Lagoon Micro-ecologies, is the title of the second series of itinerant conversations “Venice as a Model for the Future?” curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Pietro Consolandi for TBA21−Academy and Ocean Space.

This new chapter moves beyond the urban boundaries of the city of Venice towards the islands of its lagoon. The participants direct their steps and gazes to the land and the seascapes created by the interaction between various species, not only human, that inhabit them: from coastal sand to garden soil, from salt marshes, a thriving home to wild plants and birds, to seabeds populated by tiny fish and molluscs.

In inviting us to rethink landscapes as “assemblages” of coexisting life forms, requiring “habits of noticing”, scholar and anthropologist Anna Tsing reminds us that they are “open-ended gatherings. They allow us to ask about communal effects without assuming them. They show us the potential histories in the making.”*

Camillo Rigato, an expert in botany and the local ecosystem, and Piero Santostefano, representative of the Tra Mar e Laguna association, will be guiding us through the fossil dune system at the Phenological Station of Cavallino, one of the most important in the world. Here, native and invasive species coexist in a system of extremely high biodiversity, telling a story with far-flung implications, and supporting myriad creatures that choose to reside here, either permanently or temporarily during the course of longer migrations. This coexistence creates a unique ecosystem, always alive and changing with the seasons. This itinerant conversation was conceived in collaboration with the MetaForte Cultural Association based in Cavallino Treporti, as part of a larger project aimed at supporting local ecological knowledge and respect for the resources present in the area, in dialogue with the entire Venetian lagoon.

PHOTO: Orchis Morio (Caprino Lily), a wild orchid widespread also in Cavallino Station, photo by Camillo Rigato

4.30pm: Meeting at Ocean Space. Departure for “Lagoon Micro-ecologies. Venice as a model for the future?”

Participation is free, please make a reservation at info@ocean-space.org. Limited places available.

We remind you that transport via vaporetto is at the expense of participants.

“Lagoon Micro-ecologies” is part of TBA21–Academy’s program, The Current III: The Mediterraneans: “Thus waves come in pairs” (After Etel Adnan), led by Barbara Casavecchia.

The Current III is a transdisciplinary program of perception, listening, thought and learning that supports projects, collective education, and voices on the shores of the Mediterranean through art, culture, science, and activism.

*Anna Tsing, When The Things We Study Respond to Each Other, in: More-than-Human, ed. by Andrés Jaque, Marina Otero Verzier, Lucia Pietroiusti, and Lisa Mazza, co-published by Het Nieuwe Instituut, Office for Political Innovation, General Ecology Project at the Serpentine Galleries and Manifesta Foundation, 2020.