In Pinus

Held as part of the Videocittà festival at MAXXI, the Local Debate opened a participatory reflection on Rome’s environmental and cultural memory, with a symbolic focus on the Pinus pinea (Mediterranean stone pine). The event combined AV performance, artistic talks and public discussion, enabling exchange between artists, students, institutional representatives and curators. It effectively launched the Italian co-creation process and laid the conceptual groundwork for the collaborative artwork 'Pinus Pinea', which listens to and 'inhabits' the pine through immersive soundscapes and performance.

Held 13 March 2026 at the Castelporziano Presidential Estate near Rome, the second Local Debate gathered 35 participants — artists, students, researchers/scientists, institutional representatives and curators. An institutional opening and scientific session framed the Pinus pinea as a proxy for environmental crisis, followed by an artistic restitution (artwork launch, curatorial evaluation, performative contributions and a short participatory workshop), a students’ intervention from the Ettore Majorana lyceum, and a guided walk within the estate extending the debate into the territory and validating the 'Pinus Pinea' work.

Critical text

The Local Debate dedicated to Pinus pinea operates as a device for interpreting the landscape that goes beyond a purely naturalistic dimension, entering instead a cultural, symbolic, and political one. The stone pine—an iconic element of the Mediterranean and, in particular, of the Roman landscape—is not treated here as a mere object of observation, but as an active subject of narration: a living organism shaped by historical layers, human practices, and ongoing environmental transformations.

This second moment of exchange is directly connected to the first Local Debate, during which Pinus pinea emerged as a central theme through a shared exploration process involving artists, experts, and citizens. In that initial phase, the work focused primarily on mapping the ecological and cultural significance of the pine, activating an interdisciplinary dialogue that laid the conceptual foundations of the project. The second Local Debate therefore represents an evolutionary step: no longer limited to gathering inputs, but aimed at testing, consolidating, and shaping the insights previously generated.

At the core of this day lies a shift in perspective: from representing nature to interpreting it as a complex system where biology, collective memory, and climate crisis intersect. Pinus pinea becomes an entry point to address broader phenomena—from the spread of pathogens and water stress to biodiversity loss—while also reflecting on the relationship between communities and their environment.

In this context, the dialogue between scientific knowledge and artistic practice is not a simple juxtaposition of disciplines, but rather a space of mutual translation. Science provides analytical tools and data, while art transforms these elements into sensory and shareable experiences. The transition from the first to the second Local Debate makes this process particularly visible: from a phase of listening and collection, the project moves into a phase of restitution and activation, where the artwork Pinus Pinea – AV Talk emerges as a provisional synthesis of an ongoing process.

The contribution of the students plays a significant role within this evolution, expanding its pedagogical and social dimension. The creation of a digital platform dedicated to Pinus pinea is not merely an act of documentation, but a form of critical appropriation of the topic. By translating complex content into accessible formats, students contribute to building a shared memory and fostering awareness among their peers. In this sense, their work represents an autonomous continuation of the impulses generated during the first Local Debate, reinforcing the participatory nature of the project.

The day is thus structured as a moment of convergence between observation, interpretation, and production, where the landscape of the Castelporziano Estate becomes a living laboratory. The final walk is not simply a concluding activity, but an extension of the debate into physical space, where the discussed dynamics manifest concretely, bringing the discourse back from abstraction to the material reality of the territory.

Overall, the Local Debate presents Pinus pinea as a threshold: between past and future, nature and culture, crisis and possibility. An apparently stable element which, through its current vulnerability, reveals the urgency of rethinking how we inhabit and represent the landscape. The transition between the first and second Local Debates thus highlights the core of the CO-VISION methodology: a circular process in which knowledge, creation, and restitution continuously inform one another, transforming debate into practice.