Tunèa, a project for the reconnection between Carloforte coastal community and tuna marine ecosystem
Tunèa is a citizen-based cultural project aimed to reactivate and evolve the connection between the Carloforte coastal community, on San Pietro island in Sardinia, and the marine ecosystem marked by the Thunnus thynnus route. The symbiotic evolution between community culture and tuna ecology can still be read here thanks to the existence of one of the last fixed tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean, but global economic dynamics related to the tuna market threaten to make it slowly disappear.
Local
Italy
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-07-30
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): U-BOOT Lab Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Maria Pina Last name of representative: Usai Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: President Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Santa Maria di Castello 22/5B Town: Genova Postal code: 16123 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 349 252 7092 E-mail:mariapinausai@gmail.com Website:https://tunea.it/
Maritime resources have always been a primary source of livelihood for coastal areas, but also an ecological asset that has ensured the harmony of ecosystems, and at the same time an underwater cultural heritage that has influenced the lifestyle and identity of communities, as well as the landscape and architectural development of territories. Among these, the example of the small town of Carloforte, on the island of San Pietro in Sardinia, is particularly significant: founded in the second half of the 1700s, it is home to one of the the last fixed tuna fishery in the Mediterranean, using a traditional system of catching tuna (Thunnus thynnus or Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna), which enters the Mediterranean to reproduce at the beginning of each summer. This ancient fishing system is completely environmentally friendly and contributes to the repopulation of this now endangered species.
However, if until about 30 years ago the life of the inhabitants of Carloforte was closely linked to fishing activities, today the evolution of the world fish market has radically changed this relationship and the ancient link between the community and its tuna trap has been severed.
Between 2021 and 2022, Tunèa's objective was to reactivate this link in order to initiate an evolutionary process by activating transdisciplinary actions that would actively involve the community in the creation of a new perspective for the future of the territory, linked to the relationship between the community and the marine ecosystem. These actions took the form of artistic residencies, laboratories, dance workshops, co-design and self-construction activities and the extraordinary opening of the architectural complex of the abandoned tuna nets, which were temporarily transformed into places of co-creation and confrontation for the community through musical performances, cinema, talks, walks and meetings.
Thunnus thynnus
natural heritage
cultural heritage
human-non human relation
art-based approach
Tunèa's key objective was to involve the Carloforte community in the creation of new forms of sustainable connections in the relationship between the marine ecosystem represented by Thunnus thynnus and the community with its socio-economic needs.
To do so, two converging lines of action were worked on, one tangible and one intangible, closely interconnected: the temporary reopening of the green spaces within the architectural complex of the old abandoned tuna fishery owned by the municipal administration (next to the active one privately owned), and the involvement of the community and the island's cultural and economic actors linked to tuna fishing in a series of actions dedicated to experimenting with new forms of reading and understanding of the marine ecosystem in order to imagine new sustainable developments in the relationship between community, sea and inhabited landscape.
All the developed activities have been conceived and structured with the aim of promoting the development of a social and cultural reconnection process between the community and the marine ecosystem, through the re-appropriation of abandoned fishery by the population, which, through the experimentation of creative activities co-constructed with the artists and professionals involved, has led to innovative and often unexpected solutions.
Through workshops, performances, cinema, land art installations, talks, walks and meetings, the whole process has been structured in a flexible, open and experimental way, with the aim of responding dynamically to the sometimes overt and sometimes latent demands that have emerged during the course of the work from the confrontation with the community. The workshop "In Search of King Charles' Arm" used the dynamics of play to encourage the community to critically read archive material, to promote knowledge of their own history and to creatively communicate it through new forms of contemporary storytelling.
The site-specific installation 'La Camera del Mare', an optical camera placed in front of the sea, suggested to the viewer the gaze of a sea creature on the landscape, reversing the anthropocentric view into an ecological one. The workshop and participatory performance "Calar Tonnara / Studio #01" gave the community the opportunity to experience in a new and unexpected way the movements and gestures of the “Rais” with his fishing crew, and the tuna ones during the ritual of the ancient fishery. The co-design workshop 'Sotto un cielo di Reti' (Under a net sky) led to the co-construction of a lightweight architectural structure in the old abandoned tuna fishery, through the practical experience of reusing tuna materials in an innovative and sustainable way. All these activities took place in a delicate process of community involvement over the course of a year and culminated in the temporary opening of the abandoned tuna fishery.
