SMACH San Martin Constellation of Art, Culture and History - Val dl'Ert
Val dl'Ert (in English 'Art Valley') is a public art park created by redeveloping an abandoned forested and haymaking area in the territory of San Martin de Tor in the Ladin Dolomites. From 2018 to today, the art park has grown to an extension of 25 hectares, with a network of paths stretching for over 3 km along which 23 artworks are exhibited in dialogue with the nature and history of the village and Val Badia. The park is freely open every day, at all times, in every season.
National
Italy
Municipality: San Martin de Tor
Province: Provincia autonoma di Bolzano
Region: Regione autonoma Trentino Alto Adige
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-12-31
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): SMACH Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Stefano Last name of representative: Riba Gender: Male Nationality: Italy Function: Project manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Str. Preroman 20A Town: San Martin de Tor Postal code: 39030 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 333 520 5386 E-mail:stefano@smach.it Website:https://www.smach.it/
URL:https://www.instagram.com/smach_art Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @smach_art #smach #smach_art #smach2023 #publicart #artandmountain #nature #dolomites #landart #valbadia #dolomites #southtyrol #landscape #hiking
URL:https://www.facebook.com/smach.art.culture.history/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @SMACH. Constellation of art, culture & history in the Dolomites #smach #smachart #smach2023 #publicart #artandmountain #nature #dolomites #landart #valbadia #dolomites #southtyrol #landscape #hiking
Yes
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites
Val dl'Ert - Ladin for Art Valley, an old Rhaeto-Romance language still spoken in the area and ufficially recognised as a minority language - was born in an abandoned valley located within a 20-minute walk from the center of San Martin. A village in a lowlying position in the middle Val Badia, a Dolomite valley that is very touristy at the highest altitudes, whose position has, on the one hand, preserved it from mass tourism, but on the other led it to become the ‘dormitory’ of the valley, causing its citizens to lose their sense of belonging and identity to the place.
Val dl'Ert was born in this complex context with the desire to bring the community closer to its heritage and to nature through contemporary art. The 23 artworks exhibited in Art Valley are donations, acquisitions or long-term loans from the artists who previously participated to SMACH Biennale. The installations - created and set up in nature in accordance with the DNSH principles and in agreement with the landscape protection offices of the Province - dialogue with the naturalistic, historycal, cultural, linguistic and social peculiarities of the territory. Art is the means of conveying metaphorical meanings on current issues such as globalisation, climate change, social-econmical inequalities, but also proposing knowledge of the place.
The Art Vallery was born, thanks to the help of numerous volunteers, the first form of community activation, making freely available to anyone the pre-existing, but not manteined, network of paths. Since 2018 Val dl'Ert hosted concerts, screenings, presentations, guided tours and educational moments becoming a destination for around 5,000 people a year and a place of recreation, relaxation and culture. Furthermore, Val dl'Ert offers servicis and possibilities that counteract socio-economic inequalities and harmful mass tourism models by offering a sustainable approach based on soft mobility, protection of biodiversity, care and protection of the environment.
public art in the natural and rural world
rediscovery of the territory and its historical-cultural heritage
sustainable tourism
participation and support to/for contemporary creativity
de-stereotyping the mountains
The redevelopment of Val dl'Ert took place in cooperation with the Val Badia forestry office using only natural materials (locally produced gravel and natural bark chipped loosefill from trees cut down because of bark beetles plague). The paths in the park already existed, as did the dirt road that was used to take the animals to pasture. Only these paths had not been maintained for decades. So, essentially, SMACH did not add anything, it just fixed it. When we requalified the area the DNSH principles had not yet been drafted, but if they had been, we would certainly have been in, because the park: does not lead to a greater negative impact on the current and future climate; it does not lead to significant greenhouse gas emissions; it is not detrimental to the good condition of water bodies. On the contrary it helps the good condition and resilience of the environment in which it is located. The park also fosters the conservation status of habitats and species and involves the use of natural materials that often come from the circular economy (e.g. the chipped bark mentioned before). Many works of art in the park are not made of natural materials, but are all made of recyclable ones. Furthermore, the works, although the artists come from 15 different countries, were all constructed on site, thus avoiding transportation. Many works of art in the park are not made of natural materials, but are all made of recyclable ones. Furthermore, the works, although the artists come from 15 different countries, have all been constructed on site, thus avoiding transportation and using materials that often come from the circular economy. The exemplary nature lies in the fact that art valley, as mentioned, did not build, did not add (except for the works and signage that are easily removable, including the large horn that has a box of stones for a base and not a concrete casting) anything, it only redeveloped what already existed but had been damaged by neglect.
