C A S A T E R R A

Puglia-Ceglie Messapico…pine forests, red soil, olive trees, oaks, stone shelters, a group of Trullies, a group of artists - Atelierazur.
CASATERRA/HOMELAND- a home, a workshop, an open space which , during the summer guests artists from all over the world - for a week meet to exchange experiences, ideas, time, energy and artwork.

A rare occasion of a non virtual meeting, where rapid communication is only an instrument for getting in contact, to focus and catch attention towards a place on the borderline of the Italian art scene. The web-site of the residence gives the possibility to launch a message to every corner of the world.
An S.O.S. sent out to search for oxygen in a territory where institutions that should sustain and spread contemporary art, are almost absent, which again can lead to complete isolation .

This is why CASATERRA is linked to other experiences spread in the art world today. These experiences are often marginalized by the mainstream art, but they exist in a zone where there is a stronger tension and movement that opens for new evolution. That is where the new non-profit structures work, created by individual initiatives or by common interests, often organised as associations that proposes workshops, all with the common affinity of sustaining, and encouraging all experiences of creative research.

During three years of experience at CASATERRA, over thirty artists from abroad have participated( America, Albania, Australia, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia.) and forty Italians who have shared common time moved by the will and necessity to communicate on and through art. The practice of the residence unites work and free time in a way that creates a continuous relationship without rules nor expectations among the artists. A free space to capture energies in a scenery that in itself suggests how to transform the flow of strength into artistic form. A nature that is usual and ordinary for someone, for others, fascinating and mysterious, and it is interesting to observe how installations realised in one week, using poor materials (such as soil, stone, iron, wood, hay, grass, paper, animal skeletons or whatever is possible to find) that succeeds to rise to new horizons and potentials in a determinate space.

Despite their quality, the artworks created during the workshop, are not made for a public view, and in many cases nature takes over and transforms the artworks. They are shown while they are made, in fact every work will loose its original form due to unexpected events such as a change in weather, the presence of cats and dogs or children playing, and of course..

the passing of time.

The main concept is the meeting, the collective experience, the relationships made during the artistic research and exchange. An occasion to learn about each others work without the confusion of gallery openings or virtual information and catalogues. This means going further than observing the artists work as an object, making it possible to enter and live one and another’s idea simultaneously.

This is the aim of CASATERRA, to start a process of changes, uniting individual and collective experiences.

Marcella Anglani

art critic and lecturer at the Fine Arts Academy in Lecce, Italy

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