e‑flux | Ina Lou / Dear Moth­er Earth: Sea, Soil and Solidarity

Ina Lou / Dear Moth­er Earth is a two-day sym­po­sium orga­nized by Cristi­na Bal­dac­ci, Natal­ie King and Francesca Taroc­co dur­ing the clos­ing week of the 60^th Inter­na­tion­al Art Exhi­bi­tion — the Venice Bien­nale that binds the South-East Asian, Por­tuguese and Tim­or-Leste pavil­ions with dia­logue, per­for­mance and film screen­ing. Form­ing a cross pavil­ion alliance, artists, cura­tors, activists, aca­d­e­mics and researchers will come togeth­er to delve into shared con­cerns and commonalities.

Ina Lou / Dear Moth­er Earth is a title derived from a tra­di­tion­al Tim­o­rese song per­formed in the Indige­nous lan­guage Tetum by artist Maria Madeira invok­ing envi­ron­men­tal rev­er­ence and har­mo­ny. A clar­i­on call to moth­er earth, the sym­po­sium will col­lec­tive­ly con­sid­er eco­log­i­cal art prac­tices, soil and sov­er­eign­ty, water and wellness. 

The Spir­its of Mar­itime Cross­ing reflects on how ocean and waves wash up mar­itime mem­o­ries of long for­got­ten geopo­lit­i­cal his­to­ries and Bud­dhist teach­ings from South-East Asia. Green­house is a liv­ing habi­tat, a Cre­ole gar­den inside Palaz­zo Franchet­ti, blend­ing plant species with a stage for dis­cus­sion and assem­bly. NICHE at Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice is a research insti­tute devot­ed to trans­dis­ci­pli­nary envi­ron­men­tal and water stud­ies, eco­log­i­cal art prac­tices and pub­lic engage­ment initiatives. 

Top­ics range from water sov­er­eign­ty, con­test­ed mar­itime bound­aries, soil as a site of resis­tance and anti-colo­nial, lib­er­a­to­ry strug­gles. Com­pris­ing pavil­ion tours, dis­cus­sion and pan­els, speak­ers include: Cristi­na Bal­dac­ci, Vale­ria Bur­gio, Marcela Canadas, Chiara Famen­go, Suzie Fras­er, Maria Madeira, Kim McGrath, Natal­ie King, Jorge Soares Cristóvão, Apinan Poshyanan­da, Noe­mi Quagliati, Amalia Rossi, Francesca Taroc­co, Francesco Vallerani. A high­light of the sym­po­sium is a screen­ing of films by Móni­ca de Miran­da, Ele­na Mazzi, Anto­nio Roval­di and Ettore Favi­ni, Angela Tia­tia, Kay­lene Whiskey at Cin­e­ma Rossini.

Venues: Tim­or-Leste Pavil­ion (Spazio Ravà), Por­tuguese Pavil­ion (Palaz­zo Franchet­ti), Palaz­zo Smith Mangilli Val­marana, Cin­e­ma Rossi­ni, NICHE (Ca’ Bottacin).

Part­ners: THE NEW INSTI­TUTE Cen­tre for Envi­ron­men­tal Human­i­ties (NICHE), The UNESCO Chair on ​“Water Her­itage and Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment” and the Depart­ment of Phi­los­o­phy and Cul­tur­al Her­itage (DFBC) at Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice; Maria Madeira: Kiss and Don’t Tell, Tim­or-Leste Pavil­ion; Green­house, Por­tuguese Pavil­ion, Hangar – Artis­tic Research Cen­ter and Móni­ca de Miran­da Stu­dio and The Spir­its of Mar­itime Cross­ing(BAB – Bangkok Art Bien­nale) at the 60^th Inter­na­tion­al Art Exhi­bi­tion — the Venice Biennale.