Starting in June 2021, the project was carried out with a photographer and a visual artist, with the contribution of an anthropologist and a landscape architect, involving marine researchers, biologists and the community in a process aimed at discovering and understanding the local maritime identity linked to the tradition of tuna fishing.
Various workshops, guided tours, readings and audiovisual proposals were then activated, involving the population in an open dialogue between the artists' research, researchers, residents, teachers, fishermen, public administrators, etc.
The second phase of the project was dedicated to the process of reorganizing some unused areas of the tonnara and reopening them as cultural spaces, made accessible through co-design and self-building activities with the active participation of the community, in a process shared with the local administration, associations and local stakeholders.
The actions carried out as part of the Tunèa project have achieved the objective of making the community aware of its role in local territory and cultural regeneration processes, which are too often delegated to administrations.
Through the active involvement of small groups of residents, various associations and local businesses, informal groups, the media, individual citizens and the public administration, a gradual process of community participation and empowerment has been initiated, stimulating the spontaneous involvement of the population in all the activities proposed, from workshops to cleaning operations, as well as in the design and furnishing of the areas concerned and the co-construction of the micro-architectures within the disused tuna fishery.
The result of this approach was the spontaneous involvement of many inhabitants and local companies who, recognising themselves in the project, offered their support free of charge for the realisation of the laboratorial and self-building activities.
The presence on the island of the artists and researchers involved through the residency scheme has allowed a gradual immersion in the social fabric and a deep understanding of the languages and modes of communication and interaction used by the community, useful for developing a growing involvement of the area's stakeholders.
Tunèa involved a wide range of subjects and, in order to promote the creation and strengthening of multidisciplinary territorial and extra-territorial networks, all project activities have been structured to take the form of opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration between local subjects and cultural subjects from other territories.
The partnership expanded and the local associations ‘Botti du Shcoggiu’ and ‘Bittalab’ joined the network, helping to plan workshop activities and organise public events in the area. The production company Casa Uiza documented all the activities with photo and video-documentaries.
The ‘Festival Creuza de Mà’, the ‘Polo Linguistico Tabarchino’, ‘TeleRadio Maristella’ and ‘Radio San Pietro,’ all local organisations and entities that have helped to communicate, publicise and involve the island's citizens in the project.
Regional associations and entities included: the ‘Società Umanitaria CSC Carbonia / Fabbrica del Cinema’, the ‘Fondazione Sardegna Film Commission,’ the ‘Ordine degli Architetti PPC Città Metropolitana di Cagliari e Provincia del Sud Sardegna’, the ‘Ordine degli Ingegneri della Provincia di Cagliari’, the Master Architettura del Paesaggio DICAAR Università di Cagliari’, the ‘Ordine Ingegneri Cagliari / Scuola di Formazione’. The Tunèa project also involved several technical sponsors interested in contributing to innovative ways for the cultural and physical regeneration like ‘Ediltek S.R.L.’, ‘U-Tabarka’ and ‘Il pranzo è servito’. The coordinated image was handled by the sardinian-New York duo ‘Subtitle’, the website development by MB/MH and the press office by ‘DDL studio Milano’. The talks held during the final three-day festival were an opportunity for the community to meet designers, curators, artists and researchers from other territorial realities, including the Eterotopia collective, the Landworks association, the Base Milano cultural centre, the MACC Museum in Calasetta and Archphoto Genova.
Tunèa it has been conceived as a transdisciplinary project involving professionals from different fields of research and activity: artists, educators, teachers, architects, landscape architects, engineers, project and community managers, administrators and public officials, entrepreneurs, artisans, fishermen, communication experts, radio, TV, web and social developers, designers, etc.
All these figures worked in synergy, experimenting with new forms of reflection on the relationship between man and the environment and proposing innovative solutions and actions focused on common objectives. This dynamic relationship between the various figures involved has allowed the project to develop in new and unexpected ways, creating forms of participation, education and awareness, always aimed at rediscovering the community's sense of belonging and responsibility for its own places and encouraging the adoption of new perspectives based on respect for the environment and natural ecosystems.
