PALIMPSEST
by Nicolò Abbattista and Christian Consalvo
site specific performance created within the Politecnico di Milano
created in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies – DAStU of the Politecnico di Milano
within the European Project New European Bauhaus
The European Project
PALIMPSEST is part of a European research project, New European Bauhaus, which involves over 23 national and international partners and scientific centers, including the Politecnico di Milano, coordinated by professor and researcher Grazia Concilio.
PALIMPSEST works on the (re)generation of sustainable practices in landscapes of high cultural value that are facing significant environmental challenges. The great innovation brought by the project lies in the operational method chosen, which develops co-creation experiments involving creative actors, public bodies, researchers, artists, and civil society together. It puts artistic actions in dialogue with the specific needs of the territories to imagine new scenarios and innovative practices that connect human actions, landscape heritage, and sustainability goals. PALIMPSEST is active in three “pilot landscapes” with strong cultural identities: Jerez de la Frontera (ES) and its wine-growing landscape transforming into an energy landscape, Lodz (PL), a former industrial city among the most polluted in Europe, and Milan (IT) with the Lambro River landscape and its broken relationship with the city.
The Performance
Art becomes a tool for reflection, dissemination, and information through its ability to reach citizens and raise awareness of civic and environmental issues.
The Lost Movement Company is the creator and performer of an urban dance piece that aims to suspend daily city life, invading the city spaces like a flowing river and involving citizens and passersby. The performance develops around the themes of water, continuous transformation in communion with the environment, relationships and listening within groups and communities. It intertwines movement research with a dramaturgy focused on cohabiting spaces in an innovative and systemic way that doesn’t dominate but rather embraces.
The first incursions have created moments of collective sharing and reflection among artists, residents, and scientists on the theme of safeguarding and regenerating the Lambro River and the surrounding residential and green areas.