Lebanese/ Italian artist Laure Keyrouz has been at the center of an ongoing initiative bringing together international artists to contribute in various art forms towards an ecological understanding of peace in today’s world, including the sounds of peace. The group of artists has chosen as their base a garden created in the town of Nervesa della Battaglia in northeastern Italy, near the Piave river, an area that was a WWI war theater, with many of bloody battles fought on the land. The location is one of the designated sites for the Luoghi del Belsentire project (natural sites scattered throughout Italy for the wellness of hearing/feeling), which identifies locations to be brought to public attention for their acoustic and sound characteristics, in an effort to promote an ecology of hearing.
The Peace Garden
The field of possibilities | possibility field (inspired by R. Murray Schafer)
From afar you can still hear the Piave river murmuring the 1918 refrain “non passa lo straniero” (the foreign invader shall not pass). These words were lyrics to a famous song by E.A. Mario that accompanied many young men to their deaths on the front: the sound of the church bells remind us of this fact a few times a day. Here, in Santa Croce del Montello, you can also hear the signs of life among the living woods: in summer evenings it’s the cuckoo call, then the chirp chirp of other birds humming their song, that peek peek is the woodpecker striking the tree like a drum, that swoosh is the wind rustling among the leaves and the grass, the cicadas go weeeee-whoa, the butterflies make a faint sound, the bees buzz among the flowers, that creak creak is the crickets chirping, slowly, silently, two roe deer jump. Furtive and silent, the hunting foxes pass by, worried about reaching their prey before their prize be stolen by the predatory buzzards swooping down from the sky. When migration time approaches, the swallows, waiting to leave, play electric music on the power lines. The wind carries all these sounds and makes the leaves and branches ring and you can hear much more, even your heartbeat. And the Piave river finds its melodious sound again; that very same river Piave that once echoed back the whistle of bullets, the roar of cannon and the screams of the tortured dead of the First World War. If you leave the so-called civilization and go back there, in the darkness of the night the music of nature will speak to you. Sometimes through the beautiful sun, older and younger children screaming joyfully in the surrounding meadows and paths… or voices resonating like distant sighs from the caves along the river, old war bunkers. The playful mountain becomes a parrot that answers the river of sound with an echo. All this happens in a humble meadow where the grass and flowers have never trembled with fear at the passing of plowmen: the treeless forest has turned into a beautiful vineyard: the garden of peace, an oasis of serenity. And as R. Murray Schafer, father of eco-acoustics, reminds us: “Today all sounds belong to a continuous field of possibility that is found within the vast domain of music. Here is the new orchestra: the sound universe! And musicians: whoever and whatever they play!” (from The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and The Tuning of the World)
Gino Zangrando-Laure Keyrouz-Beatrice Monastero
The Peace Garden
A mixture of lost roots and new influences rebirths this territory.
From an ancient and wise land, the spontaneity of the creative flow intertwines with a semi-mountainous soil at Montello, where the cross of suffering turns into delight.
You can sit admiring the foothills of the Alps and dream of the world…
You can recharge with greenery and the sound of the Piave, the sacred river with its bells singing from one bank to the other. And you return to the Qadisha river in Lebanon, the native land of the artist Laure Keyrouz, for whom we wish peace between valleys and cities of her country.
The Peace garden is a place to pass through and stop time.
The garden created by the Radica Association and its members is not an obvious one.
It is left to grow spontaneously on purpose.
Art with its elements seems to “burst” from the artist’s gallery and spread randomly in small pieces between the garden and the fields…
In the middle stands the vegetable garden within the garden of Peace that bespeaks of Sun and Moons
Transporting us into the Dream Era
Writing rises spontaneously
The song of the Middle Eastern gushes out,
Thoughts fly like the sky-blue song of Italy,
The two flags sewn together
Are the dream of many children in the world .