The main objective of the Val dl'Ert was to regenerate an abandoned area of forest and grassland in the vicinity of San Martin in order to give back to the population (but also to those coming from outside) a place of peace and nature freely usable. In this place we implemented artworks, and later also cultural, music, laboratorial events open to all.
SMACH brought public art to San Martin and Val Badia, and through it we created wellbeing. In 2020 the WHO - World Health Organisation conducted the research "What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?". It highlighted the link between the fruition of art and health saying that “artistic activities, due to their complex and multimodal nature, are capable of combining several different components, all known to be healthy". This was particularly clear during the various periods of restrictions on people's freedom of movement. While it is true that, before the Covid, the Val dl'Ert was frequented more by tourists than by locals who thought “Well, rather than walking in the woods behind my place I'll take the car and go higher up”, then during and after the pandemic the art vallery was finally experienced as a great resource and still is today. The aesthetic aspects are provided by the care taken by SMACH, the participating artists and the jury, both in the creation process and in the selection and realisation of the artworks. Besides, the explanatory panels, the signage system, the small library of volumes on Ladin culture, is under the banner of giving attention to the coordinated image of the project and its usability.
The example of Val dl’Ert redevelopment and reappropriation through culture can show that not only tourism brings economic prosperity and growth possibilities, but also culture.
The Val dl'Ert has free access and is open 24/7 throughout the year. Approximately 30% of the park's trail network (1.2 km) is accessible to people with motor disabilities and is suitable for people with cognitive deficits. Zones 4 and 5 can also be reached, in summer, by car by applying for a transit permit, which is granted in the case of people with disabilities or elderly people who could not cope with the ascent of this area. In terms of affordability, well, here in the Dolomites, the mountains are, as you probably know, a business. We have almost 3000 hotels, 1252 kilometres of ski slopes, 369 lift facilities (cable cars, funiculars, gondolas, etc.), 35 nature theme parks, we have two museums (Lumen and Messner Mountain Museum) at the 2000 meters a.s.l of Plan de Corones, we have parking lots at high quotes and mountain streets’ with tolls and so on. All these services are non free. The huge influx of tourists and the wealth brought by it has made the cost of living in South Tyrol the most expensive in Italy with consequent problems for the resident population. Moreover, these facilities are ecologically very problematic. In this context, SMACH offers many activities that are free of charge (entrance, concerts, screenings event the parking lot is free), while those that have to be paid for (guided tours in collaboration with the Ladin Museum and some workshops) are very reasonably priced (€15 for the guided tour that also includes a visit to the Ladin Museum). We want to make local and provincial politicians and tourism entrepreneurs understand that another way of experiencing and enjoying the mountains is possible even without monetising everything. Our aim has always been to create a freely accessible oasis of tranquillity, creativity and nature, and to show how even the absence of direct revenue, if supported by public and private funding, can benefit a large number of people without neglecting the induced income it brings to the area.
