Sea of Mountains
In the photo: Tatu Nenonen, making of Il Basso. Photo: CAP2402 / Savina Foresti
Sea of Mountains is the site-specific project created for the inaugural edition of 24020 Residenze – the artist residency programme of CAP24020 Contemporary Art Practices in Alta Valle Seriana, Lombardy, Italy.
Sea of Mountains is curated by Helsinki-based performing and visual arts curator Riikka Thitz and features works by Finnish artists Tatu Nenonen and Elina Vainio. In dialogue with the vast pre-Alpine upper part of the Seriana valley, the project approaches landscape as a product of overground and underground relations, a shared space constructed of long- and short-term encounters.
The name Sea of Mountains comes from the English philosopher and Alpine enthusiast, John Ruskin, who, in the 19th century, wrote about the geology of the mountains, comparing the shapes of their masses to waves of water. The project interprets the concept of fluidity as a way to work with the human and more-than-human inhabitants and materials of the valley; as a constant flux of social, natural, and historical processes - a composition of their trajectories.
Sea of Mountains features the outcomes of the artists’ first, research-based residency in the valley in autumn 2023. Vainio utilises the residue of marble excavation as the basis for layered and fragmentary memorials of local everyday life. Working with landscapes as soundscapes, Nenonen approaches the geologic folds of the mountain range as malleable "soft material", an active and reactive mass.
Sea of Mountains publication
⛰️
Sea of Mountains publication ⛰️
Media picks
Dalla Finlandia per catturare i suoni dell'Alta Val Seriana (Interview with Tatu Nenonen and Tea Andreoletti on Antenna 2 TV)
Dalla Finlandia per catturare i suoni dell'Alta Val Seriana (MyValley.it)
Artworks
Elina Vainio: Encomio 1-2
Bas-reliefs made out of a mix of marble powder (Giovanni Fornoni’s Marmi Ardesio marble quarry), white cement and sand; digital photo collage on ceramic (Tre Art Fotoceramica, Taccolini family, Lovere); metal brackets (Elio Santus, Gromo); 39x51x1 cm.
Location:
Encomio 1: Valbondione: Via Torre 6
Encomio 2: Gromo: Via Tito Terzi 1-3
Tatu Nenonen: Il Basso
Sound piece, 13’57’’
Broadcast on Radio Like, Alta Valle Seriana (frequency 99.3 / 90.9 MHz), May 2024: Thursday 9 at 23:00; Friday 10 at 23:00; Sunday 12 at 01:00.
Il Basso can be listened to online on Soundcloud
Sea of Mountains
Site-specific project for 24020 Residenze 2023-2024
Alta Valle Seriana, Lombardy region, Italy
A project by CAP24020 Pratiche Artistiche Contemporanee in collaboration with arts association i dolci
Autumn residency 2.–29.10.2023
Spring residency 24.4.–9.5.2024
Curator
Riikka Thitz
Artists
Tatu Nenonen
Elina Vainio
Translation into Italian
Alessandra Olivari
Photography
CAP24020 / Savina Foresti
Supported by
Finnish Cultural Foundation and Frame Contemporary Art Finland