The Orobie Biennial – Thinking Like a Mountain #3

On the occasion of the third cycle of the program “Thinking Like a Mountain”, during a tour through the valleys of Bergamo, the film works produced by GAMeC and directed by Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto, Agnese Galiotto, and Giulio Squillacciotti will be presented, along with the exhibition project Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde by curator Greta Martina, winner of the twelfth edition of the Premio Lorenzo Bonaldi per l’Arte – EnterPrize.

At the same time, the online magazine will continue to bring together voices, ideas, and narratives. Interviews with artists and multidisciplinary insights range from the languages of contemporary arts to design, from architecture to anthropology. Future issues of the magazine will include contributions by Lorenzo Bartalesi, Professor of Aesthetics at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, who investigates how visual culture actively participates in the construction of collective identity; by Federica Timeto, Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, who will explore the links between inter-species social relations; and a conversation with Riccardo Rao, Professor of Medieval History and History of the Environment and Animals at the University of Bergamo, around the history of the relationship between man and wolves over the centuries. The magazine will also feature a series of contributions linked to the project Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde, written—among others—by anthropologist Adriano Favole, researcher Susanna Ravelli, curator Gaia Martino, and artist Deirdre O’Mahony.

Starting with Thinking Like a Mountain, the magazine will be further enriched by a collection of testimonies from the local communities encountered throughout the implementation of the project. This living and evolving archive will contribute to creating a narrative mosaic that interweaves memory and territory, amplifying different histories and narratives.

The Radio GAMeC platform will be back with a new season of podcasts curated by author and radio producer Ilaria Gadenz. The new format integrates with the key themes of the biennial program on a path complementary to that of the magazine, and will develop around the practice of walking as a tool for physical and interior exploration, investigating the deep-seated connections between the mountain landscape and the personal and collective experiences it inspires.

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Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto’s film project, created for the Thinking Like a Mountain program and produced by GAMeC, ventures through the landscapes of the Lombardy Alps to explore the return of the wolf to the valleys of Bergamo, analyzing the figure of this predator as a symbol of conflict, marvel, and transformation, while at the same time problematizing the coexistence between human beings and the wilderness.

Paraflu alludes to the tales of the philosopher and naturalist Baptiste Morizot, in which he describes the animal as possessing the magical art of misdirection. The result is a layered work, where images, optical illusions, and fragmented narrative editing create a disorienting universe, in which spectators are invited to address their own imagination.

Disorientation emerges in the film, in a territory where collective fears and cultural and human dynamics clash with those of nature, just as violently. The very title of the film harks back to a real-life episode: an act of revenge against a pack of wolves, poisoned with car radiator antifreeze (“Paraflu”).

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MUT is the short film made by artist and director Giulio Squillacciotti and produced by GAMeC as part of Thinking Like a Mountain. Premiered in November 2024 on the occasion of the second edition of the MADE Film Festival, promoted by the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce, through the experience of two young mountain boys and their parents, the film recounts the cyclical nature of life in the mountain pastures: a daily routine marked by actions and moments that are repeated from dawn to dusk. The protagonists are thirteen-year-old Dario, who is entrusted with the task of managing the pasture, and his little brother Omar, who interacts with the animals with spontaneity and tenderness.

Right from the title (which simply means “mountain” in Bergamo dialect), the role of the mountainside—which, when found all around, shapes the rhythms and experiences of those who inhabit it—is clear. In the film, however, it remains in the background of the actions of the young protagonists: the square format of the short film leaves room for shots that enclose portions of it, guiding attention to details and interaction between family members, and those between them and the animals. A stylistic choice that, rather than limiting its visual breadth, steeps the viewer in an intimate perspective, which forgoes open, descriptive fields so as to recount the deep connection between the mountainside and those who live on it.

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Migratori is the film by Agnese Galiotto produced by GAMeC as part of the project Thinking Like a Mountain, which explores the complex interaction between human beings and animals, starting from the encounter between a group of ornithologists and a number of specimens of various species of migratory birds. Involving two of the ringing stations to be found along the migratory route that crosses Italy longitudinally, down to North Africa, the artist manages to restore a two-fold dimension: one both scientific and profoundly human.

Through the scientific method of leg ringing, information may be collected on the lifestyle of birds and track of their movements may be kept, thus making it possible to monitor the variations to which migrations are subjected for reasons linked mainly to climate change. Scientists measure the weight of the birds, determine their age and sex, and analyze their general state of health by observing their plumage. The birds are trapped with very fine nets set up in strategic locations to allow biometric measurements and data to be collected before they are released. Although these operations are carried out with extreme delicacy and care, there are always aspects of constraint bound up in necessary physical contact with vulnerable creatures.