The idea of giving San Martino back a usable space in nature without having to take transport, came from design thinking and problem framing moments open to the citizenship that were very lively and participated. These brainstorming and activating moments were led in 2017 by SMACH that was also looking for a place in nature in which to house some of the works from the 3 editions of the Biennial already held. The common need for a usable space in nature is thus reconciled with the idea of a public art park in the green, which was realised thanks to a large group of volunteers who took action to clean paths, remove fallen trees, etc. Moreover, the park desire to bring the community together and closer to its past and present heritage through contemporary art but also concerts, screenings, presentations, guided tours and educational moments, also reducing the distance from the cultural institutions in the area with which we have been collaborating for some time.
The citizenry has benefited and is benefiting greatly from having a public art park close to home, which is first a park in nature that they can enjoy freely. There is also countless scientific evidence that activity in nature brings numerous benefits to human life, including: improved physical and mental health, reduced stress, increased focus, a greater sense of connection to the world around us. What SMACH has in return from the collaboration with the population are useful feedbacks on how to improve the Art Valley and inputs for the historical and demoethnoanthropological research we conduct every two years to define and describe the locations of the biennial and which we attach to the open call so that the project proposals of those who participate can tell also something about the territory. Another restitution by the citizenry is the participation, in the form of volunteering. Volunteers can help to build and strengthen community connections and are also multipliers of project values.
In our case it’s quite the opposite. SMACH was born from an autarkic, bottom-up, movement, and through doing and showing results managed to activate collaborations with different stakeholders. Initially, the first temporary exhibitions of public art in nature (the 2013, 2015 and 2017 Biennials) were financed only by the local turistic association wanting to bring some new people to San Martin, which is not very touristy, through culture. In 2018 SMACH became an association itself being able to access public funding. Val dl'Ert was born the same year thanks to the work of many volunteers and provincial and regional funding. The design and implementation of the project have always been conceived by SMACH in agreement with the citizens and the landowners. So it is only quite recently that have activated a fruitful exchange with the provincial and regional cultural offices also broadening the prospects regarding funding, collaborations, etc. For example we are taking courses in writing and participating in European calls (Creative Europe, Erasmus +) in order to pursue the European dimension of SMACH. At the implementation level we are participating in some interdisciplinary working groups in the desire to establish new contacts and learn about good practices that are already active. SMACH is part of the working group of "Breaking the silos”, a collaborative project conceived by Basis Silandro and curated by Space of Urgency (international urban regeneration platform) and Rural Radicals (international rural regeneration platform). Besides, we are also part of the Mountain Bauhaus, http://mountainbauhaus.eu/, a South Tyrolean branch that applies the stimuli provided by the New European Bauhaus to the South Tyrolean mountain context. We also participated, although not officially a heritage community, in the meetings of the Faro Italia Platform because we share the values and guidelines of the Faro Convention.
The key book of SMACH is “Walkscapes. Walking as an aesthetic practice” by Francesco Careri issue from the experiences with the Italian collective Stalker all along the ‘90s. The book crosses different moments of the history of the walking man from the necessity for survival to the symbolic form that has enabled man to dwell in the world. This simple action has given rise to the most important relationships man has established with the land, the territory.
As in Careri’s book also in SMACH the disciplines of influence are many: history, sociology, anthropology, ethnology, biology, visual culture, landscaping. Traces of all these aspects can be found in the works selected for the Biennials and for the Val dl'Ert whose thematic and conceptual planning is addressed by the SMACH open calls by: the indication of a theme; the description of the historical, biological, anthropological and ethnographic features of the locations (check here https://tinyurl.com/2l4qvhh2) ; the great attention, during the evaluation phase, we give to the ability of the works to tell the story of the territory according to forms that possibly manage to stimulate abstract and critical thinking. To deepen these disciplines we avail ourselves of the collaboration with the historians, linguists, sociologists and anthropologists of Istitut Ladin Micurá de Rü. We also collaborate with the Museum Ladin Ćiastel de Tor which is the custodian of the Ladin material culture (the Istitut Ladin is more focused on the immaterial aspects) of Val Badia. Working on the roots we managed to achieve participation and acceptance of the project, to create essential multipliers, to reach schools and a broader public. The value of this multidisciplinary process is that each discipline bring its own perspective and methodologies to the project, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of the culture being studied and it ensures that the project is inclusive and represents a diverse range of perspectives.