Silvia Galluccio
The writing installation on the meadow is by Cristina Calderoni. “ Home is a missing tooth the tongue reaches for hardness but falls into absence”. Site specific environmental installation, corn cobs, project conceived and included in the Peace Garden @laurekeyrouzarts for I Luoghi del Belsentire, Nervesa della Battaglia (TV) In Cristina Calderoni’s land art intervention, the artist identifies home as being in ourselves. We often lose concentration and wander, but we are on a permanent journey in which other people’s eyes are only a reflection of ourselves. If we can find a home in ourselves, if food could be exchanged and adapted since time immemorial, if we eat together and talk to each other, boundaries and borders between cultures will be torn down and the causes of wars will be reduced to a minimum. If we now work together with young people, with generations Z and R, for the regeneration of the planet, if we consciously manage resources, if we behave in a conscious manner in our consumption, if we no longer allow ourselves to be intimidated by yesterday’s people dominated by outdated thought structures, then I see the possibility for a common future without wars and misunderstandings, exploitation and extinction. Let’s celebrate life and make our utopian vision come alive. The words of the installation were created with corn cobs present in the landscape. Corn cobs as a universal medium for an artistic project. The duration of the installation depends on the climate and environmental conditions. Text by @contemporary_nomades
Thanks to @contemporary_nomades and @laurekeyrouzarts and @paula_flores_studio for collaborating with me to complete this peace project. 🤍 #cristinacalderonistudio#giardinodellapace#luoghidelbelsentire#artecontemporanea#artepubblica#landa
Photos from the “Unicorpo di Pace” performance, participants animate a peace dragon and plant trees. Curated by Loredana Manfrè. October 2024, Radica project
DI PACE
CONFLITTI
P O E SI A
come
nettare
che
scorre
nelle
ferite
dà
sollievo
alle abrasioni dell’anima
solleva spirito e carne
nello spazio
in cui
le consistenze
si assomigliano
si rinnegano
si conquistano
si amano
interrogandosi
ogni
volta
nel profondo
essere
altrimenti
muto
Loredana Manfré
ottobre 2024
photo 1: Laure Kayrouz – site specific writing made with book “Peace Garden”- Loqman Slim Foundation and Dar al-jadeed
photos 2 and 3: Laure Keyrouz, site specific writing with marble, made in collaboration with young artists Ciela Tufenkji- James Tufenkji-Laurian Masolin-Ilyan Masolin. Both installations, Lebanon, August 2024.
Attend the cultural events of “Rethinking”! From 14 to 17 September 2024, a wealth of performance art events, exhibitions, debates and much more from the project “Rethinking”. The headquarters of the RADICA association will host project curator Denise Parizek as well as artists Cristina Calderoni, Chiara Campanile, Paula Flores. The aim of “Rethinking” is to create a new type of monument, a place of peace and rethinking, independent of the state and the nation. With the additional participation of MicroCollection (Elisa Bollazzi), Loredana Manfrè, Laure Keyrouz Susanna Ravelli. Sunday 15 September at 6:30 pm, at the Contemporary art and poetry lounge and literary café in the Gallery, event with the participation of Delilah Gutman, Annalisa Cattani, Iryna Shuvalova, Monica Macchi, Sara Casal, Pina Piccolo, Pieranna Casanova and Angelo Ricciardi.
Poem by Iryna Shuvalova, contributed for the Peace Cafè of September 15, 2024
vesper
so hard to hate someone at the end of a long day
when the distance between our morning and evening selves
lengthens like the shadows of the trees at the boundary between two fields
when the last rays of the sun break like spears
on the back of the great beast of the night
as it crawls out from behind the horizon
at an hour like this
it is hard to tell a wound: hurt, don’t heal
to tell your heart: beat like a fire alarm bell
to tell your body: tie yourself in a knot don’t let go tremble
at an hour like this it is especially hard
to till a stony field with rusty iron
to sow tiny seeds of rage blindly into the dark earth
to hope for a bitter harvest from bitter seeds
because – can you hear – the birds have stopped rustling in the dark
do you see – the trees have gathered at the gates in the twilight
and those who have wronged us
still wander our fields not knowing our roads
stumbling helpless in the dark
in the end every wound is simply a ditch
a groove in the ground from which a long stubborn root has been torn
a burrow from which a fox has been smoked and chased endlessly through rainy fields
a rut carved by a helpless wheel in a sodden road
soon the wind the rain will come for it and the grass the grass
the birch goosefoot dog-grass burdock hemlock will sew the uneven edges together the earth will lick its grazed memory
with its coarse green tongue
and so we too
forget to hate as we sleep
and simply grow like grass
covering the earth
with our clinging brittle
superfluous
love
(Translated by Uilleam Blacker)
Poem contributed by Pina Piccolo for the Peace Cafè of 15 September 2024
Denise Parizek (curator of the Rethinking Project, created together with artists Cristina Calderoni, Chiara Campanile, Paula Flores. The goal of “Rethinking” is to create a new type of monument, a place for peace and rethinking, that is independent of the State and nations. The MicroCollection group made of Elisa Bollazzi, Loredana Manfrè and Susanna Ravelli has also participated in the project.
