About
Land art & Community
BONCORE | SALENTO | ITALIA
Over the last decade (2014-2024), more than 21 million olive trees have been killed by the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, including some that were over a hundred years old. Since 2020, Campo dei Giganti has been working on the artistic regeneration of a monumental olive grove decimated by Xylella in Terra d’Arneo, in Villaggio Boncore (Nardò, Lecce) .
This is a land art project conceived by artist Ulderico Tramacere, which has generated a collaborative ecosystem of artists and researchers who, together with the local community, actively promote contemporary art as a means of regenerating the environment and raising cultural awareness.
The land covers 1.5 hectares and consists of 150 monumental olive trees affected by Xylella, which have been painted with lime over the course of recent years (2020-24).
The use of lime responds to: 1. an aesthetic principle, where white enhances the natural plastic power of the trunks;
2. an ethical principle: an eco-sustainable material widely used in agriculture, it is a symbol of purification and regeneration, and its maintenance calls for an annual Collective Care event.
In addition to being a memorial, it is a place for contemporary artistic experimentation with multidisciplinary Artist Residencies in dialogue with the location and the community. The Campo has also launched “Ombra” (the search for shadow), an opportunity for art to confront and respond to the environmental and cultural desertification caused by Xylella in Salento.
Community mapping is an interactive and transmedia tool that collects testimonies of the interventions and processes that are taking place.
The monumental olive trees were once mapped by the Puglia Region to protect them from illegal exports and enhance their cultural and environmental heritage. This process, which is constantly ongoing, represents a new identity of mapping, driven by the principles of eco-pedagogy and sustainable creativity.
Proceeding with work
Opening. Edoardo Marraffa. Olivia Bignardi. Enza Prestia. Daniela Diurisi
Video. With Piero Rapanà, Simone Franco, Andrea Cariglia, Sergio Bissoli
Film. Start of filming. Il Campo dei Giganti (The Field of Giants), by Chiara Stravato
Digital mapping. NFT presentation at MIA Milan International Art Fair. Milan
Workshop. Tree Day. Castromediano Museum
Film. Il Campo dei Giganti (The Field of Giants), by Chiara Stravato, Visioni dal Mondo (Milan)
Event. “Se potessi volare.” With Silvia Civilla, Agostino Aresu, Rocco Nigro. Terrammare Teatro
Community event. Dario Muci, Giuseppe Semeraro, Cosimino Rolli, and the “Galli Rolli”
ArtResidency. Daniele Papuli, RossoScultografia, July 2023
ArtResidency. Cristiano Pallara, Quel Che Resta, July 2023
Community Conversations. Mario Capanna
White Care Workshops, June 2024
FAI Spring Days, March 20-21, 2023
ArtResidency/Workshops. Loredana Biondo, Morphoblu
Participatory reforestation workshop. With Riforestival Le Fattizze
Event. Edoardo Marraffa
Site-specific event. Sacre Radici. Giorgia Maddamma
Project. Campo Madre. Futura. La Puglia per la Parità (Puglia for Gender Equality)
Exhibition. Loro. From Photography to Community Project. San Trifone, Nardò
Exhibition. Loro. From Photography to Community Project. Castromediano Museum, Lecce
White Care Workshops, July 2024
Presentation. Fate solo quel che vi incanta. With Fondo Verri
Project presentation. University of Florence, Forlilpsi. With Stefano Oliviero
Book presentation. Loro. Still Fotografia, Milan. With Denis Curti
Exhibition, Loro. From Photography to Community Project. Italian Cultural Institute, Krakow
Project. Cartomastodonte. Daniele Papuli. With the Libraries of Apulia Region
Project. MAP. Mapping, Learning, Participation. Erasmus Plus with Petra Patrimonia, Corse
Project. Community art to start again after Xylella. Erasmus Plus
Open call for Artist Residencies: Ombra, Radicate
ArtResidency. Residui Teatro (Spain), with Viviana Bovino, Gregorio Amicuzi
Radicate Workshop, Residui Teatro (Spain)
White Care Workshops, June 2025
ArtResidency. Ombra. Fabrizio Bellomo, Graziana Di Santo
ArtResidency. Ombra. Giulia Barone
Workshop/Open call. Edoardo Marraffa
Presentation. Antonio Prete
Site-specific event. Sacre Radici. Giorgia Maddamma, with inmates from Lecce Prison
Residency/Workshops. Loredana Biondo, Morphoblu
Participatory reforestation workshop. With Riforestival Le Fattizze