The first achievements were: giving the community a network of over 3 km of paths; reactivating the knowledge and promotion of the territory and its heritage through art, music, workshops, events; reactivate part of the population in the safeguard of the territory; offer services for a more sustainable tourism. The number of visitors for 2021 and 2022 is around 5000 per year. We don't have certain data because the park is open freely, but this estimate is quite reliable, in fact we look after the number of downloads made via the QR codes on the information panels on site and the number of brochures that are taken from the two distribution points. Besides, the estimation is also deducted from the numbers of people (not locals) actually counted by the volunteers during their daily walks, e.g.in the summer period there are on average 35-40 tourists (coming from all over the world) per day, in spring and autumn ca. 10. Indirect beneficiaries are: the residents, the tourists, local businesses, tourism associations, educational institutions, social welfare services, the youth community, the municipality.
Over the years we have obtained great visibility, reliability and participation. The media coverage was also extensive, we enclose the Supporter Kit which has a section on this very subject. The articles published are obviously very useful in telling how the Val dl'Ert has redeveloped an area of abandoned forest and rural greenery and how successful these forms of positive and collaborative re-appropriation can be. It is also thanks to this visibility and our efforts to find new interlocutors that we have been invited to present our experience on numerous occasions (Sculpture Network, Summer in Lessinia Festival; UMFM Radio - Manitoba University; Biennale Bregaglia; ArcheoFest Faro Edition etc) and are part of working groups spread both locally and nationally (Breaking the Silos; Sfide Europee; Mountain Bauhaus).
Not considering art parks in nature that have museum characteristics, i.e. entrance fee and perimeter delimitation (like Arte Sella) and major fundings, but taking into account freely accessible nature art parks among those in northern Italy (Lusan Art Park; Bosco Arte in Stenico; Ledro Land Art in Ledro; Il respiro degli alberi in Lavarone; SelvArt in Mezzaselva di Roana; Bosco dell’Arte in Fregona; Challand Art in Challand) the innovativeness of SMACH is to be international and multidisciplinary and not strictly local and oriented exclusively towards figurative art. As mentioned, SMACH selects and presents works that have a depth of interpretation that can stimulate critical thinking and can convey messages that speak both of the territory in which they are set and of other more global discourses. In addition, an innovative feature of our selection criteria is that we don’t ask for a CV or an artistic portfolio, we do not have any age, education or background limits. We prefer to emphasise the ideas and their execution (which takes place during a collective artistic residency), rather than the resumes of those who realised them. This has meant that, over the years, SMACH has become a testing ground not only for artists, but also for designers, architects, musicians and researchers who, often for the first time, have successfully tried their hand at environmental installations.
Another innovative aspect is having created the park as part of a brainstorming project open to citizens, which resulted in the redevelopment of an abandoned wooded area without relying on pre-existing paths using art as 'decoration'. A further merit, in our opinion, is that we did not give in to the temptation to locate the park in the vicinity of ski resorts (such as Respirart at Pampeago, Woodywalk at the Plose, Lumen and Messner Museum at Plan de Corones) where visitors could certainly have numbered tens of thousands but at the expense of sustainability.
As already mentioned, ours is primarily a bottom-up approach. Initially also very autarkic and then gradually becoming more open to dialogue with the institutions. Actually, we have always sought dialogue, but until we achieved certain results, it was the institutional interlocutors who did not consider us! Other methodologies come from problem framing and design thinking. With regard to artistic direction, we have chosen to be open to different forms of expression (different media, different conceptual approaches). We have chosen not to isolate ourselves in the elitist art scene where the one with the most money and the most contacts often prevail.