“Based on our research on roots, colonialism, sustainability, unions and feminism, we will create a ritual in the garden. In her “Storia di un contro-monumento” (History of a Counter Monument), Patrizia Violi describes the idea of extracting existing places/monuments from their context and reinterpreting and redesigning them through a collective intervention. How can we give a living meaning to something that reminds us of death? From the Latin ager (field, territory, village, valley…), agriculture is not only the art of cultivating fields, but our very culture. In the local dimension, the fabric it weaves is linked to dialects, festivals, myths, the community and the surrounding nature, constituting the foundations that support the rest of the complexity since early social and political activities of humankind. The promotion of agri-cultural events is not only a tool for the development of conscious tourism, but also a driving force for communities to reconnect with the unique historical roots of the territory they belong to, with traditions that are often rapidly disappearing, and for the exploration of new practices of connection with the environment. RADICA intertwines agri-cultural initiatives with artistic, educational and recreational events to explore: forms of community and environmental connection, old and new local traditions, practices of support for marginal areas and small emerging communities, new forms of sustainable tourism. Our goal is to create a new type of monument, a place of peace and rethinking, independent of the State and the nation. We are looking for 14 volunteers for the performance “Unicorpo di Pace” by Loredana Manfrè to animate a large dragon. All participants are invited to the welcome gesture of bringing trees to be planted in the garden.”
Miscellaneous poems related to the Peace Garden Project and the Peace Salon
DELILAH GUTMAN
Farina di storie
Città bellissima, sei deserto
di pietra e muri,
di muri calcarei e pietre marmoree,
teatri a cielo aperto ai suoni
della natura e nel silenzio di noi.
Abbiamo costruito prigioni,
parole come sbarre
e attaccamenti le celle,
verità di anime denudate,
onda di violenza come la guerra,
vento di libertà come l’amore.
Abbiamo ascoltato i nostri sogni,
tra le nuvole un mulino ad acqua
macina le nostre memorie, ci impolveriamo nell’impastare la farina di storie
incise nel seme di grano raccolto.
È profumato e fragrante il pane
nostro, delle identità intrecciate
tra le nostre dita che si sfiorano,
mani di un unico grande popolo.
(Rimini, 16 marzo 2020)
SARA CASAL
“L’OCCHIO si sveglió stanco e rotto,
implorando la COLLABORAZIONE di qualche emozione.
Si svegliò la CONSAPEVOLEZZA che,
assieme alla SOLITUDINE era riuscita a vivere in RESILIENZA
curando, fermandosi, il SOVRACCARICO,
che era MARCHIATO nel suo EQUILIBRIO.
Nel RIFUGIO prezioso in cui tutte queste emozioni e
sentimenti avevano trovato ristoro,
seppe il RISPETTO pensare e,
accarezzando il FUOCO,
fece esplodere l’ENERGIA
della RIGERNERAZIONE
ERIKA DE BORTOLI
Disumano
Il piede ha schiacciato.
Ha schiacciato la testa,
il ventre, la schiena.
Ha schiacciato la mano,
la lingua, il costato.
E’ prevalso,
ha schiacciato
Dorme tra le palpebre
un mondo socchiuso
di spalle cariche d’affanni.
In me lo riconosco.
sguardo su se stesso,
lento,
sta un dolore.
First published in the Radica blog, in VOCI OLTRE CONFINE
RITA TAKEYAN
Green Line
She works in the West Beirut
She works in the hospital
She lives in the East Beirut
She lives in the capital
Every day she crosses twice
The Green Line she crosses twice
Every day , everyday
On a normal day of war, of war, of war
Nothing is unavoidable
Everything is possible, possible, possible
They started bombing again
Bodies falling down
She just finished her work
Going back home in dawn
On a normal day of war, of war, of war
Nothing is unavoidable
Everything is possible, possible, possible
She had to run
To find a refuge to hide, to hide
She had to run
To find a roof to cry, to cry
She had to run
Over dead bodies on the floor
With fruit and vegetable bags in her hands
Six months fetus in her womb
Fruits and vegetables
Rarity in war (X3)
Absurdity of war (X3)
Irony of life (X3)
Militias in the streets.
First published in the Radica blog, in VOCI OLTRE CONFINE
MISCELLANEOUS FROM THE RETHINKING PROJECT
DENISE PARIZEK, curator
Peanuts and Mussels /
Peanuts
Peanuts probably originated in Brazil and Peru. For as long as South American indigenous populations have been making pottery, they used the shape of peanuts or decorated their pottery with it. Tribes in central Brazil also ground peanuts with maize to make an intoxicating beverage for celebrations. Peanuts were grown as far north as Mexico by the time the Spanish began their exploration of the new world. The explorers took peanuts back to Spain, where they are still grown. Early on in Europe they were used as pig feed. From Spain, traders and explorers took peanuts to Africa and Asia. In Africa the plant became common in the western tropical region and was regarded by many Africans as one of the several plants possessing a soul. Peanuts were brought to North America with African enslaved people who planted peanuts through out the southern USA. Since the 1800’s peanuts were grown commercially in South Carolina and were used for oil, food and substituted for cacao. Originally peanuts were regarded as food for the poor, but after the start of the Civil War in 1860, there was a notable increase of peanut consumption, especially for soldiers.
