“We observe the environment in which we live. We live, we grow according to the resources available. We communicate and exchange information. We build communities. We and plants, we and nature have the same essence, the same behaviour towards ourselves and the world, inside, outside, around. Today, in 2020, says Stefano Mancuso - botanist and essayist -, we are identical to plants: having been forced to stand still, we have experienced and lived what nature, for convenience and to preserve and reproduce itself, repeats every day, every moment. And soì we have become observers of events, actions and behaviors and we have developed perceptions that make us aware. I am aware that my culture and my actions determine my future and that it is too late to change the direction of this new era, of this Anthropocene that generates through human activities, territorial, structural and climatic changes. Non è too late to orient hope and to give new signs to the global ecosystem.

Non è a simple call to arms (cit. Zygmunt Bauman), a joint effort to save humanity from the sixth great mass extinction, but a going forward and at the same time a going back to rediscover and recover symbiotic and communitarian actions that recentrino l’uomo all’interno di un nuovo Umanesimo e di un nuovo Urbanesimo studded with complex networks, open and free.

The We as Nature project takes, therefore, as a reference l’Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, an action program for people, the planet and prosperity; and in particular l’Objective 15 “Life on Earth - protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of the earth's ecosystem; to which all the other 16 objectives are closely linked and dependent. In fact, with the biodiversity crisis, the supply of eco-system services, from food to wood, from water to medicines, from climate regulation to the control of soil erosion, from recreational to cultural values, is still at risk. We as Nature wants to work for the construction of a new Humanism and a new Urbanism, recognizing that man and nature are born from the same spirit and the same yearning for life and its transformation. Using the tools of artWe as Naturewants to weave a new conscious network of communitiesà interacting and collaborating territories, implementing annual actions focused on those realitiesà which take as a founding element of themselves the identityà deep between humanityà and nature.

We as Nature therefore wants to develop two main actions.

New Humanism: being a project of continuous nature, year by year, We as Nature is embodiedà in the work of artists who are writing and representing the heart of the project, carrying out together actions and activities; that are linked with the communityà territorial. One of the first opportunities to develop this first axis will be sarà during this 5th edition of Rome Art Week.

New Urbanism: We as nature wants to become a project of urban regeneration that tells the stories of places and anticipates their future aspirations, that is an advocate and propeller of a territorial rebirth through a creative drive and processes of social and environmental innovation. We as nature wants to give, così, start to a collective project of activation of local resources and energies in order to develop ideas for the regeneration of urban and semi-urban spaces and rediscover the centralità of a new socialità where priority è the relationship of man with man and of man with nature.

“like our human culture, like our abilitiesà and abilityà to act, our acting, our responsibilities; can we prevent naturefallto’inside this abyss before which the’we have brought ourselves? ” (Zygmunt Bauman, What è happened to Nature? -  Sassuolo Philosophy Festival 2011)”

The artists who will confront on this theme are:

Achille Pace, Achille Perilli, Ak2deru, Alice Colacione, Anghelopoulos, Antonella Privitera, Armando Di Nunzio, Carlo Cecchi, Caterina Ciuffetelli, Consuelo Mura, Davide Viggiano, Eliseo Sonnino, Ennio Calabria, Fabiana Roscioli, Fabio Milani, Federica Zianni, Fernando Falconi, Franco Ciuti, Gabriel Angelo Cacace, Gianfranco Basso, Gianmaria De Luca, Giorgio Ortona, Gregorio Samsa, Jens W. Beyrich, Juri Lorenzetti, Lara Pacilio, Laura De Lorenzo, Licinia Mirabelli, Luigi Amos De Blasio, Marbel, Max Ciogli, Micaela Legnaioli, Nordine Sajot, Piero Gilardi, Raffaella Baldassarre, Renata Maccaro, Rosa Anna Argento, Rosaria Mineo, Rosario Calì, Sandro Sanna, Sara Campagna, Sara Ciuffetta, Sara Santarelli, Silvia Paoletti, Silvia Valeri, Tancredi Fornasetti, Thea Tini, Vilma Maiocco, Vincenzo Scolamiero, Walter Zuccarini.

Project by Roberta Melasecca

Edited by Roberta Melasecca and Fabio Milani
With the collaboration of Sabrina Consolini