The result of Tunèa was the temporary reopening of the abandoned tuna fishery on the island of San Pietro, a tangible symbol of a broken relationship between the traditional fishing activity of Thunnus thynnus and the community of Carloforte. Bringing the inhabitants back to this place, to which they have always had a cultural and economic, was an achievement, but above all a starting point for regaining ownership of this place and a relationship with the natural ecosystem, towards which innovative and sustainable forms of relationship need to be found. The opening up of this area has made it possible to bring together the current needs of the area with all the stakeholders involved in the project, in order to start thinking together about the economic, social and environmental prospects of this place, which now requires symbiotic planning between the population, public administration, economic needs and environmental protection. For many carlofortini, the return to the old tuna fishery has meant rediscovering a place and a now-forgotten history that speaks of the close relationship between man and nature, and how this relationship must be revived in the face of an ecosystem that is increasingly in need of attention, especially when it is affected by environmental exploitation activities such as fishing and tourism. This is why responds in a transversal way to the objectives of the NEB, because through its actions, has involved people in reconnecting with nature, regaining a sense of belonging to the marine environment through the communal use of the tuna fishery as a public space, without the need for heavy and costly infrastructural interventions, but through small and gradual care measures. It has prioritised places, people and natural habitats. It has developed a long-term life-cycle path in low-impact industrial ecosystems, such as the traditional tuna fishery. It has developed educational and learning objectives on all these issues through specific activities.
The innovative nature of the project concerns two aspects. The first is the methodology used, which combines two approaches: the practice of action-research and art-based research, which will be explained in more detail in the following section; the second is the choice to have shifted the point of observation of the relationship between humans and non-humans, represented here by men and tuna, from a 'direct' observation to an observation that passes through a traditional productive activity (tuna fishing as a still active fishing practice) and an architectural object (tuna fishing as a disused public heritage, an opportunity for re-appropriation), both considered as common opportunities to reflect and imagine possible scenarios for repairing the relationship between the community and the marine ecosystem, with a view to the sustainable socio-ecological development of the island.
The approach adopted for the development of the project combined the practice of action-research with art-based research. Action research is a now widely used approach in which the researcher does not wish to observe reality from the outside, but rather to immerse him/herself in it, in order to actively participate in the dynamics of contextual change, together with other researchers, at the same level as stakeholders and communities. The art-based approach uses artistic practice to explore, understand and represent a context, thanks to its ability to overcome the limitations of more traditionally understood scientific research, thereby triggering critical processes of understanding reality in the subjects involved, unhinging often stereotyped narratives to elaborate new ones. This hybrid approach has allowed the project to bring together scientific and artistic contributions and to hybridize them with the active contribution of the community from the earliest stages of the project, considering citizens not as passive subjects but as active participants in the co-construction and realization of the project.
Tunèa is a project that can be replicated and implemented in all Mediterranean contexts where there are active and inactive traditional tuna fisheries, affected by transformation dynamics that threaten to undermine the symbiotic relationship of evolution between man and sea that has characterized coastal communities for long centuries.
It can be transferred and applied in all those coastal contexts where the socio-environmental relationship between the culture of coastal communities linked to traditional sustainable practices and the habitats of marine contexts risks being compromised due to global dynamics such as overfishing and overtourism, caused by interests that do not always belong to places but are imposed by causes that are apparently difficult to manage.
By posing itself as an active tool for reflecting on the local relationship between coastal communities and the sea in a perspective of sustainable future development, Tunèa responds to the need to activate new shared reflections on the relationships between global dynamics, such as the tuna market exacerbated by the demand for sushi and sashimi in recent decades in the case of Carloforte, which may also affect other types of traditional sea-related practices threatened by new market dynamics, and local effects, such as the risk of the loss of symbiotic ties with the vulnerable context and the retreat to stereotypical coastal development models impacting ecological habitats and the cultural identity of populations such as that of mass tourism.
By working to raise the awareness of local communities, the Tunèa project contributes to the development of their self-determination and reflection on the need to calibrate their behaviors in order to affect habitat protection by combating phenomena such as the depletion of fish species, anthropogenic pressure, and coastal erosion.
