Thermocene: art, sound and nature in the era of climate crisis

The idea of a zero-impact planet is an illusion. It is from this realization that Thermocene was born, an artistic project that interweaves music, cinema and architecture to explore the relationship between humans and the environment in the age of climate change. Conceived by Giorgio Ferrero and Rodolfo Mongitore (Mybosswas), with the contribution of the EX. design studio, Thermocene is developed through an exhibition, a documentary film and a book, transforming artistic research into a multisensory journey.

The first event is in Turin, March 5-30, 2025, with a double exhibition: at the Gallerie d’Italia and at the Antiche Ghiacciaie del Mercato Centrale (until March 23). The exhibition, curated by ARTECO (Beatrice Zanelli and Camilla Zennaro), is proposed as an immersive experience that translates into sound and images the reflection on the interconnection between man and nature.

At the center of Thermocene is a visual and sound symphony born at high altitude, between two futuristic bivouacs located at 3,000 meters in the Piedmont Alps. Here Ferrero and Mongitore, thirty kilometers apart and devoid of all comforts, recorded the invisible traces of humans in the environment - from wind noise to radio waves - to transform them into a choral musical composition. The resulting sound installation evokes a world in which nature and humans converse, paving the way for a new collective consciousness.

“I thought,” Ferrero explains, “to show how, even in those borderlands, there is no longer room for that romantic idea of unspoiled Nature, but instead there is room to imagine and hope for a wonderful mirage of anthropized Nature where human beings with their genius merge with their habitat respecting it.”

An immersive journey between sound and images

The exhibition at Antiche Ghiacciaie in Turin is structured in two distinct areas. The first is dedicated to sound: among radios, recording instruments and acoustic tracks collected at high altitudes, the visitor is immersed in a sonic chaos that restores the saturation of the air caused by human activity. The sound expands into the eighteenth-century spaces of the iceboxes, amplifying into an intense sensory experience.

In the second room, however, a double video projection recounts the experience of the two artists in the alpine bivouacs. If in the first part of the exhibition the audience perceives the dissonance of the contemporary world, here the chaos becomes a symphony, restoring a possible balance between man and nature.

In parallel, a dual-channel video installation anticipating the film Thermocene, currently in pre-production with KINO Productions, is presented at the Gallerie d’Italia. Also on March 28, Ferrero and Mongitore will hold a live performance in which sound tracks recorded at high altitude will take on new life in a real-time composition.

A new look at the relationship between man and nature

Thermocene is intended to be not only an artistic reflection, but also a poetic inquiry into our time. The title of the project echoes a term coined by activist Richard Stallman in 2015, which shifts the focus from the Anthropocene-the human-dominated era-to the Thermocene, where climate change and global warming become the central elements of our age. The message is clear: humans are present even where they seem invisible, and awareness of environmental impact is imperative for imagining the future.

After Turin, the exhibition will continue in Italy and abroad. From March 24-27, the Thermocene-related film project will premiere at CPH:FORUM 2025, a co-production event of CPH:DOX, one of the world’s most prestigious documentary film festivals. From June 7 to Sept. 14, the installation will arrive at GAMeC in Bergamo as part of the program Think Like a Mountain - The Orobie Biennial, which involves international artists and local communities in a reflection on high-altitude architecture and human impact.

Here the project will be enriched with a new element: the narrative of the renovation of the Aldo Frattini Bivouac, born from the collaboration between GAMeC and the Italian Alpine Club of Bergamo. This structure, designed not as an exhibition space but as a base for environmental monitoring, will become the connecting point between art, research and landscape.

A project supported by great partners

The Thermocene exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of Intesa Sanpaolo, the initiative’s main partner, and Media Creative Europe, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Film Commission Piemonte, Mercato Centrale Torino, and Another Music Records.

Also contributing to the realization of the project were technical sponsors such as Epson, Montarbo, Nanlite, Patona, Rycote, Tip Top Audio and Gruppo FTS, which provided the technological support necessary for the creation of the sound and visual installations.

By interweaving artistic languages, Thermocene aims to invite us to rethink our connection with the environment, suggesting that the future will depend on our ability to transform chaos into harmony. A journey between art and science that, starting from the Alpine peaks, opens new perspectives on our presence in the world.

Thermocene: art, sound and nature in the era of climate crisis

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