In 2016, thirteen students from the London Metropolitan University arrived in the little village of Belmonte Calabro for a summer school organized by Rita Adamo, at the time italian student of the English university, now architect.
They were searching for a new method of designing and the abandoned village in Calabria was the perfect context for their experimentation. “Rivoluzione delle seppie”, the cuttlefish revolution takes its name from the method that they want to conduct, the “learning by doing” way of act, like the cuttlefish that uses the tentacles to move in the sea. They refurbished the ancient and abandoned cloister “Casa delle monache” that became the headquarter of their association “Le seppie” (cuttlefishes).
The question at the core of their work is how research, art and architecture can improve the cultural and social fabric of marginalized areas. They found theirselves collaboratively discovering a development direction through horizontal learning and the expansion of social cohesion – as well as the creation of global academic collaborations and the discovery of the riches and traditions of the Calabrian territory. Indeed, Le Seppie aim to create a model, both in approach and in practice, for the creation of innovative projects in rural and marginal areas. Their work aims to launch and test projects to improve the local situation effectively, as well as to propose an example to inform the wider debate on the repurposing and valorization of European rural villages in the current context. Intervening on the three targets highlighted by the results of the surveys and by the devised strategy: students, migrants (also intended as nomadic professionals), young national and international ‘active agents’ and the academic world. The goal is to propose an experimental research and training method that seeks to explore the real world by coming into contact with international and national professionals engaged in artistic and anthropological ways but also to rediscover a territory like Calabria rich in history, cultures and traditions.
Recommended by Beatrice Ricci
Main source: https://larivoluzionedelleseppie.org/
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