Orga­niz­ers: Cristi­na Bal­dac­ci is asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of Con­tem­po­rary Art His­to­ry in the Depart­ment of Phi­los­o­phy and Cul­tur­al Her­itage (DFBC) at Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice and prin­ci­pal inves­ti­ga­tor of the Eco­log­i­cal Art Prac­tices research clus­ter at NICHE; Natal­ie King is enter­prise pro­fes­sor of Visu­al Arts in the Fac­ul­ty of Fine Arts and Music, Vic­to­ri­an Col­lege of the Arts at Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne and cura­tor of Tim­or-Leste Pavil­ion at the 60^th Inter­na­tion­al Art Exhi­bi­tion — the Venice Bien­nale; Francesca Taroc­co is pro­fes­sor of Bud­dhist Stud­ies and Chi­nese Reli­gions in the Depart­ment of Asian and North African Stud­ies (DSAAM) at Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice and direc­tor of NICHE.


PRO­GRAM

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PER­FOR­MANCE: Maria Madeira: Novem­ber 19, 10 – 11am, Kiss and Don’t Tell
Tim­or-Leste Pavil­ion, Spazio Ravà, San Polo 1100

PAVIL­ION TOUR: Green­house: Novem­ber 19, 11:30am – 12:30pm with Marcela Canadas
Pro­duc­tion Direc­tor of Hangar/​Mónica de Miran­da Stu­dio. Por­tuguese Pavil­ion, Palaz­zo Franchet­ti, San Mar­co 2847.

FILM SCREEN­ING: Reimag­in­ing Sea and Soil: Novem­ber 19, 2:30 – 4:30pm
Films by Ele­na Mazzi, Anto­nio Roval­di, Ettore Favi­ni, Angela Tia­tia, Kay­lene Whiskey. Cin­e­ma Rossi­ni (room 3), Sal­iza­da de la Chiesa o del Teatro, San Mar­co 3997/A.

SEMI­OTICS OF THE ELE­MENTS IN FLOW­ING IMAGES: Novem­ber 19, 4:30 – 5:30pm
Pre­sen­ta­tion by Vale­ria Bur­gio (Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice – DFBC, NICHE) with Suzie Fras­er (Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne).
Cin­e­ma Rossi­ni (room 3), Sal­iza­da de la Chiesa o del Teatro, San Mar­co 3997/A .

EXHI­BI­TION VIS­IT: The Spir­its of Mar­itime Cross­ing: Novem­ber 20, 10 – 11:30am
Pre­sen­ta­tion by Apinan Poshyanan­da, Curator/​Artistic Direc­tor, Bangkok Art Bien­nale. Palaz­zo Smith Mangilli Val­marana, Cannare­gio 4392.

TIM­OR-LESTE, SOV­ER­EIGN­TY AND SHIFT­ING MAR­ITIME BOUND­ARIES:
Novem­ber 20, 12:15 – 1pm
Pre­sen­ta­tion by Kim McGrath (Tim­or-Leste Land & Mar­itime Bound­ary Office) with com­mis­sion­er Jorge Soares Cristóvão (Demo­c­ra­t­ic Repub­lic of Tim­or-Leste). Ca’ Bottacin (Main Hall), Calle Crosera, Dor­so­duro 3911.

BANGKOK’S BUD­DHIST WATER­WAYS AND CANAL TEM­PLE SYS­TEM: Novem­ber 20, 2:30 – 3:10pm
Pre­sen­ta­tion by Amalia Rossi (Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice, NICHE). Ca’ Bottacin (Main Hall), Calle Crosera, Dor­so­duro 3911.

PAN­EL DIS­CUS­SION: Sea, Soil and Sol­i­dar­i­ty:
Novem­ber 20, 3:10 – 4:10pm
With Chiara Famen­go (Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice, NICHE), Noe­mi Quagliati (Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice – DFBC, NICHE) and Francesco Vallerani (Ca’ Fos­cari Uni­ver­si­ty of Venice, NICHE). Ca’ Bottacin (Main Hall), Calle Crosera, Dor­so­duro 3911.


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