Snow is in danger of disappearing forever. The human/nature relationship is investigated at MUSE.

From July 9 to September 26, 2021, MUSE - Museo delle Scienze in Trento, in the Palazzo delle Albere building, presents the three-channel video installation entitled Over Time, a project by Laura Pugno (Trivero, 1975) developed and produced by a.titolo and curated by Andrea Lerda. The project is one of the winners of the 9th edition of Italian Council (2020).

Over Time explores, according to new perspectives, the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, a central theme in Laura Pugno’s research, through looking at snow that conditions climates, life systems and economies. The work develops the investigation of snow begun by the artist in 2018 and conducted through drawings, sculptures, photographs, installations and a cycle of works on paper dedicated to Wilson Bentley, a photographer who first immortalized snowflakes in the late 19th century. A resource for mountain economies and a source of imagery, snow is nevertheless in danger of disappearing due to climate change andanthropogenic action. The project aims to explore the reasons for our affective connection with snow and our need to experience, study and recreate it in the age of the Anthropocene.

The title refers to the notion of time, the contingent one of the transient physical state of snow and the geological one of the formation of glaciers, in relation to the urgency of action to counter the effects of global warming. The critical gaze, which leads the audience to confront the concept of failure is intertwined with a narrative with more reassuring tones, in which time is a space in the making, the result of a possible empathic relationship between the human species and the planet.

The project aims to lead visitors to explore the cultural and anthropological constructs that have caused the current ecological crisis and to observe, through science and industry, the evolution in the relationship between natural and artificial. The work is thus a multifocal narrative revolving around meteorological weather and the challenges facing humanity in an era characterized by global warming, disappearing glaciers, and increasing global water shortages.

Over Time consists of three videos projected simultaneously: the first was filmed at an altitude of 2901 meters near the Institute named after Angelo Mosso, the Italian physician, physiologist and archaeologist (1846- 1910) who first studied the endurance of the human body at high altitudes and in unfavorable conditions, located on the Passo dei Salati in the Monte Rosa mountain range between Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta. It stars lecturer Michele Freppaz, a nivologist at the University of Turin, who is involved in a series of scientific analyses of snow. The second is set in an aerosol company that makes spray snow near Cremona, while the third is set in the woods ofOasi Zegna, north of Piedmont, where a human figure walks through a snowy landscape carrying a plaster bust on his shoulders.

The music for Over Time was composed and produced by Zurich-based sound artist Magda Drozd.

The project is made possible thanks to the support of the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture within the framework of the Italian Council program (9th edition, 2020), with the collaboration of MUSE - Science Museum of Trento, DISAFA, Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences of theUniversity of Turin and eight other art institutions, both Italian and foreign, which will host its events starting in the summer of 2021, with the intention of gathering a multiplicity of voices and gazes, shaping a transdisciplinary dialogue that reflects the project’s approach: the Fondazione Zegna in Trivero, Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, the Cultural Association AGIVERONA with the University of Verona, the OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin as part of the public program curated by the Fondazione per l’Modern and Contemporary Art CRT and abroad the Musée Gassendi / CAIRN Centre d’Art in Digne-les-Bains (France), the nonprofit institutions A Tale of a Tub in Rotterdam (Netherlands), SÜDPOL, Lucerne (Switzerland) and the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva (Switzerland).

For info: www.muse.it

Hours: Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Free admission.

Image: Laura Pugno, Over Time (2021; still from 4K video, 15’).

Snow is in danger of disappearing forever. The human/nature relationship is investigated at MUSE.

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.