Especially in the beginning, we had a methodology very much based on do-it-yourself, empiricism (let's do it and see what happens) and enthusiasm. This allowed us to bring part of the local community closer (another part still does not accept art, but still comes to walk in the park!). Over the past two years, we carried out a more rigorous and scientific methodology that started with historical, cultural and demoethnoanthropological research run in collaboration with the population, the researchers of the local cultural institutions, and artists from all over the world. We are now thinking to pursue the path of forming an heritage community that acts in accordance with the Faro Convention by further strengthening the relationship between citizens, civil society, administrations and cultural actors in the protection and transmission of cultural heritage. We are in dialogue with Rete Faro Italia and Faro Italia Platform in order to have a further background and an exchange based on the adoption of common principles, criteria, experiences, and best practices that can make our work on the heritage of Val Badia even more relevant and set an example for other communities in the province.
The first transferable element is stubbornness. Continuing to do even in adversity, involving other people and the local community. At the beginning of Val dl'Ert we had problems, episodes of vandalism, sabotage, etc. We slowly resolved them with dialogue and stubbornness, in fact.
The first problems were to convince the three private owners of the land where the Val dl'Ert stands. At first the landowners were hesitant, but then they trusted the project and today they benefit from it. This too having trust and instilling trust is transferable.
The results of this trust have been that: since 2019 zone 4 of the park is, from June to September, used for grazing sheep (of the local Brillenschaf species, a Slow Food presidium). While in zone 5 the two buildings (farmstead and barn) abandoned for over 70 years. Over the past years the owner has repeatedly said that he would like to tear them down, since they are not “protected”. However the dialogue continued and, last summer, we were contacted by him with a request to develop ideas on the possible redevelopment of these structures. Not only did SMACH have some proposals in this regard, but it was aware of the PNRR tenders then active. This is how the participation, with a favorable outcome, in the call - financed by the European Union, NextGenerationEU - regarding the "Regeneration of small cultural sites, cultural, religious and rural heritage" (Mission 1 - Component 3 - Culture 4.0. M1C3. Investment 2.2). This demonstrates that dialogue with private citizens, who in Val Badia often think in speculative terms given the enormous number of tourists that arrive each year, can be fruitful and can convey a new (for Val Badia) way of utilising the peculiarities and beauty of the area in a way that is more attentive to the cultural (local history, the Ladin language, folklore, social and anthropological aspects) and naturalistic values of the mountains that host us.
In an increasingly polarized world regarding political, social, economical terms; in an increasingly elitist art-creative scene (see, for example, the 2018 British survey "Social Class, Taste and Inequalities in the Creative Industries"); in a hyper-tourist valley (but luckily not in San Martin), a destination for luxury tourism and all too man-made, SMACH wants to offer a "downshifting" model.
Considering social inequality it offers a place of art and culture affordable to all, it offers guided tours, concerts, workshops free or at super-low prices. It offers a place for recreation, meditation and relaxation to the citizens of San Martin, Val Badia and anyone who wants to spend some time in the Val dl'Ert any day of the year, at any time.
Referring to cultural homologation, Val dl'Ert presents, through artworks but also guided tours and didactics, the complex history of an area where a linguistic minority has survived for two thousand years. In the age of globalization, this example of resilience is very useful and inspiring.
In regards to climate change and biodiversity loss, we keep the forest clean and guard it, we clean the drainage ways for water, these are all useful things for limiting damage caused by increasingly extreme weather events, fires and even pests (such as the bark beetle that is plaguing these areas).
Besides, we are preserving and promoting the unique flora and fauna of the Alpine forest through educational programs and habitat conservation efforts.
Also in the light of the damage that mass tourism is causing we offer an opportunity for more sustainable ways of enjoying the Alpine environment, focusing on culture, respect for the environment and soft mobility.
Finally, through the works we stimulate critical thinking on all the topics already listed. The mediation of art is often very useful in order not to fall into didacticism that has already been heard, but to offer innovative food for thought.