George Washington Carver, a former enslaved man freed at the age of 14 and the first African American faculty member at a university (University of Iowa), discovered the importance of peanuts and starting in 1896 published about the topic. He found out that peanuts are able to restore nutrients to the soil, most notably nitrogen, which is a main ingredient in modern fertilizers. Peanuts are also naturally resistant to many pests and diseases that run rampant across the South of the United States. Protein was badly needed in the diets of many Southerners and in 1916 Carver published “How to grow peanuts and 105 ways of preparing them for human consumption”. Within the next 50 years, peanuts would become the second most produced crop in the South of the USA. Carver was also proponent of sustainable agriculture, livestock care and education. He encouraged farmers to submit samples of their soil and water and visited local farmers to teach modern agriculture and food preservation techniques.
Peanuts are not nuts, they are legumes, related to beans, lentils or soy.
They are rich in protein, high in various vitamins (diverse B complexes like B1, B3, B9), Vitamin E and minerals like phosphorus, copper, manganese and magnesium. They are fat, but have a very low glycemic index, good for people with diabetes and are reducing risks of heart disesase.
Mussels also have a long history dating back to ancient times. The earliest records of mussel consumption can be traced to indigenous communities of North America and Europe. Even the Romans farmed mussels. Native Americans along the Pacific Northwest Cost included mussels a a staple in their diets, smoked or dried for preservation. Mussels are among the first marine organisms to be cultivated by humans. They are relatively easy to grow and have many uses. They were also used as fertiliser and fish bait.
They filter up to 2 litres of seawater per hour and are the sewage treatment plants of the oceans. They live mainly in inter-tidal and shelf areas, but smaller groups also live highly symbiotically with chemotrophic bacteria in the deep sea at hydrothermal vents with methane seepage. Some species can live to a very old age; some specimens of Crenomytilus grayanus have been recorded to be over 126 years old.
Global shipping has enabled them to spread as far as South Africa, where they have become an invasive species that poses a threat to native mussels.
Mussels are protein bombs and rich in omega 3 fatty acids, which have an anti-inflammatory effect and have a positive impact on brain development. They are also rich in vitamins A, C and E and B complexes. They also contain the minerals calcium, magnesium, phosphate, iron and fluoride.
Peanuts and Mussels both have a long tradition that has had and continues to have a global impact. The two foods are of great importance in both agriculture and fishing, mutating from simple food for the poor to today’s sophisticated dietary requirements. The ingredients of peanuts and mussels are similar, have an antioxidant effect and are good for the heart and brain.
Due to the pollution of the oceans, the health factor of mussels can be questioned today, as they retain a lot of pollutants by filtering the seawater.
They are also a good example of the distribution of food before the era of globalisation and of the adaptation and use of foreign plants and animals
Based on the materials and contents of the artistic projects by Cristina Calderoni, Chiara Campanile and Paula Flores, I will cook Massaman curry with peanuts and mussels in wine sauce, and in doing so I will go into the history of the ingredients, their mode of action and significance in our time of massive climate change.
The topics I am working with are based on our research on roots, colonialism, sustainability, unity and feminism, we will create a ritual in the garden. In her ‘History of a Counter Monument’, Patrizia Violi describes the idea of taking existing places/monuments out of their context and reinterpreting and redesigning them through collective intervention.
How can we give a living meaning to something that reminds us of
death?
From the Latin ager (field, territory, village, valley…), agriculture is not only the art of cultivating fields, but our culture itself. In the local dimension, the fabric it weaves is linked to dialects, festivals, myths, the community and the surrounding nature, forming the foundations that support the rest of the complexity from the earliest social and political activity. The promotion of agri-cultural events is not only a tool for the development of conscious tourism, but also a driving
force for communities to reconnect with the unique historical roots of the territory they belong to, with traditions that are often fast disappearing, and for the exploration of new practices of connection with the environment. RADICA interweaves agri’cultural initiatives with artistic, educational and recreational events to explore: forms of community and environmental connection, old and new local traditions, supporting practices of marginal areas and emerging small communities, new forms of sustainable tourism.
Our aim is to create a new kind of monument, a place of peace and
rethinking, independent of state and nation. Based on our research on roots, colonialism, sustainability, togetherness and feminism, we will create a ritual in the garden.
In her ‘History of a Counter-Monument’, Patrizia Violi describes the idea of taking existing places/monuments out of their context and reinterpreting and redesigning them through collective intervention.
How can we give a living meaning to something that reminds us of death?
