowship is to critically question the ideas of territorial remoteness/marginality/smallness/insularity through the lense of artistic research, triggering a reflection on the fictional procedures that empowered the idea of Europe in its geopolitical and cultural immunity via the exclusion or the vampirization of its “provinces”. It focuses on the controversial shortage of cultural professionals in “peripheral” cultural and artistic systems in relationship with on-going processes of educational centralization and with the concentration of artistic legitimation processes in big European “centres”.
A Natural Oasis? bases its working methodology on the tactics of conversational and dialogical research and on the main strategies of oral history, characterized by a discursive approach based on study and in-depth analysis but also on storytelling and more fluid transmission of diverse knowledges. The 3rd edition of A Natural Oasis? brought about the development of the curatorial concept of School of Waters and was appointed as the curatorial board of the Meditarranea 19.