Thinking Like a Mountain – The Orobie Biennial is the widespread cultural program promoted by the GAMeC which in 2024-25 has involved not only the museum itself, but also the territory of the Province of Bergamo, with the aim to create an itinerary of shared artistic experiences in order to reflect on issues of sustainability and community.
The program envisaged the involvement of more than twenty artists or groups of artists, operating throughout various geographical and cultural contexts in the planning and implementation of a widespread program of events shared with local communities, including interventions in the public space, collective performances and creative workshops.
“Thinking like a Mountain” is an expression coined by American ecologist and environmentalist Aldo Leopold in his book A Sand County Almanac (1949). In the context of the project, Leopold’s expression summarizes and interprets the desire to adopt an alternative point of view—from “a certain distance” —on society and on our actions, in order to foster a fascination for the Earth and an evolved and participatory environmental sensitivity in the territorial context.
The territory in which the project unfolded comprises a highly diverse context, where natural landscapes and highly industrialized urban areas coexist within a complex ecosystem: from the massifs of the Alpine and pre-Alpine range, to the lower elevations of the Bergamo Valleys, through to the urban forests of the Colli di Bergamo Park and the fluvial and agricultural areas of the Bassa Bergamasca (the Bergamo Plain).
An online magazine accompanies the project, collecting critical texts, reports and audiovisual contributions, produced by the working group. Topics range from contemporary arts to design, from architecture to agriculture, from human geography to anthropology. The magazine’s editorial headquarters are based at the GAMeC.
pensarecomeunamontagna.gamec.it
DISCOVER THE ARTISTIC PROJECTS AND THE COMMUNITIES INVOLVED THROUGHOUT THE FIVE CYCLES OF THE PROGRAM
Thinking Like a Mountain #1
Sonia Boyce, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Chiara Gambirasio, Lin May Saeed, Studio Ossidiana in collaboration with Frantoio Sociale together with the communities of Bergamo, Brembate, Castione della Presolana, Dalmine
Thinking Like a Mountain #2
Marta Cuscunà, Gabriel Chaile, Yesmine Ben Khelil, and Agostino Iacurci together with the communities of Bergamo, Casnigo, Vertova
Thinking Like a Mountain #3
Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto, Agnese Galiotto, Giulio Squillacciotti and the exhibition project Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde for the twelfth edition of Premio Lorenzo Bonaldi per l’Arte – EnterPrize, insieme alle comunità di Bergamo, Zogno, Branzi, Averara, Vedeseta, Gorno, Gromo, Serina
Thinking Like a Mountain #4
Maurizio Cattelan, Cecilia Bengolea, Julius von Bismarck, Francesco Pedrini together with the communities of Bergamo, Villa d’Almè, Dossena, Roncobello
Pensare come una montagna #5
Bianca Bondi, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Gaia Fugazza, Agnese Galiotto, Asunción Molinos Gordo, Pedro Vazogether with the communities of Bergamo, Astino, Gerosa (Val Brembilla), Dalmine, Sottochiesa, Almenno San Bartolomeo
Pensare come una montagna is a GAMeC project
Artistic Director: Lorenzo Giusti
Associate Curators: Sara Fumagalli, Marta Papini
Head of Magazine: Valentina Gervasoni