Wasting Trajectories and Generative Ecologies: Leone Contini’s Foreign Farmers

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DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_chapter_18207
dc.contributor.author	Gonzo Tommaso
dc.contributor.author	Lorenzi Giovanni
dc.title	Wasting Trajectories and Generative Ecologies: Leone Contini’s Foreign Farmers
dc.type	Chapter
dc.language.iso	en
dc.description.abstract	In this essay, we analyse Leone Contini’s work Foreign Farmers which was created for Manifesta 12 and installed in the Botanical Garden of Palermo, Italy. It consisted of a vegetable garden comprising different plant species not native to Italy, whose seeds were gifted to the artist by migrant gardeners based in different parts of Italy. Contini’s work addresses the disconnection between human communities and the land as a result of displacement. In this text, we analyse Contini’s piece through the lenses of decolonial ecology and the notion of Wasteocene. We consider this installation as a framework to propose a reflection on how unexpected generative ecologies sparked by adaptation are the result of migration in the midst of anthropogenic global warming. By subverting the extractive logic of colonialism, the work questions dominant narratives and power structures that shape society. Furthermore, by extending Sharpe’s metaphor to contemporary migrations in the Mediterranean and the shipment of toxic waste in former colonies, we want to propose an observation of how migrants are subject to ‘the wake’ of colonial violence. The routes once travelled by colonial vessels directed towards the shores of Africa are now the itineraries of the ‘barconi’ floating adrift in the sea, trying to reach the coasts of Southern Europe.
dc.relation.ispartof	The Future Contemporary
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Venice University Press, Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari
dc.issued	2023-12-14
dc.dateAccepted	2023-10-13
dc.dateSubmitted	2023-07-11
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/libri/978-88-6969-756-2/wasting-trajectories-and-generative-ecologies-leon/
dc.identifier.doi	10.30687/978-88-6969-756-2/010
dc.identifier.issn	2785-1613
dc.identifier.eissn	2785-0986
dc.identifier.isbn
dc.identifier.eisbn	978-88-6969-756-2
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
item.fulltext	with fulltext
item.grantfulltext	open
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Colonialism
dc.subject	Contemporary art
dc.subject	Ecology
dc.subject	Mediterranean Sea
dc.subject	Migration

Chapter
open access peer reviewed

Wasting Trajectories and Generative Ecologies: Leone Contini’s Foreign Farmers

Tommaso Gonzo Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

Giovanni Lorenzi Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia

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abstract

In this essay, we analyse Leone Contini’s work Foreign Farmers which was created for Manifesta 12 and installed in the Botanical Garden of Palermo, Italy. It consisted of a vegetable garden comprising different plant species not native to Italy, whose seeds were gifted to the artist by migrant gardeners based in different parts of Italy. Contini’s work addresses the disconnection between human communities and the land as a result of displacement. In this text, we analyse Contini’s piece through the lenses of decolonial ecology and the notion of Wasteocene. We consider this installation as a framework to propose a reflection on how unexpected generative ecologies sparked by adaptation are the result of migration in the midst of anthropogenic global warming. By subverting the extractive logic of colonialism, the work questions dominant narratives and power structures that shape society. Furthermore, by extending Sharpe’s metaphor to contemporary migrations in the Mediterranean and the shipment of toxic waste in former colonies, we want to propose an observation of how migrants are subject to ‘the wake’ of colonial violence. The routes once travelled by colonial vessels directed towards the shores of Africa are now the itineraries of the ‘barconi’ floating adrift in the sea, trying to reach the coasts of Southern Europe.

Published

Dec. 14, 2023

Accepted

Oct. 13, 2023

Submitted

July 11, 2023

Language

ISBN (EBOOK)

978-88-6969-756-2

Keywords: Mediterranean Sea • Migration • Ecology • Colonialism • Contemporary art

permalink: http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-756-2/010

Copyright: © 2023 Tommaso Gonzo, Giovanni Lorenzi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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